Mesmerized!

Pundit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, a recipient of the Padmashree and a Grammy award winner performed on 23 October, 2007 at IIM Kozhikode, in a concert organized by IIMK’s sub-chapter of SPIC MACAY. A renowned Hindustani music exponent and disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pt. Bhatt is also the inventor of the Mohan Veena – a fretless, 19-stringed instrument played like a slide guitar. He was joined by Pundit Ram Kumar Mishra, renowned for his mastery of the Tabla and a scion of the ‘Benaras Gharana’.

The concert began with a brief introduction of Pt. Bhatt and Pt. Mishra followed by the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by PGP Chairman, Professor Unnikrishnan. Pt. Bhatt started by telling how music is also a science and how a musician needs to divide every second down to fractions, mentally and play to them.What followed was the most mesmerizing performance, many people in the audience had ever witnessed. Pt. Bhatt started out with Raag Poorvi and went on to play a mélange of Raagas, enthralling everyone with the variety and complexity of notes he played while Pt. Mishra, won the hearts of the people with his skills on the Tabla. The timing of the two together was so perfect that the audience often spontaneously broke into applause. ‘Jugalbandi’ and ‘Sawaal-Jawaab’ were kept to the end when both the masters, in a display of perfect coordination and mastery of their arts teased and tantalized the audience, who wanted more and more.

At the request of everyone present to play more, Pt. Bhatt went on to play his composition, ‘A Meeting By the River’, part of an album he made with slide guitarist Ry Cooder which won the Grammy award for ‘Best World Music Album’ in 1994. At the end of the song, the masters were given a befitting standing ovation.

The concert ended with Professor Unnikrishnan presenting the artists with mementos and a vote of thanks on behalf of IIM Kozhikode for an evening so memorable.

Achtung Komrades!

Following is an account of Sandeep Bhattacharjee's tryst with Deutchland, which beckoned him and three other Komrades for Rubicon, an International B-School competition.

Rubicon, for us, kicked off with a mad scramble for the cheapest air tickets to Frankfurt. This occupied us the first couple of days post the mundane August afternoon when the news first came in. Our team “Thought Architects” had crossed the first hurdle to Rubicon 2007; an international BSchool contest. We were destined for a German trip subject of course to Visa clearances. That the clearances almost killed our euphoria is another story!

We finally settled for the Sri Lankan Airlines which took us directly from Kozhikode to Frankfurt with a little halt at Colombo, at 32K a piece. It was a sweet deal given that we had to pay the fares ourselves. Getting the German visa isn’t a headache, at least that’s what I thought. Little did I know that I’d have to make 3 exhausting trips to Chennai to get my passport stamped. To my utter anguish however, all my other three teammates got it done in a single day from Kolkata!

We landed in Frankfurt post a 13 hour jet trip from Colombo but it was our ride in a BMW to our destination at a blinding 180 Km/Hr that truly satisfied our need for speed. This was however after the long hassle with the immigration officer at Calicut airport who refused to see reason behind us flying from Calicut without any permanent residency in Kerela. It took us multiple rounds of been cross-questioned and repeated display of IIMK I-cards before being let through. A really bad experience which left a bitter taste(We found the German & Sri-Lankan immigration dept much friendlier!).

Germany was like a picture postcard! Cologne with all its history and old buildings and Frankfurt, the heart of German capitalism with all its sky-scrapers were worlds apart, each charming in its own way. What connected the two was the serene river Rhine; the beauty of which can’t really be put in words. The European autumn can be particularly beautiful with colored leaves decorating trees and an electrifying chill in the air. Navneet was packed, all the while, in his Jumbo red sweater under a jacket which kept him cozy and smiling all along, while I wasn’t too happy with what felt like a layer of ice on my face! The four of us trotted across the pristine countryside, taking our time through the various cathedrals, looking out for McDonald’s outlets all the while! Alas,Spending too many of those Euros never seemed a good idea...

The German delicacies aren’t particularly appealing to Indian taste buds as we discovered at the various formal and informal dinner parties that were held during the week. I barely survived, on bland tasteless sandwiches most of the time, while substituting juice, coke, beer and wine for drinking water. I’ve never enjoyed the mess food back at K as I did for a whole week after my return!

It was surely “Crossing the Rubicon” in every sense, for us. It began with a nice ‘free’ accommodation at a beach resort for half a day at Colombo and ended on that chilly night at the Frankfurt station, with a heck of a time in between. However it was probably Soubhagya who had more than his fair share of memorable moments making the rest of us go a trifle green!;)

Parisian Tales

Bonjour dear Komrades,

Its been more than a month at the ESCP-EAP Paris and it's been great. The city is beautiful with its boulevards, cafes, bistros and most importantly, the fashion conscious Parisians. The 35 hour work week ensures that Parisians have time for everything art, music and the numerous museums the city is so famous for. People truly enjoy life and can hardly be seen running around, they do things at their own sweet pace.

The French education system ( well, we had a 2 hour session on it) is highly competitive and only the best can make it to the elite Schools of excellence called the Grand Ecoles (ESCP-EAP is one of the better known Grand Ecoles). And successful people in every sphere are from Grand Ecoles System. To get into even the least famous Grand Ecole is more prestigious than getting into the best university. And we've had firsthand experience of the respect people give you after knowing that you are a student of a Grand Ecole!

The International exchange programme attracts about 150 students from 21 countries including Members of EU, US, Mexico, Russia, Israel, Argentina, China, Japan amongst others and this really makes it a International Exchange programme. It is quite an experience to just listen to different accents of English.

The professors are also on international exchange or so it would seem. We have French, Irish, American, British Professors. These professors do a lot of consulting for corporates and have a rich working experience which adds a very practical dimension to their teaching. Another interesting thing is that most of the professors think very highly about Indian students and attribute computer-like mathematical abilities to Indian brains. Guess we need to thank our seniors for that but it surely is a very, very positive image to live up to.

For the exchange students, courses offered in both English and French. Although, Indian students have taken courses in English. We initially had a course that place of France in European and world affairs. Most of us have taken regular courses while a few have taken some very exotic courses like Working of the Human Mind and Evolution of the American Cinema. The lectures are usually of 3 hours with a fifteen minute break after a 1.5 hours and as usual, there's some intelligent CP and some crappy CP. People walk in and out as they feel. Students are treated as equals. Professors encourage students to go in for research and are always ready for writing papers with their students.

Elections are a funny affair here - there are Campus parties and these parties nominate candidates to contest against each other. These candidates distribute cakes, chocolates, candies and juices early in the morning. There are parties to get votes with free alcohol and food, not to mention dancers from famous bars, quite unimaginable in IIMK! All these affairs are sponsored by corporates. In fact there was such a party last night sponsored by some energy drink company (of course everyone was more interested in the alcohol than the energy drink!) It's been quite an experience so far... c'mon junies, work hard; then come and party in Europe! J

That was Aruna Nayak reporting from Paris. The others too sent in their two bits:

Gopi told us how he was 3 hours late for a presentation at school due to the transportation strike that has now hit France. The bike service (that allows you to pick up and drop bikes at stations), was the main means of transport while some Parisians hit the streets with roller-skates and skateboards!

Sheetal's been finding the language and pronounciations very funny, because the French turn rs into h sounds and the frequently used 'pardon' turns into 'pah-do' (with a soft d) that when translated into Hindi, makes it a strange thing to say to someone you meet in the street :D Having Moroccans and Sri Lankans in their neighbourhood has also led to some interesting experiences for these guys.

Ananya wrote on her blog, "The first look at the Seine and a cruise on it is something that I dare not attempt to describe in words, I have neither the prowess nor the imagination to convey to the reader the beauty of the experience. The only guarantee is that it lifts your spirits and gives you a high that not the strongest alcohol can".

She also lists some 'Highlights' from the early days of their stay -

1.Tushar being asked by a fellow Indian student - 'Excuse Me! Which country are you from?'

2. Our unsuccessful attempts at using the Euro Latino telephone calling card.

3. Tomato Puree being misunderstood for Tomato Ketchup (Yeah! Yeah! We can't read French).

4. The daily effort at comprehending the food items in the Mess.

5. The shower system (You need to keep pressing a button to keep the water flowing).

6. Gopi asking a man on the station for directions in Tamil.(And actually getting the answers)

All of them have been having a very frustrating time with the French calling card system which explains Venky's gestures in the picture below.

The picture below should tell us why the guys just don't want to come back :)

(Photo credits: Gopi)

Raas-dandiya!!

What happens when hot jalebis and gujju music come together? A great evening! Spicmacay and messcom came together to organize the mother of all festivals, as navrathri was celebrated joyously at IIMK with the Dandiya Nite. The event witnessed a record turnout as students postponed all their other priorities to come and participate in the spectacle.




And to make sure that no one was caught on the wrong foot, Neha Solanki of PGP-10 took a special class for all the dandiya enthusiasts, the day before the event. Dressed in ethnic wear and quick to learn (as always), the students glid and danced to the music effortlessly. The foodies also had a nice time as hot jalebis, chats and other food items kept them entertained. All in all, it was a night to remember as the dance party extended to the early hours of the morning.

Horizons '07 - An invaluable learning experience

Horizons '07 - IIMK's Annual Management Conclave, was held during this weekend, from 5th - 7th October 2007. The overarching theme was 'Bharat - Ek Khoj' with three sub-themes 'Unleashing India Inc.', 'Rediscovering Rural India' and 'Unlocking the Human Potential'. IIMK students benefited greatly from the knowledge and insights that were shared by Horizons' eminent speakers.The Horizons blog has been updated with some of the speakers' speeches. They're definitely worth a read. Looking forward to a bigger and better Horizons next year!

Summer Placements – Time to get into the ‘K Army’

The much anticipated summer placements for PGP11 is going to start and the battle to get placed in the companies of your choice will start to heat up. But along with the jostle for roles, stipends, locations and brands there will also be a keenly fought side-battle to get into the ‘K Army’!

Now most of you, including PGP10, must be wondering what the K Army is all about. This post will reveal the secret behind the K Army. You are inducted into the K Army if you get shortlisted for a GD but fail to clear it and reach the interview. Each time you do this you accumulate a ‘star’. But once you clear a GD and get into an interview process you are ‘honorably discharged’ from the K Army and join the civilians. You are given a rank according to the number of stars that you collect, starting from the Second Lieutenant right up to the General (10 stars)

1	General	**********
2	Lieutenant General	*********
3	Major General	********
4	Brigadier	*******
5	Colonel	******
6	Lieutenant Colonel	*****
7	Major	****
8	Captain	***
9	Lieutenant	**
10	Second Lieutenant	*

At the end of the summer process, the person with the maximum amount of stars will be crowned the ‘Commander-in-Chief’ of the K Army. Intelligence reports are still not conclusive and we don’t know who in PGP10 achieved such an exalted position. (But rumor has it that one of the writers of this post might have been that ‘special one’!)

From the data collected in the last couple of years we have come to a conclusion. The K Army has been unable to recruit ‘pretty dames’. This is not to say that the K Army has a discriminatory recruitment policy. Actually on the contrary a study revealed that soldiers of the K Army would indeed like to have atleast a few members of the fairer sex as colleagues. But alas, that is unlikely to happen as long as company HRs……..

Another thing that happens is that as the soldiers become more and more experienced stress levels too start to increase and the soldiers yearn to get back into civilian life. This is a common phenomenon reported in armies across the world. The US Army is facing a similar situation in Iraq. But unlike the American soldiers, the K soldiers know that worst comes to worst they will only have to wait till Day 1 of summer placements to be discharged from the trenches.

Here is wishing PGP11 all the best for their summers! And may the best man be the Commander-in-Chief!