My journey of two years....

My journey of two years.....

Two years ago, I joined this institute..unsure of how things were going to turn out to be. It would be wrong on my part to say that the entire time has been a ball. But then, it time hasn't been a total disaster either.

No matter how I look at it, it has been a roller-coaster ride with ups and downs.  I joined with a skeptic mind, unsure of how I was going to be treated and how things were going to turn out. The two years here has taught me to have an open mind for each situation I step into.

From hanging out with only one group of friends, hesitating to talk to people because of initial awkwardness, sitting at only one particular area to circulating and trying to have friends everywhere and trying to keep in touch with all...we went through it all...

From the first trimester onward, with the birthday bashes, the trips, the movies and of course, the rural camp, Vanavasam and the Kalypso let me know a great bunch of people. Some of these trips helped me understand the people around me better. Many of them molded me and forced me to be more open. We had the summer internship of two months where again I was closeted with a few of these friends.

When the second year had begun, everyone was back in the shackles of the college after two months of something resembling independence. Hackles were raised and people began the countdown...The countdown to when it would all finish...As we fervently began counting days, we discovered that time was moving very slowly...

Abandoning time to its own pace, we set out to have as much fun as possible in the last one year of college.  With the hectic schedule of the fourth trimester and the summer project vivas our relief was the class trip at the end of the horrendous stretch. With the fifth trimester and a even tighter schedule with crazy classes and dissertation and Inflore to top it all, it seemed that the tunnel was never in sight. Luckily we had the Inflore DJ party to look forward to and also the Christmas holidays for our well deserved break. January came soon and again we were thrown in the fray. Classes again, tightly packed and sprinkled with exams. Fervour rose and days flew by. And before we knew it, we were BANG!!!, right in the middle of a Farewell Party organized by the juniors.

Time had flown by and before we realized it, it had drawn to a close...

Life at Rajagiri , like I said earlier, has been a roller coaster ride. I am glad that I joined such a place and glad to have ended up with such great guys for my classmates. I really cannot mention too many names here...But to quote a few... Lisa. Gincy, Sangeetha, Santhy, Rini, Rimjhim, Rakhi, Radhika, Gowtham, Saji,  Thomas, Vishnu, Sheperd...You have been amazing friends and words cannot describe my feelings for you...

Shahid, Justin, Aneesh, Ashwin, Uma, Nebu, Sanand... you guys are so sweet and nice....I find it easy to talk to you...and hey....you sure know how to bring a smile to a face...You are amazing friends to have...

I could go on and on...Each person in the class has had an impact on me...

You may not realize it, but all you gals and guys of PGDM 2010-2012 batch have really influenced me a lot....and helped me smile so much more...and made my journey of two years really memorable...

To finish off....I would have to add...This is undoubtedly the best class that I have had a privilege to be a part off...

Love you loads guys.... !!!!

The practical aspects of management...

Being in a management institute and studying management, people expect you to know management.

But do we really learn all that is there to management?

One learns quite a lot of management. Take it from me, after having done my graduation in management and even my post graduation from management, the amount of theoretical knowledge that one is expected to have in one's kitty is enormous. Added to this are the few snippets of practical knowledge that we gain through different exercises during the course and also in life. These snippets of practical knowledge take us forward quite a bit in life as we learn to apply our theory in practice.

If anybody had told me that the 'Principles of Management' are extremely important,  I would have scoffed at them earlier. Having learnt this subject twice during my two courses, I had given it up as something that I would never learn. This was a subject taught by two different people, one who taught it entirely with a practical view (with absolutely no theory) and the other with a mix of both. But at the end of both the subjects, my knowledge in this subject stood at a very low level of knowing just that POSDCORB was important at all level, in all organizations, in all project and no matter what you did.

But even then, everybody did do a bit of planning, organizing and directing for whatever it is that they had to carry out, or so I thought. I couldn't figure out what the big fuss was about with this subject. It seemed like common sense.

And then INFLORE happened.

INFLORE is a management fest that is conducted by the management students and some of us where in charge of the entire event. As a part of the organizers of this fest, we had lots of tasks which had fallen on us. From arranging the different games/event to panel discussion to quiz to stay, food and travel arrangement for all participants, to raising funds for the same, keeping tab on the money and so on and on. There were so many things to do and so little time. So we divided the responsibilities and tasks that fell to each person.

Ashwin, Lisa and I were in-charge of the Panel Discussion and the Inauguration of our entire fest. From inviting the panelists, to fixing them and the moderators, inviting the corporates as audience, the entire event looked too big to handle.

Initially, we took up responsibilities on ourselves and tried to do things on our own. Gradually, as things unfolded I/ We realized the importance of applying what we had learnt. The need to plan, organize tasks, allot responsibilities, delegate tasks came out.

It wasn't very east to do but we did it. The need to work with people and understand their strengths and give them tasks which they are capable of doing it very essential. The most difficult part that I faced in the entire thing was to give the responsibility to the other and place trust in their ability to do it. I realized the true essence of the word empowerment and the fact that faith in others abilities to carry out their work does actually play a role.

We successfully had our three day management fest where we pulled off all the events that we had planned for. And now I can tell you with conviction, the principles of management and all the other theory that we learn are extremely essential and a must learn for anybody interested in managing anything, even their life.

The past two months ending with the culmination of our fest has been a learning experience for me, helping me understand more about the practical aspects of management....