Diary of a Rural Manager!

55th Week@XIMB - 24th June to 30th June, 2012 24th June - Sunday was spent with some business analysis news and listening to Mr. Prabhat Patnaik on the topic "The Perverse Transformation".. Reebok is revamping the branding strategy with an inspiration from the Dominno's Pizza. After all, what was the market for home-delivered pizzas before Domino's began operations? Zero. The most efficient, most productive, more useful aspect of branding is creating a new category. Start something totally new. Hence, the learnings were clear: " Ask not what percentage of an existing market your brand can achieve. Ask how large a market your brand can create by putting resources behind creating a category. " Aditya Birla Nuvo to invest Rs 1,600 crore in Kishore Biyani's Pantaloon Retail. That is a big story to be watched in the coming years. Launched in 1997, the Pantaloon format is spread in 35 cities with 65 stores and 21 factory outlets covering total retail...

54th Week@XIMB - 17th June to 23rd June, 2012 17th June - I started traveling for Bhubaneswar from home. Traveling in the various compartments of the train makes our interaction different class emerging and present in India. A 8 hour journey in jam pack general compartment of the train makes one tough and bares grim reality of poor infrastructure of this developing country. Yet if we can choose, we can live in the world of comforting illusion. 18th June - The train was late in the arrival just by 2 hours. Rain and storm welcomed me back to the educational institute of east India. There was new batch roaming around in XIMB. A new group of budding rural managers were going to start their journey. In my opinion nearly all students who enter this prgramme with a certain amount of idealism and desire to serve the public, but after two years of competition and loan. And slowly everybody care for nothing but the right job with the right company where we all can get in top level manag...

53rd Week@XIMB - 10th June to 16th June, 2012 Arbeit macht frei is a German phrase, literally "labour makes (you) free" . The slogan “Arbeit macht frei” was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. These last 52 weeks were not tedious labour yet occupied me with several assignments. This was full vacation week away at home from anything related to academics. I visited to Varanasi for a retrospective tour. I celebrated one year of satisfied student life. 13th June 2011 was the last working day and I was out of the front gate of CSC. Within two minutes of final settlement, the mental pain of incompetency in the software arena sublimed. Bye bye team meetings, bye bye security pass, bye bye management. I posted an awesome resignation email to all my team mates. The sun has never shone so bright, the air has never tasted so sweet, I have never felt lighter, than that moment. I was free. I was free. I was so ecstatically free I could smell th...

52nd Week@XIMB - 3rd June to 9nd June, 2012 03rd June - I reached to Bhopal early in the morning. In the whole journey, I was thinking about Bhind district from socio-cultural perspective. Growing up in the cities like Varanasi, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Kanpur is a completely different than Bhind. The people here are more simple yet rigid in their world view. The religious and caste bias runs deep down than one city boy can imagine. Politics at grass-root level is caste dominated, bullet-ridden and blood soaked. The more unjust and arbitrary a system is, the greater the impression that one has to fight for one's own survival. Hence, one can think of bullying of upper caste with violence. A society without a caste system does not and cannot exist – especially when it is free, heterogeneous, and complex. When a highly respected institution like caste and religion that’s a powerful player in cultural life rewards a representative for intolerance, there’s reason for concern. 04th J...

51st Week@XIMB - 27th May to 2nd June, 2012 27th May - I find one more good articles on MPWPCL in Business Standard :- MP women`s poultry co-op to up production . One more website was explored : BELL Teaching Case Studies - BELL teaching cases explore sustainability related business challenges and capture business decisions that identify environmental challenges as business development opportunities. They are now freely available via the catalog below. Navjyoti is a community based-paced-managed-owned enterprise system in Padmapur Block, Rayagada district. XIMB is one of the patron of this enterprise. Navajyoti as a Community Enterprise System is a Producer’s Company that is being assisted by NABARD-XIMB-Sustainability Trust. Fasal is an easy to use yet sophisticated SMS based platform which gives actionable information on price, potential buyer info, weather to the farmers make more money. 28th May - NGOBOX and SAMS Jobsonline are good website for recruiter of the De...

3rd Week --- 26th June to 2 July : A hectic schedule of classes, assignments and projects. Watched Manthan . A must watch movie for RM students on White Revolution and luckily was available on xsysserver. Movie is based on a story written jointly by Verghese Kurien (the Father of the White Revolution in India) and director Shyam Benegal. Nandankanan Trip missed. Election for Cultural Representative takes place. Gaurish's decision to stay back was a moral boost for me. Courier arrived finally with all stuffs. I am liking XIMB now !!! Thanks to Mriganka Mondal for this beautiful protest song.

2nd Week --- 19th June to 25th June : This week was indulged in studying, meetings and alumni talks. Room no. 219 was named as General Headquarters Rawalpandi and Room no. 216 Incubation center for RM 2011-2013 batch ! Library Card was issued but no books taken by me! Laptop was repaired but no further use in Education ! Courier of the Bags and accessories was delayed for 3 more days ! SRP ( Socially Relevant Projects): kicked off. A visit to the field changes the thinking pattern of people. Looking forward towards it. Communication Class : What a class and a fantastic teacher. Loved the video recording session. The feedback was a learning experience of lifetime. Rural Development and Administration Class : So much of pre-read material helping me this time. Other subjects are quite interesting. But the high point is pedagogy of the teaching. Never have experience of such an open environment and teachers acting as facilitators. Pitched for fist time in an election but ...

1st Week --- 14th June to 18th June 14th June : In XIMB at Bhubaneswar. Hostel allotted at Fr. Bogaert Residence. 15th June : Purchasing accessories for room and interaction with new people. 16th June : Orientation program was like warning session of upcoming storms. Briefing on Library was also given. Hostel Briefing looks like ethics preaching. 17th June : Missed Information Technology Briefing. Ice Breaking and Living in XIMB session rocked. I was in Group C : Catch us if you can. Elephant drawn by team looks like on steroid in one body part and malnourished in another. Truly X- elephant.  Men's Hostel Dining Room No.2 started with good meal. First time girls come up in our hostel! Briefing of Conduct and discipline, course feedback and mentors were precise and seemed strict. Given an inspiration for pursuing constructive criticism. 18th June : Case discussion over "Questioning to Learn" was interesting. Watched four videos of XIMB alumni. One Video o...