Jairam's Jives

The next 3 days, ie, after the previous post have been no less hectic in terms of classes, pre readings, presentation, assignments, and the works.

Two courses are done, viz, Corporate Banking, and B2B marketing. Both the profs were quite amazing, very different in their approaches to addressing the classes, but very effective nevertheless. Both of them brought valuable industry experiences to the class and ensured that we made the most of their glories and victories while learning from their pitfalls and mistakes.

Got a week to go in which 4 exams are scheduled. 2 of these, I have absolutely no idea about (Sales and Distribution Management and BPR/ERP) while the other 2 seem decent enough (Advg and sales promo and Corp Banking). Whoa, hold on, there's Intl Mktg also, which is quite OK.

The past 3 days, ie, Tue, Wed and Thu have gone past in a blurry haze. What with 2 sessions of B2B marketing and one session of ASPM each, with one session of IM thrown in for good measure.

The funda behind the blurry haze being the fact that the B2B prof expects us to read the entire case thoroughly, take a stand and prepare sufficiently well for the class.

Team Mercur-i, please take a bow. Of all the special events that have been organised on campus, the one that I loved the most this year was the BRAND DESIGN WORKSHOP organised by Mercur-i this past Sunday.

We had Ms Ashwini Deshpande from Elephant Designs, Pune with us on campus and she conducted a 4 hr workshop on various aspects of Visual Product Design with us.

Every quiz I conduct back here at IIM Indore is a labor of love, which is carefully nurtured from the time I conceptualise it in conjunction with the relevant club secretary, viz, Govar for Infinit-i, Krishnan for Mercur-i, Nayyar for Currenc-i, Dandu for SportsCom, etc.

The title of this post is directly related to the discussion that we just had at the Strategic HRM course. While the discussion was primarily about the 360 degree performance appraisal system, the applicability of this concept of Geert Hofstede's epoch making study came up in between and this set me thinking.

The Prof was of the opinion (and I tend to agree with him) that we Indians are quite a confused lot.

Well, it's that time of the year when the hill comes alive in all its glory. Yes, I'm referring to SBI IRIS 2005 which descends on the campus in approximately 11.5 hrs from now. This year, IRIS is bigger, better and more extravagant than it has ever been in its short history of 6 yrs.

My typical day begins with my Nokia 6150 beeping away at around 7.25 AM, in tandem with my Orpat Alarm Clock (which by the way has an additional crescendo effect, for good measure). Up from my bed, I groggily grab my Colgate accessories, rush into the bathroom hoping that both the elegant Parryware closet and the wash basin are free, in no particular order though.

I could go on and on about a typical day at IIM Indore, but that is not what this post is about.