IIM Indore GDPI Experience

Friday the 13^th Feb, A friend (Maroo for those who know him) told me that it is a unlucky combination. The group discussion and Interview was scheduled for 8:30 in the morning.

Slept at 1:30 in night and got up at 6:30.I was feeling a little sleepy the whole time.

Around 20 people were scheduled for the morning period. People divided in two groups of 10 people each. We were taken into a room where there was a rectangular table and we were allotted the seats.

We were handed over the case study with an extra sheet to note down few points that we want to. We were supposed to read the case for 30 minutes and write our analysis on the form that we were going to submit.

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The case was something like this: (This is complete from my memory so I am not sure if I missed something or by mistake added something. I have tried my level best to put here whatever I had read)

Ramcharan was looking into the problems that he was facing. He was reading the resignation letter of Sarah. She was the forth experienced worker who was leaving the job.

His father and his uncle Radheshyam were the ‘Karta’ of the joint family. Ramcharan, Ramdev (not too sure about this name ), Leeladhar were siblings and Radheshyam had just one daughter Radha. They had a big ancestral home and 20 acres of cultivable land on the banks of a small river. Radheshyam was a teacher and traded in agro based products like wheat.

Ramcharan was a fresh graduate from college when Radheshayam had suggested him to go for a career in IT but Ramcharan wanted to start him own cashew processing unit. So without any prior experience in the corporate world he started his own business. He required experienced people and so he hired them at high pay and also arranged for their families to be moved. He started with two varieties of cashew (medium and high end). For the first two years he was able to make good profit and so he was able to procure bank loans to buy new machines. He was thinking of expanding the unit to a cold storage and mango-jelly processing unit.

Recently due to high produce of cashew all types of processed cashew’s value reduced by 20%. The price fell to a level where he was having difficulty in meeting his expenses as well. So he had to cut down on the routine maintenance of the machines. Moreover not-so-reliable supply of electricity from the electricity board was also resulting in loss of productivity. For this the consultants advised to use generators for electricity. There were some high-end Technicians in the company and they were also asking for a raise in pay.

His brother Ramdev had completed his MCA and was getting an admission in one of the top 20 universities in US. He expected the joint family to take care of his educational expenses. Radheshyam was thinking of marrying Radha to an IT consultant who belonged to the same place and was doing well. Also from last two years Radheshyam was not making any profits in his business. At this time he thought that the prices of wheat have reached an all time low and it is the time to invest in wheat and store stocks of wheat.

In her exit interview Sarah told Ramcharan that her son was doing well as an IT engineer and he did not want Sarah to work here anymore. This echoed the same thing even other workers who left the job had said. What should Ramcharan do?

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After the GD we were sent out and then people were called at random. I was the 7-8 one to be called. The interviews were generally short (not more than 15 minutes and an average of 10-12 minutes).

All the people who came out of the interview were pretty relaxed. The two moderators were the interview panel members (P1, P2).

Really cool people. They welcomed me inside and asked me to sit. Then they were going from my form.

They asked me for my certificates and I was taking out my marksheets when P2 asked me for my whole file.

P1: Tell me something about yourself

Me: Told them that I grew up in Calcutta. Balance between academics and extracurricular, Moral Integrity, Grand parents told stories from ramayan and mahabharat. Openness to learn whenever given an opportunity. College activities etc.

P1: What do you think was the main problem in the Satyam fiasco? Integrity or Laws?

Me: Told both. Integrity was obviously not there because of which laws were manipulated. Told them how the shares were mortgaged and then sold by those people. Mr Ramalingaraju used this statement by saying that he and his family did not sell any shares.

P1: What is meaning of google?

Me: No idea sir!

P1: Take a guess:

Me: I would say go-ogle that is to go and look or search something.

At this both of them started smiling and looking at each other.

P1: What is Core-2 duo technology? Why do we use it?

Me: Told about more than one processor to parallelize jobs.

P1: other than speed?

Me: Heat dissipation

P1: Who is chairman of Microsoft?

Me: Previously it was Bill gates now Ballmer.

P1: Why was he in news 2-3 months back?

I looked doubtful so he said that in regard to yahoo.

Me: Oh! That was quite some time back. Microsoft had given a bid to buy Yahoo and Yahoo didn’t reply back for a long time and then Microsoft had taken back its offer.

P1: Why do you think the deal did not convert?

Me: Yahoo was looking at other business options and also in talks with other companies like Google.

P1 to P2: you have questions

P2: You said you have interest in messages from Mahabharat. What messages did you learn.

Me: Quoted a ‘shlok’ and told about learnings.

P2: Who said this shlok?

Me: Shri Krishna

P1: You write poems also, say something you wrote recently!

Me: Recited a poem that I wrote sometime back.

P1: Do you blog also?

Me: Told him that sometimes and that I had posted a Ghazal that I wrote on the blog recently.

P1: (Laughed) You write ghazals also? Can you sing?

Me: Tried my hands a little on that too. Cannot sing at all !!

(they were both smiling )

P1: Who among the contemporary you like the most among ghazal singers?

Me: Recently started reading ghazals and all and liked Faiz Ahmed Faiz a lot. In fact he was the inspiration for my ghazal writing.

P1: What about Firaq Gorukhpuri?

Me: I am not good a judge. Did not read all that much.

P1: Do you have good knowledge of Urdu?

Me: Not much sir, in fact had a lot of problem which reading the ghazals initially but then understood while reading.

P1: Any Indian player of TT ?

Me: Don’t know of any Indian player but told the top player of the world. Don’t follow TT as a sport just play for fun.

P1: Which country is he from?

Me: China.

Both the interviewer exchanged looks and asked anything else to each other and then said ok you can go.

Me: Thank you sir!!

Came out and was talking to the people outside. Then I came to know of my biggest blunder.

I had not written my Name in the form that I had submitted and P2 came running after to ask me to write that. This was really embarrassing. !!

But on the whole it was a good experience . The Profs were really nice and kind.

Let’s see what happens next!!

East vs West

Few of us were standing and talking generally one fine morning when we talking about some arbitrary stuff (which I don’t remember now) but I remember saying Kurt Cobain died young and people used to worship him as God to which my friend replied that this is the problem with the western culture, they make anyone as God.

This triggered a huge discussion which went for almost two hours and involved eight people. The whole discussion included everything from comparison of Indian and Western Culture to the differences in the religious practices.

I would just write few points that we discussed.

Guiding philosophy for Indian culture is sacrifice, satisfaction and sharing while for the Western Culture fulfilling their material needs seems to be guiding them which never gets fulfilled and for their complete lifetime people in the west just seem to be running after things which matter the least and remain unsatisfied.

People in the West are oriented towards advancement of Science and Technology and “exploit” the nature and make it best usable for man. This has led to our better understanding of the nature but at the same time also resulted in mast industrialization which led to different problems like global warming and capitalism.

Christian missionaries do a lot of work for improving the condition of poor. They educate and take care of so many orphans but some may argue that they are led by the motive of conversion and all they do after this helping is convert people to their religion while Hindu Religion had no concept of conversion from long back. During medieval times when people converted from Hindu Religion to Muslims there was no way for them to convert back even if they wanted to. Hinduism never tried to take its flagship to different countries instead it always received people with open arms if they come in peace or in seek of knowledge.

Different parts of the world have been so intolerant towards so many religions. Indians were always too tolerant and adjusting towards any religion of culture that set foot on Indian lands. Jews had faced a lot of hatred in number of places but India was one country where they could establish in peace.

But at the same time we did also argue that the ingrained caste system in the Indian Society and the kind of treatment that is received by the lower castes from ages shows that there is also a dark side to the golden coin. Sudras (the working class) were the people who were looked down upon and ill treated. This caste division can still be seen in large part of the nation.

Woman who enjoyed equal position as men during the Vedic times had seen lot of suppression after it and even till today in lot of Indian families. Crime rate against women in India is very high compared to those in the western countries. A recent TV series “Balika Vadhu” caught a lot of attention which brought up the topic of Child marriage.

Religion as well as Region has led to lot of tussles among people. Few months back the Maharashtra-Bihar problem is an example of such a situation which also shows presence of intolerance among people.

So Indian Society though build of sacrifice it seems that it is the sacrifice of the few the lower caste and women and though they are tolerant there are shades of grey to the picture. On the other hand Western Culture though oriented towards science and technology have still given rise to problems of consumerism and capitalism which has made man more unsatisfied then ever and added to its grievances. But the condition of labor class in Western countries is much better than that of India.

Also we did come to a point where we were confused as to whether we should define culture as the fundamentals (the original practices of a place) or as the practices which are a result of the change and evolution over a period. A lot of arguments placed above would change accordingly as to the choice of definition of culture.

From all this the logical conclusion that I can draw is there are good and bad to both the cultures and what we acquire from the west and retain from our own is totally an individual’s choice.

Ghazal – Raat Bhar

Tere yaad main hum jalte rahe raat bhar
Tere mohabbat main jeete rahe raat bhar

Sirf tujh se hi dil lagi ki hai humne
Sirf tere hi khayalon main khoye raat bhar

Zamane bhar ko paraya kar diya humne
Tujhe hi apna mana hai humne raat bhar

Teri soorat ko dil main basa liya humne
Aur yuhi chaand ko dekhte rahe raat bhar

Tha sannata jaha tak bhi meri nigahe gayi
Teri Khushboo aati rahi bagho se raat bhar

Sara jahan udhar reh gaya sota hua
Teri yaad main ‘harshu’ jagta raat bhar

P.S 0 First time tried my hands on writing a Ghazal

P.S 1 BTP viva ,  project deadlines, end sems, placements all in a row (

Regional Tussles

I am greatly disturbed with the kind of politics that is going on in Maharastra and so I am forced to write down this post.

I don’t know if the parties like MNS realize the way they are carrying on violence against people based on the region they belong to will result in chain reactions in different parts of country which could bring down the whole secular structure of the nation.

Carrying out violence against innocent is just uncalled for. Any person is an Indian first. A place like Mumbai is what it is today because of so many different kinds of people that are living their. It is the commercial capital of India and so people from different parts of India come to the city to build a career and to deny that is like denying a person to breathe. Consider Bollywood which has emerged as one of the largest industry of India.

It has people which belong to all the parts of the country and together their talents entertain people of the whole country. Tell me something will Bollywood still have its touch if all the non-Maharastrans removed from it.

Most of the companies have set their headquarters in Maharastra and all of them don’t have their origin from there so how wrong it is to not show violence when you are asked to share resources while one can accept resources from different places with a grin on the face.

The country is divided in states just for the easy of administration and not because we don’t allow people from one state to seek job in other. Otherwise the states would have been different countries. If there is a problem it should be faced together and just safe guarding oneself or to hurt others to remove them from the path is worse then animals because even they share with their own families.

Bengaluru & Hyderabad has IT professionals from all over India. Delhi being the capital of the nation has people from all the different states living there. Marvaris of Rajasthan can be prominently seen in business sector throughout the nation. If all the different states start playing the same dirty politics will it still leave our nation as united?

Already agitations are seen in the state of Bihar and if things continue the same way in Maharastra it won’t take time for other states to join in. The country is already suffering from instances of communal riots and if we add on these regional tussles to it I don’t know how many lives would be gone before we realize that too many lives have gone.

Welcome to “Rural India”

I know it is a bit late to write something about a movie which was released a long back but still if I leave this unwritten I would be doing injustice to the movie and topics it has raised. Inspired by the movie “Welcome to Sajjanpur” I was forced to pen down few things.

The movie is a combination of astonishing performances, unprecedented story line, unparallel presentation and innumerous sarcasms and messages. The way Shyam Benegal has blended the prevalent problems with humor while keeping the art alive is magnificent.

A story of a village named Sajjanpur is not just a story of one village but it is the story of rural India as a whole. The movie presents the message in very subtle and soft terms.

It focuses on the problem of “Goonda Raj”. Few resourceful people force others to work according to them. They try to manipulate elections and never think before eliminating people who cause a treat to them.

Movie has a small street play which features problems of farmers and cultivators which they face when they are stripped away from their land for the setup of industries. They also point out how in this process farmers who work on contract and don’t have any land of their own are reduced to bits and pieces.

It talks about problems of the families whose members go to cities in search of work and don’t come back for a long time.

It talks about the problem of superstitions which is vastly prevalent and drives a lot of decisions that people make in their day to day life.

It talks about a part of society where still child marriage exists and widows are not allowed to remarry.

It talks about illiteracy of the mass that can’t even write letters to someone or read one from their loved ones.

It talks about communal discrimination and how it is used against minorities sometimes.

I don’t know if the title of the movie is sarcasm or not. ‘Sajjan’ in Hindi means a good person and so ‘Sajjanpur’ becomes a place of good people. The question here is even after the presence of so many delinquents can we truly call a place as abode of the good or is it that the presence of so many noble people even after such conditions is praise worthy and so it can be called a home of the good.

P.S 0 writing a post after a long gap

P.S 1 had a wonderful time at home during Dusheras

Why Art, Literature and History ??

As a kid I never liked literature and history all that much. Whenever I read a poem or a prose I would think how is this going to help me in future and I won’t find an answer. When I would read about rise and fall of a dynasty I would think what has this got to do with what is going on today. When those things were compulsory I never understood their importance. And today when I don’t have any compulsion to read or write anything related to literature or history I realize how essential they are in framing the personality of a person.

Artist, Poets and Writers present things in different ways, they put forward a point of view which may have never seen before. They use beautiful language, hard realities, metaphors, examples etc to show us new aspects of analyzing different things. Did we ever stop and look at a tree which is shedding its leaves in autumn? To most of us it is just any natural phenomenon but some poets saw fall of empires and decline of humanity in that.

Art and literature are something which help us reflect on our actions and connects us to the society. They raise questions and force us to think. Great writers have tried time and again to sensitize people about the needs and problems of other members of the society.

History on the other hand shapes the way we view the present. It is said one who controls the past controls the future. If one really wants to control a civilization first erase its history. History creates the pride in ones own civilization and culture. If you kill that it won’t take much time to enslave the people.

Apart from benefiting the society, art, history and literature also enrich individual souls. You would find answers to lot of questions that bother you day in and day out hidden in arts and epigrams of artists and poets. You may find solution of a problem you are facing right now in the pages of history. 

From now whenever you come across a piece of art or history just try to stop and see what the author wants to convey. I know you will find much more hidden inside then that is visible on the crust. 

P.S 0 this post is not a preaching just an experience after taking a literature reading course. 

P.S 1 read more poems in recent times than rest of my life. Its fun now!! 

P.S 2 any ideas how to make history and literature interesting to read in schools is more than welcome. 

Entrepreneurship in India

So many people in India think of starting up their own companies some day or the other but how many of them have enough resources or background to do so remains a question.  

 A lot of comparative studies are done on business regulations in India, as well as other countries. While these studies say that India has comparative advantage in human resources, skills, demographic profile and growing domestic demands but India fares poorly in its business environment.

In the report Doing Business 2008 which is published by World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, India is ranked 120th out of 178 – even behind countries such as The Maldives (60th ) , Pakistan (76th ) , Sri Lanka (101st) , Bangladesh (107th) and Nepal (111th ).

  Any entrepreneur starting a business requires access to reliable information on various aspects of business regarding regulatory issues, registration process, available source of finance, infrastructure and so on. This information is not readily available and this is one of the major hurdles faced by an entrepreneur.

 The World Bank Report, ‘Doing Business in South Asia 2007’ says that it takes 35 days (in Mumbai) to 52 days (Delhi) to start a business in India. A large number of separate registrations for Tax Account Number (TAN), Permanent Account Number (PAN) etc are to completed before you can start anything.

 Complex Taxation policies and inadequate Infrastructure in the present scenario are few of the other hindrances for an entrepreneur.

 At this point it would be totally relevant to have Entrepreneurship as a priority subject even in technical institutions. Aspects of Entrepreneurship such as business ethics, early enterprise management, aspects of scaling up, India Corporate Law etc can be part of such a course. Business schools have such curricula but there is no need for a person to put in 2 years of their lives at a Business School if they can generate enough confidence and knowledge to start up their own venture while doing their graduation. Activities to develop leadership and team building skills and developing platforms to interact with other entrepreneurs and financial communities can be taken up.

 A lot of initiatives taken up by IIIT-H can be seen as an encouragement in this direction. Entrepreneurship Cell, Industrial Partnerships, active Research and Development, Community Building and so many other small and large activities are positive steps.

Now it depends upon us to utilize and even strengthen these initiatives while being here as well as after passing out. 

Why do we write ?

Why do we write a blog or for that matter any article or a poem?

Whenever we write something and post it on a forum what are we looking for? Is it public acceptance or appreciation or something else?

Whenever we send anything to be printed in a magazine and it gets rejected do we feel sad?

Or writing our thoughts is a necessity for us?

 Rainer Maria Rilke, one of the greatest writers of 20^th Century, in his letter to a young poet says ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? He said if one feels one could live without writing, then one shouldn’t write at all.

 Do we see whatever we have written as a piece of our life and a voice from it? When something flows from our heart there is a sense of owning it and then no criticism bothers us. 

But does this mean that we can write anything and forget if someone else is hurt due to something that we write?

Each of us should decide the answers for ourselves. 

P.S 0 Feels nice having written my first Serious Post 

P.S 1 Song of the Day:- “Tum ho to” from Rock on!!

P.S 2 BTP Viva shifted to 23rd 

Hello world!

 

 

 

Me

 

 

Hi all,

  This is Harsh Vardhan Bansal. Currently I am a student at IIIT-Hyderabad. “Hello world” was the title of the post with which I was welcomed to wordpress.com as a blogger. I chose not to change it when I am writing this. 

It has been a long time since I was “thinking” of blogging but as it is said “a thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all”.

So, finally as I am here let me say “Hello World”

Well being a computer science student the moment I hear “Hello World” it reminds me of the first computer program I ever wrote. From that day till now I have traveled a long road but still when I look back it is just like yesterday.

I am here just to write few of my thoughts and issues that bother me or I think can be a food of thought for everyone.

As I am new to this I apologize beforehand for whatever mistakes that I am going to make and expect support from all of you who read this blog.

Any comments and suggestions are welcomed!! You can contact me at harshbansal87@gmail.com !! 

 

P.S 0 just picked up the post script culture from all the other blogs that I read  

P.S 1 had a hard timing picking my theme. There were so many of them.