A day in the life of a b-school student part – 2

I realise that it’s been a long time since I updated my blog about my life as a b-school student, I had just written the first part So, here is the (hopefully) much awaited second part. I hope that it is interesting this time.

Today afternoon at 12.52 pm, I got a mail from Prof. Christopher asking for people who will be interested in joining the Marketing Strategy committee for S P Jain Center of Management, Dubai and Singapore. Even though I am a finance guy, I loved the idea of trying to help my college with it’s marketing strategy was the challenge and inspiration I needed to get out of my dumb, boring routine.

Prof. Suranjan Das has been here for 2 days as of today and it is an tremendous experience learning from him. He is one of the most loved prof’s here. But the only thing is that his quizzes are sometimes on the edge of bringing us down to our knees even though we have Microsoft Excel at our disposal.

We had Prof. Chetan’s group work. It was hectic plus I was adding finishing touches to the Business Law group assignment. I dont know what happened but I just answered all the questions and completed the whole assignment on my own. I myself was surprised at my dedication and patience. I was finetuning it, trying to make the language a bit more ‘legal’ then realised that the answers to the most questions were in the contract and all I had to do was to type in the clause and lo, I had my answers ;) . The moment the Group work session got over. I rushed to the leadership hall alongwith the handycam that I borrowed from Kuldeep for making my videography which I am planning to send back home.

I went to the meet at 5.30 pm today. It was in the board room. Now this is a very long room. I think around 8-12 feet long and about 4-5 feet wide. It has a huge table in the middle of the room. Prof. Christopher chaired the meeting and he started off by telling us about the target audience, what image we want to portray, what are the possible ideas we will get.

We asked a few questions mostly related to the launch of the new campus in Singapore,majorly whether we would be getting an oppurtunity to go to Singapore on an exchange basis. Unfortunately we will not be having that priviledge compared to the incoming batch which has to compulsorily go to Singapore for some time as part of their program. So now we are a global b-school with twin campuses.

Ok so let’s come back to the topic here. I tried to give some ideas but they were shot down expect the one wherein I said why not create a competition wherein people can come up with ideas as I felt that 126 heads put together was definitely better than 6 heads.

Since then my mind is working full time on this. I want to know come out with a good idea for this. If you have any in the mind please do let me know, you will certainly be given due credit for the same.

Add to this, the Table Tennis tournament in our college just started today with an exhibition match between our librarian Satish Ranjalkar and our Operations Management Prof. Chetan Soman. It was an entertaining match. I wanted to record it on the handycam but unfortunately I had to rush for this marketing strategy meeting, well one thing I have definitely learnt in a b-school is the importance of prioritizing.

I heard the match was closely fought and eventually in the end Satish beat Prof. Chetan.

Then I rushed to get dinner, suddenly it seems that there is a gang of people who have been stealing other people’s dinner. The only way to escape from this gang is to get your dinner before these guys get to it.

Then I am here sitting online blogging away as I am bringing this hectic day to an end. Will get the bus and go to the villas and jump into my bed and sleep… oh my bed! my darling I am coming baby!!!

Why does our patriotism grows exponentially when we are out of India

15th August, 2005 – India celebrates its 58 years of Independence. So did I. But I wasnt in India. I was here in Dubai. The moment the clock struck 12 midnight signalling the start of the day I would remember for the rest of my life. Me and my villa mates went to our backyard stood in attention and sang the National Anthem. We sung it with full passion. Our hearts were filled with passion and I am sure each one of us wanted to catch the next flight and go home.

And in the true b-school spirit we went back to reading our Marketing books for the test that we had.

The clock struck 7.15 and I woke up switched the alarm off and ran to brush and have a shower. And then off I went to the college. There was the Independence Day celebrations nothing flashy, people were dressed in ethnic wear looking regal and proudly Indian. And then we sang the National Anthem, it was amazing. The feeling that engulfed me cannot be expressed in words. I dont have an outstanding writing skills.

We then rushed for our marketing exam. We finished it at 12 pm (No further details will be provided on how the exam went even on request.) Swades was being aired on Star Gold. I love this movie. Swades is one of the best movies Indian cinema has ever produced. Swades is actually better than Lagaan. I am sure that Swades would have won the Oscars if it went there.

People were more affected by the film today seeing in the chillout room at S P Jain Center of Management, Dubai than they were sitting in a multiplex back home in India. When the song ” Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera ” was running, I could see people controlling their tears including your’s truly who was moved but his eyes did not go moist nor was he controlling it.

This was what piqued my interest/curiousity as to finding out whether Indians abroad have a tendency to become more patriotic as they finally learn the significance of being an Indian. I have always been proud to be an Indian. There are a lot of people who have promised me that when they will land in India they will kiss and touch the ’soil’ that has given them the identity.

I want to end by asking a question, whose answer I, myself am looking for. The question is what I asked already, ‘Do Indians become more patriotic when they go abroad?