T-Nite

For the fachchas, the biggest cultural event of their first year is right around the corner. This reminds us of our last August (mis)-adventures which we are surely not going to forget soon :)

T-Nite or Talent Nite is one topic that can crop up in your discussion with batchmates, alumni and even the recruiters on campus. "Who won it this year?", "What did you guys do on Mess Nite?" and "I am sure Section-XYZ would have cheated" are a regular feature especially if you know that your section did not take the trophy home :)

Well T-Nite, apart from being the first major cultural competition in campus, also serves many other purposes.

Stress buster: No matter how bad the exams have been, how tough the cases are for the next few days, how many surprise quizzes went bad, you tend to forget everything during the series of night out with classmates writing newsletters, making posters, trying to spy on other sections :P

Section bonding: The folklore at WIMWI says that if you have not managed to talk to a person during T-Nite, most likely you would not be able to talk to him/her during the entire first year as well. So many events, so many teams, so few fachchas :), this is a sureshot way of knowing each other than never before.

Bragging rights: Well, while the T-Nite winners take the cup and the rights to brag for the entire year, each section would definitely manage to find a silver lining in the course of event over 3 days even if it is "But you know, we did win the Lemon and Spoon race" :)

Fachcha-Tuchcha Bonding: Innumerable "Gyaan" sessions, tuchcha shouting their hearts out during the performances and returning at midnight to take REMs for the next day courses, lending their bikes to the logi guys to buy posters instead of going on a date, it really doesn't get bigger than this :)

And a lot more as you would see at the very end of the event when each of you sees the section video being played in the RJM, the madness of the last 4 days comes back flashing and leave you with tons of memories for the entire year :)

Dorms: We can't live "in" them, we can't live without them :)

I was prompted to write this post when I heard 3 fachchas cribbing about each of their dorms on the same day.

Well, no matter HOW

1) Loud your neighbour plays his favorite songs especially during the time that you sleep, or,

2) Small your room seems to be or,

3) Many facilities we lack in our dorms that perhaps the other IIMs, ISB, Global Bschools may offer

There are definitely certain advantages of the dorms that we should make best use of.

Dorm bonding: Well, admit it. In no other "hostel" in the country will your tuchcha come to your room to ask you if you are free to play cricket in the common area, or if you need help with a particular subject/assignment or if nothing else, just to chant MFM because he is free :)

Often, we tend to forget this all important feature of the dorms and stay inside our rooms for eternity. Just move out once to see what all the place has to offer and you will definitely not be disappointed.

Super-Tuchchas: Well, this would for sure be my favorite. Where else would you find a passout of the 1976 Batch just dropping in to see his old room! And seeing that there are only 20 or 40 of you mugging still, decides to take the entire dorm out for a dinner.

And when you are returning, you realize he is a CEO of a top multinational and you had read his interview in Business Times only 3 weeks back!!

Dorm Rivalry: Diwali Lights? Dormination? Cricket tournament? If nothing else, the good ol' tempo shouts are sure to stay with you forever as sweet memories of the dorm rivalry of these days in the Institute.

Dorm Names: Well who else can give you a new name that stays with you forever? When the CXO of top multinational mention their names on the lines of "Vindi" Banga etc.

Misc: Ever heard of getting a mail in your inbox at undergrad saying "Clothes lying in washing machines, please remove asap" or "Dorm-x doing tempo shouts, come outside to dunk them asap". And then follows a series of spam on the thread! Alas! These are the lives and times in the dorms.

So next time you want to crib about staying in your dorm, remember what all others are missing :)

Life beyond Clubs/SIGs/Committees/Events

Now that most of the Clubs/SIGs/Committees/Events have released their fachcha selections, we can see the emergence of two sets of groups. First, the ones who were selected in a club or two and are getting busier by the day with the work their tuchchas are loading them with and the others who did not get into any of the clubs of their choice are now are back to the books/ completely disappointed / unhappy with the system.

Firstly, one thing that we should all remember is that over 2 lakh took the CAT, over 2000 were shortlisted and only few made the cut to come this far. This automatically makes you a final selection of something much more prestigious than all of the clubs combined. Additionally, as far as the "CV Point" phenomena is concerned, there are far too many things going on in campus to 1) Keep your CV as empty as it was when you came in and 2) To let you get bored while others are super busy with their "Club work"

So here I have tried to compile a host of events/activities which keep happening throughout the year and keep you busy as well:
1) IIMACTs plays: You do not need to be a member of IIMACTS to act in the plays. For most activities, they float a survey to gauge the response of the batch and take auditions of those who applied.

2) LSD Quizzes: Sooner you would realize, that as a LSD member, you can only conduct the quizzes. The good ol' taking the quiz, knowing nothing till the quizmaster gives you the answer and then banging your head of it being common sense would be only for the fachchas who are not organizing it.

3) Confluence: Arguably the biggest BSchool event in Asia has enough events and their prelims to keep you busy for 2 years, let alone 1 :)

4) Last year, we had Aditya Birla's Stratos event

5) There was KPMG's International Case Study competition

6) Tata Business Leadership Awards

7) Mahindra War Room

8) FII project team selections are still to happen and a host of fachchas would soon get busy with live industry projects.

While these are the events which happened in the campus itself, there were many others of which IIMA would get the invite.

Ofcourse, there is also a need for volunteering for initiatives such as the Joy of Giving Week/ Campus Walk. That makes it point number 9.

Finally, for those who still feel that they have more time to kill, there would be an Alumni Speaker Series starting soon which would help you interact with Vice Presidents, CEOs, Partners of global majors on campus each month. This sums our top 10 for today :)

So those who thought they missed out on a CV point or do not have enough on their plate, don't worry, there is always something or the other on the campus to keep you busy. Just keep your eyes and ears open :)

WACked out: The Last Mile

Finally decided to put pen to paper again :)

Since it is almost time for the fachchas to submit their "yet another" WAC report (albeit only online I heard), I thought there should be a gyaan session on what all needs to be done at the last minute.

Honestly, a last minute preparation does help in WAC.

So assuming that most of the fachchas would be done with their content by now, it is important to complete the below checklist before the submission time.

1) Cover Page: Mistakes are pretty common on this one. Unfortunately, it sets the tone for the evaluation of the rest of the report as well sometimes. Topic, "For the requirements of ... ", Name of the Professor (Spelling mistakes can be costly :) ), AA, Your name, Section, Roll Number, Date and IIMA Logo (I guess it is optional) are some of the things you should have on the cover page.

2) Letter of Transmittal: From, To, Subject, gist of the recommendation in the body should be double checked.

Instead of a Letter of Transmittal, you may have to write a memo as well depending on the context of the report.

3) Executive Summary: Check if you have written about all the things in your report (Situation Analysis, Problem Statement, Options, Criteria, Evaluation of options and the recommendation) here. Do not forget to mention the number of words.

4) Table of Contents: Use MS Word to auto generate it for you. Saves a lot of trouble.

5) Situation Analysis: As the topic suggest, even if you are stating 2-3 facts, make sure that you have a reason (read: analysis) of why you are wasting those precious number of words. Its always helpful.

6) Criteria and Evaluation of Options on the basis of the same: Make sure that you apply all the criteria to all the options. Many a times to make sure that our pre-decided solution comes out to be the best, we do not apply the criteria which would not show our pre-selected solution as the best alternative.

7) Try and include a "To the point" action plan as well.

8) Do not forget the number of words at the end of the report ( Count from Situation Analysis till the starting of Exhibits(if any) )

9) Incase you have decided to mention a backup plan (not compulsory), do not choose an option that you have already rejected previously. A backup plan should not be one of those.

10) Most importantly, just finish everything and read your report as you would read a newspaper article. While reading it in a flow, you would be able to spot many grammatical and spelling errors. Best would be if you could get it read/ reviewed through a friend who does not know your writing style.

All the best. Hope it helps!