The Balls and the Urn Theory

7:30 PM, Wednesday, the 29th of July 2009, this was the time which will go down in the history of XL as the day when the GMP 2009-10 finished their first series of mid-term exams. It was history indeed as for most of us it was weird to be back in exam mode with our first exams in XLRI GMP. Most of us had forgotten that sinking feeling that we used to get just before you walk into the exam because you don’t know anything about the subject. I thought I’d left that feeling behind when I finished my engineering, but apparently, its a feeling you carry for life. It’s like learning a bicycle – You never forget it.

We had our first QT Quiz (Quantitative Techniques aka Maths) on the 17th. This was one of the two quizes that we had as part of the mid terms. Although QT is one of the most dreaded subjects we have, for this Quiz most of the junta was pretty confident. The reason was the syllabus for this quiz was being covered by one of the "supposably" lenient prof and where the students were hoping to cross the elusive "C Grade" barrier because the so called "probablity" of scoring in the other part of the syllabus was very low. Anyways, Most of the students who went confidently came out a bit shocked and directionless for all the pre-exam probabilities that they had worked out regarding the expected questions had went haywire. The dance of the C's, D's and F's had started.

In between passed the other exams such as Economics, Accounting, Marketing etc. Even abstract subjects such as "Ethical Leadership" had left students shaken and drained. Finally, came the D-day - the day of the second QT Quiz. The date was much hyped and dreaded...not only because of the subject but also because of the hoopla created before the exam. There were supposed to be special random seating arrangements, special questions and there was historical evidence (scores of the last batch) which weren't a great source of inspiration.

The exam was supposed to be an open book exam (something very common in XL) and it was told to us that the recommended text given in the class would be of no use. An open book exam generally make matters worse for students.We’re allowed to bring in any textbook/notes/reference material into the exam, but all of us know what that means – The answers are not going to be in any text book.

Even without a text book to do last-minute mugging from, the familiar exam-hall scene didn't disappoint. There were scores of people reading through some printouts and notes, trying desperately to grasp on to the subject – to get hold of something that sounds familiar, but no use. It’s like a drowning man in the middle of the sea, desperately splashing about trying to get hold of something to float on to, but finding nothing. And you all know what happens to the man next – He drowns into the vast ocean, which has euphemistically been called the ocean of knowledge. If you drown into an ocean, even if it is the one of knowledge, isn’t that a bad thing? ‘Cause you’re drowning for god’s sake! How can that be a good thing?

Anyway, we are made to enter the exam hall - odd roll nos. enter first and take their alloted seats; Even roll nos. enter later. The Question Paper and the answer sheet lay sealed in front of us. Once everybody settled down there was a few minutes of silence and people attacked their booklets gingerly as they heard the golden words “You may begin”.

‘Please let me understand the first question. Please let me at least know what the question means’ – I utter my silent prayer to myself. And then there it is – The first question. Just as I finish reading it, I feel the sudden juxtaposition of humor and a slight confidence. "Okay !! I think I can manage the first 10 marks, Lets take it step by step. Don't get excited !!". and then somehow I managed to to pass through the next 90 minutes. Somehow I had managed to put some formulas in place for every question and I didn't even want to crosscheck later whether the answers were right or not. Since I did’t leave the exam paper blank and had written some formulas with some figures, I hoped to get marks for my handwriting at least. Not because my handwriting was good, but because it was so bad that the prof won’t understand what’s written and give me the benefit of the doubt. That was one of my chances I was considering for calculating the probability of getting some marks.

At the end of the exam I saw a lot of happy and relieved faces as well as disappointed faces. I realized that the entire "thriller" show created around the quiz was what we can call the "Balls and the Urn Theory". Management students like us will always argue that Maths is one subject they may never need to use in their actual jobs post MBA and some even question its inclusion in the curriculum. However, At the end of the day, It was this "Ball and the Urn" theory that had made students study maths - for they were left with two choices before the exam - either study to save your "balls" or choose your "urn" before you get cremated in the exam.

New XLRI world TT doubles champion

As all of us know, there is a TT doubles tournament being played in Charlie Common Room(C block GMP).Today the world doubles champions,Saiket and Xavier were pitched against two local players. These locals were given wild card entry to up the local viewership. Needless to say the locals Pracheesh and Swastayan were fully supported by the huge gathering.
Probably rusty in the first set the champs surrendered meekly to their underrated opponents.They staged a comeback by winning the second set but were shown the door after loosing a one sided battle in the third set.
As it stands today Swastayan and Pracheesh have conquered Saiket and Xavier.



{special effects in the above description are inspired from Cyrus Brocha's 'The week that wasn't' }

Evening Before QTMD-Mid Term

Some lines just floated in my heart...

"Ishi waqt, kal ke Din
Katle-aam hoga, Sare-saam hoga...

Buland kar le apna jigar,
kyoki, ish par ya ush par
kahin-n-kahin humara bhi naam hoga..."

Mail me if you need translation....P2

Not the usual flock, folks!

Talk about GMPians of '09-10: Where would find them? In libraries, in lectures halls, in group study rooms, slogging late at night, busy making presentations, case studies?

Well think again.....you'll be pleasantly surprised. Watch this video.

Synergies within GMP

The notice reads—After the economics & quantitative technique classes group ‘A’ has to attend a seven course dinner with a senior faculty member—“PLEASE BE SUITABLY DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION”. The same night a doctor goes to room C-31 & asks a guy, an engineer 15 years younger to him, to help him out with maths & stats. After finishing here, he approaches an IT guy, with thirteen years IT experience behind him, to teach him how to work on excel-sheets. During the day this doctor had delivered a talk on how the healthcare insurance sectors in the US, the middle-east & here in India were different from each other.
Five years means five years. People with 59 months of experience are not considered. There are classes on corporate etiquettes & Ethical Leadership & Corporate Citizenship. Faculty members are accessible round the clock. Projects, assignments, classes, quizzes, speeches & presentations drive you to the limit of exhaustion. You are left wondering why you had to take the condensed version of the regular programme and slog this much after a hiatus from studies of at least five years. You wish that the day had more hours. The guy in C-37 goes to bed at 4am after waking up the person in C-38. The sun never sets here. Then comes another day & matters of common concern are sorted out in the dining hall, where all one hundred of them, along with their families, gather four times a day. This is the support system that keeps them going. It is a matter of relief that the professor of maths is taking extra classes for the entire batch before the mid-term tests. The faculty members encourage discussions in the classes & critical analysis of subjects is not frowned upon. WELCOME TO THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (GMP) AT XLRI, JAMSHEDPUR, the oldest of its kind in the country.
The diversity of the batch is carefully structured at the time of selection of candidates. The current batch comprises of Architects, Army personnel, IT professional, Engineers, Doctors and Entrepreneurs. The Institute provides the best accommodation in the country, keeping in mind the experience of the students & in order to ensure a suitable ambience to enable students to handle the rigorous nature of the course.
The course is unique in that, among other things, it lays a lot of emphasis on leadership skills & excellence by organizing outdoor adventure programs & village exposure programs in order to allow the students to interact with social entrepreneurs & NGOs & to study the needs & aspirations of the “REAL INDIA”. This is interspersed with an International immersion programme to allow the students to interact with students & faculty abroad & to work on international assignments of common interest.

In the spirit of the game

Today,Sunday-07/26/09, we had a cricket meeting. The venue was our
sports ground and everybody was invited to take practical lessons on
the field. Unlike the last meet enthusiasts from section A outnumbered
those from section B. Taking lessons from the last time players were
punctual and also had a warm up before the actual fun began. Everybody
realized that unless the game is competitive the entertainment
quotient would go down. In the true spirit of the game GMPians gave
their best to cricket. And as was expected the match turned out to be
a perfect thriller. It was only for the first time that GMPians
accepted to come under 'self proclaimed' captains, without ANY
discussions. Section A won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that
was damp with occasional patches of 'rain hit' roughs. Interestingly
this pitch was still better than the pitch used last time, which was
slippery to say the least. Sanjeev Reddy was the pick of the bowlers
from section B and Anurag scored quick runs for section A. With the
bowlers dominating the affairs section A was restricted to a modest
total of 61 runs in their quota of 14 overs.
QUOTA- the word disturbs-isn't it?
Nevertheless section A was determined to turn the tide this time
around. With revenge for the last game's loss, up there on the top
storey of everybody from section A, a spirited bowling performance
from A's captain Saurabh Dubey stole the show. Mohit, the craftsman,
led the batting display from B. Finaly it was a last bowl finish and
section A stamped victory by 2 runs.

Should the description end here, I would give only partial detail of
the sportsman that we are. Durgesh Shrivastava covered the entire
match taking photographs and video shoots. He dared the sun and the
incoming speeding cricket ball. We also had truly spirited batchmates,
Rashmi and Deepti who had walked out of AC comfort to cheer the
players. The midterm exams are not yet over and as was the need of the
moment, this meeting turned out to be a great sress buster. CHEERS
XLRI GMPians.

Adventure Camp

ADVENTURE PROGRAMME

We are too old to do this! That was the first thought that came to the mind of most of us when we learnt that we will be going to a three day adventure programme organized by Tata steel adventure foundation. No one had imagined that not only will these words be forgotten but also that the camp will challenge our beliefs about our limits.
Now here was a group of GMP students who claim to been there, done that and who have been leading people in their teams to be led by the trainers of TSAF.The fact that the trainers had no airs about their individual achievements seemed quite confusing in the beginning. Here we were in the corporate world, doing a project and feeling bad that the pat did not come from none less than the CEO himself and there were these trainers who had conquered the mighty peaks of the world and were so introverted that they do not even mention it till we coaxed them. Than came the realization that they were being led by Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb the Mt Everest, and it is thus a small wonder that the TSAF as an organization was both humble and dedicated to the core.
On the first day we were issued with sleeping bags, plates and mess tin. So whatever doubts any body had about preferential treatment got buried. On reaching there we found that the camp site was cut off from the outside world with only two covered shed-one to serve as kitchen and one as shed for keeping valuables. We had to lay our own tents (with the support of instructors) and a hill was identified for the nature’s call. For some the set up was cultural shock..and the day had just begun.
Initially we had small games for team building. The game became difficult in each step, the skills required were to think as a team and to act like one. What made it worse were there was no nominated leader. For once the participation was genuine(unlike in the class where students question to get the class participation marks)These games set the tone for the camp. Then we were divided into teams of ten each. There were couple of competitions lined up in which the teams had to choose a separate leader and compete with other teams. The first was a warm up on the obstacle course. Some teams took it easy. But when they saw their performance and other teams making strategy ,it pumped them up. That evening we saw a movie about India’s Mt Everest mission and every one was spell bound by the efforts of the team who undertook the mission.That was also the last we saw of light. As we had to sleep in our tents. Now for GMPians who are used to staying awake it was difficult to sleep.So we found people interacting with each other.Little did we realize that this was in fact our first informal interaction with each other. Many did not know names of each other even though it had been three weeks in the course. So we talked, laughed, sang all this without any external stimulant(bOOOOOOOze).For the first night it was a rush to find a sleeping slot away from the gates of the tent for the fear of snakes. This started a laughing riot in the tents and by morning 4 a.m people had got up. Some because they could not sleep and some because they wanted their share of exclusivity of space on the hill that was meant for nature’s call.
The morning’s first event was the obstacle course.The strategies were in place.It was no longer only a fun things , the battle had begun.People pushed themselves to their limit,some who found that difficult got pushed by their team mates. People took roles as leader,follower,planner without any one identifying himself publically as one. And all this to beat another team by a matter of seconds.It was no longer about individual achievements but for the pride of the team.It was only morning nine and we thought we were done for the day,blissfully unaware of the scheme of things..
Watch this space for remaining action!

Can Accounting be fun

I have always feared Accounting. Many of us feel that Accounting is the abstract form of mathematics. Maths is logical, but Accounting leaves much to subjectivity. You know all balances have to match but some invisible force ensures that either the Assets or liabilities have a upper hand over each other. Worse this fight between Assets and liabilities is thrilling to the last, you don’t know till the end who will win, even though you keep praying for a draw.
So when we started with our management Accounting class even the Aryabhatta’s of the classes were sweating. Our professor for the course is Professor Sengupta.In colleges the reputation of the professors is the topic of gossip. So we knew we will be dealing with a task master. Now that will be the icing on the cake.
So when we saw the professor we were in for a surprise. He would have passed you as a guy you met at the restaurant or a theatre and forgot. But here the difference stops. The day he started teaching, the bastions of Accounting in our minds began to fall. By the end of first session we were all through with break even without having to break our heads over it. He believes in drilling the basics, before he takes off. He is so articulate that you when you look back on the class you had, you will find that he did not let the class go astray even once. He will come up with his one liner when you require a breather and still ensure that his syllabus goes on as given in course outline. In fact he prides in that and the day he started he warned us that heavens will have to fall to get the test of Managerial accounting to shift. No wonder lots of students opt for finance as specialization.
But students are students. We solve a problem in the class and think we have mastered it.Thats what his teaching does! But when you don’t practice after the class , accounts is still an uphill task. Indeed accounting is fun till the time there are no exams.

XLRI quest for Rural India...

Village Trip (A Tryst with Nature)

Sir Albert Camus rightly quoted "You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it".

These words will echo in our soul for the rest of life।

XLRI in collaboration with NGO's arranged a village exposure trip for a better understanding of challenges faced by our country men for all the GMP'ians. There were 10 groups with 9-10 people in each group, with each group visiting different villages.

NGO:- SJVK (Samekit Jan Vikas Kendra)

Village :- Saidih( 105 km from Jamshedpur)

Team:- Sachin Gupta

Sachin Rawat

Sameer Nayak

Sanjeev Reddy

Santosh Kumar Sahoo

Sayantan Dey
ShriramSagar Singh

Siddharth Suresh Petkar

Soumya Ranjan Mahakul

Sridhar Thiagarajan

Day 1 (Friday 8:30) :- Our day began sharply at 8:30 am. Each one of us were all excited to set out to our venture to mainlands. We left XLRI at around 9:00 and reached Sunder Nagar , the place where we met Fr Halen Bodra, who brief us about the village tour and then we embarked towards the village. The weather was calm and clear, contrast to Jamshedpur's scorching heat. We could not resist our temptation to capture the nature at its best.

12:30 pm:- We reached the village school , which was our stay for the next 3 days.We were given warm welcome by Fr Michael and the school children. The agenda for the day was all set, we had to take lunch , rest a while and then proceed to the water shed project started by one of our Alum.

About School:- It was a residential school for children up to 6 standards.There were 135 students in all.

Accomodation & Lunch:- Our Accommodation was arranged at a common room in the school। The room was to be shared by all of us.The initial reaction after seeing the room was "WOW". You cannot blame us for that reaction after being habitual to single AC rooms.

यह कहाँ आ गए हम ...........

The Lunch was Delicious, with Dal, Chawal(Desi Chawal), 2 sabji.

Fri 3:oo pm:

Our NGO companion of the village was right in time and we left to meet the village people and see the water shed project.We met several villagers on our way and one of them was kind enough to show us around the villages. The Guy was travelling bare-foot with lots of enthusiasm showing us the different fields which he own and showing other villagers. I asked him , why didn't he bother to buy a chappal ?

Pat came the reply जो माँ बाप का जच्क्स ऑफ़ , उसके लिए चप्पल की जरूरत नहीं"।

On asking he told us about the average income of a family is around Rs 1200 pm. In each and every answere there was of lot of self -respect, dignity and pride for his village and he was showing everything as if he owns the entire village.
He was kind enough to click a snap with us.

Jacks of Jack Fruit

Friday (Evening):-

Does this deserve a COLGATE SMILE of the year ?

The Evening was full of mysteries. This was our first trip where we get to know each other well.

During the night we had several discussions which improve the bonding between us. We had discussions on various topics such as personal crush to horror stories (since it was really dark).

It was around 1 am and some of us heard gunshots. It was really scary since this was a Maoist prone area. There were 3 of us who couldnt sleep .

Day 2:-
We got up at 5:00 am not because we planned it that way , but we had to because we slept in the prayer hall , where prayer starts at 5:30 am. It wasnt a good night sleep and most of us woke with bad back , however, it was the voice and beautiful smile of the children which made the day.

Then began our daily chores and some of us chose to take the natural route to finish it.

Eastern Style or Western Style or Natural Style

Then while some us were getting ready for our visit to neighbourhood villages, I couldnt resist capturing this video.

Introduction of Masak kali:-

Firstly, we visited an interior village where there was no electricity, limited food and water facilities.Most of the local could not even speak hindi and we had to use a interpretor to connect to them. We had discussion with villagers on general topics like what they want to improve on their villages, the daily routine etc. We discussed on micro finance schemes which was started by the NGO and how to involve more people from the villages into it. There were some of us like Sachin Rawat , who provided valuable insight to the villages on the problems which they face. In some cases the problems roots were as simple as letting the autorities know about the non functioning of electric poles which were lying in the villages. Personally , we donated around 2K from our pocket for the finance scheme.

In the evening we had nice time with children. We conducted an general knowledge quiz among the students and then we went ahead with cultural programmes such as dancing and singing.It was heartening to see that they were abreast of our film industry and they danced to the tunes of latest bollywood songs. We concluded the ceremony with prize distribution to all the children and gifted them a cricket bat and ball.

Acche Bacche (Unlike Me)

CLOSE UP :)

And thats how we ended our day.

Cheers

Sanjeev Reddy

GMP Class of 2010,XLRI,

Blog: http://xlrigmp2010.blogspot.com/

Cyrus within...??

Most of us have a "Cyrus Engineer" within us, smaller or bigger.
Cyrus represents the dissatisfaction and dissolution within ourselves that keep us restless.
Desire to grow and prove oneself to others are some reasons of Cyrus getting larger in some of us.

So what's a solution to fight the Cyrus in us...we either ADAPT or SURRENDER or FIGHT..

Compromising with the handed decision of others, what most of the people around us do, will be ADAPT.
What Cyrus did…was SURRENDER…
and
What we are doing…that is joining GMP to upgrade..is FIGHT.

Those guys who scored HIGH(more than 120) in test designated to identify Cyrus, should be happy with the fact that..they have taken the third solution and that is to fight.

This is my analysis apart from all the great words given in one more interesting and intriguing class of Managing Human Behavior(MHB) by Prof Jittu Singh.

(Context: Case Study of Cyrus Engineer in MHB Class)