Jan 5, 2013

82nd Week@XIMB

82nd Week@XIMB - 30th December to 5th January, 2012

30th December - I stayed true to myself and started preparation for the development sector.

31st December - Why MBA in Rural Management and Engineering? The most cliche and funny answer given these days is 'competitive advantage'.

1st January - I went out to Chilika Lake for a vacationer tour.

2nd January - I missed classes to study for placement purpose. I had a surprise quiz in

3rd January - I was not selected in BRLPS (Jeevika). I studies from the website only but find this document(pdf) quite useful.

4th January - I was not selected in AISECT. I studied and prepared from a compendium on Mission mode projects under NeGP.

5th January - I am posting here the websites that will be useful for exploring data. FAOSTAT, World Bank Data Center, OECD Statistics & Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, India (National Data Warehouse of Official Statistics)

Dec 29, 2012

81st Week@XIMB

81st Week@XIMB - 23rd December to 29th December, 2012

23rd December - XIMB stops accepting IRMA scores for rural management program, will now only accept CAT, XAT or CMAT. That is the news rolling over at pagalguy. I don't know its implications. XIMB-RM may succeeds tactically in the eyes of AICTE, but fails strategically in the eyes of applicants in term of its reputation.

Rather than trying to be a person I cannot be - to do this or do that - I went back to reconstruct my own strengths. I had come here for development hence will not go for a high paying (sales/marketing) job.

24th December - CMD, GID and SER class.

It was quite nice to study sociology in GID lecture. Even today, after years of education and modernity, women didn't get the respect that they are entitled to. Yes, low enrollment of girls in this course is quite dramatically low. May be these girls either know everything or just don't want to discuss these issues.

25th December - Christmas is in the town, hence holiday. I had became shadow of the person who once was possessed with an individuality and self-belief. There is a clear difference between me as the person on two different occasion- one fighting inner demons, the other surrendering to the mental barriers.

Sound logic with brutal and bare truths is the Australian way. I will be adding conversation with friends, meditation and music in the to daily routine.

26th December - There were more discussion in GID class about sex and gender issues. Diversity of views were amazing that made me look and appreciate perspectives that I never knew existed.

27th December - Managers have to navigate the dynamics of governance contexts at various levels that impact organizational trajectories of the international environmental and trading regimes to shifts in national policy or market regulation to changes in organizational relationships with partners and networks. Thus was the brief introduction of GD course.

Yes, there is hidden apartheid and distinction between various courses floating at XIMB. Not all courses are treated equally by majority of faculty and administration. Some of this can be attributed to the lack of sincerity by RM students throughout many batches. There is no clear communication by faculty encourage people to plan their life and career more sensibly. A vocational college fails under current framework when its student operate under pressurized and uncertain job situation, as this don't provide them even elusive social or economic security necessary for survival. People also say “we all agree that we need to ensure rural managers get paid” even though, from the perspective of an individual welfare against loan, discussions rather than action are completely unimportant.

28th December - Our seniors had left few companies that are not well-suited to them in less than a year. That is harming our proposition in this dull market.

29th December - I am not able to focus for few minutes on a single thing. IRP field work is pending from a long time. I had made my life in the pursuit of short term goals.

Dec 22, 2012

80th Week@XIMB

80th Week@XIMB - 16th December to 22nd December 2012

16th December - STM book reading session started today.

Prof Deepak Malhotra - HBS - 2012 Speech to Graduating Harvard MBA Students

17th December - STM reading session continues.

18th December - “Complacency is a part of Indian psyche and you can’t do much about it. Every time an Indian tries to be ambitious he is pulled down and that’s one of the reasons why Indians don’t have the killer mentality,” Sunil Gavaskar once observed.

The fees are submitted. Yet I didn't find enough motivation to attend classes next trimester. Without a dream to chase, the soul stagnates. This has happened to many individuals here at this place. I once wanted to change the brawn environment of RM but failed miserably. This place has the capacity to pull down in an institutionalized way. Neither are we great in knowledge nor have sufficient human capital in the alumni database.

19th December -STM exams were over. I started studying financial inclusion: Financial Inclusion by Extension of Banking Services – Use of Business Correspondents (BCs), Financial Literacy and Credit Counselling Centres and Financial Inclusion talk by Deputy Governor, RBI. Those who are more interested in examining their banking knowledge can give quizzes here at the IIBF website.

20th December - BM guys have nailed very good jobs today. That is much talk of the town today. Always aspire, never envy. I have chosen to take a career path with the TINA effect - there is no alternative.

21st December - FINO aspiration dies slowly. I qualified in the aptitude test but was disqualified in an HR interview. The only one reason that my batch-mates are getting jobs is that they had prepared much meticulously than me. They simply did not turn up and expect things to get done on past achievements. The twin crises of a shortage of jobs and a shortage of skills are hampering mine growth.

22nd December - There was a private meeting of few people with the student placement committee coordinator regarding rumours of future dates of the company visit to campus. With the batch size of 100, it will be a gargantuan achievement for placing all people in their favourite sectors. RM is not given importance by the administration and Placement Coordinator at XIMB. When the placement will falter, a lot of low paying NGO's will be pushed for recruitment. I have been hoping for the last 18 months that things will be all right as opposed to wanting to make them all right. How bad will it get before it gets better?

There is a rage within each student of the RM program with this careless approach. I am in the right mind will never ask anybody to join this program until a new campus is established. Nothing grows in the shadows of the big banyan tree. Continuing to the raging voices, there is nothing more risky and volatile of all things than a self-pitying majority. It's now is the question of identity and only partition is the solution. XIMB - BM has a big network of alumni who are spread all across the globe and have made their names in different fields. And for few exceptions, there is not much harmony at a 'professional' level between these two courses. Also, the majority of students have the habit of placing loyalty to their programs above professionalism for the sake of XIMB.

One must record history to prevent atrocities from happening again. I am finding pleasure to write this blog now. Placing a story of struggle in the placement scenario is a position that goes against the dominant narrative manufactured by B Schools. It is generally believed that anything that is not read, watched or consumed with immediate gratification can't survive for long. Even if I have to compromise on the delay in leaking out such heated debates about XIMB, I assume it's worth it and will never compromise on the authenticity of every written word.