TiE Summit : Enterprising India

Today, fortunately, got the opportunity to attend the second and last day of TiE Summit in Mumbai.
I had long back told Dipen to get me a pass for the summit which E-Cells members could arrange. He had said he would try and later told me that I could attend if I became a volunteer. I was happy. But alas, due to exams,Airtel concurrent project and some miscommunication I could not go for volunteering. With regret Dipen informed that my name stood cancelled! I felt dejected at the missed opportunity because I really like to hear experts speak, and what better place than TiE! But as good luck would have it I was later informed that I could get a pass through my SIFE-Social Cell as E-Cell wanted to put up the samples of our Warli products…. I was happy!
And so on 5th March I and Meenal reached NCPA, Nariman Point where the summit was being held. We displayed our products made by the Warli tribe and pamphalets of bulk order. The ambience was superb. There was unlimited CCD coffee and cookies, Goli vada paav, chocolates,chips-tea,hockey-pockey ice-cream,etc. Entrepreneurs, businessmen,venture capitalists,angel investors,etc etc were moving around. Volunteers were busy being busy….Sessions were going on in three auditoriums and I was dying to go in. But we had work to do. It was really sunny and we had to be in the stall and tell visitors about what we do and take orders if any. It was a taxing job! Soon Meenal and I cleverly decided that 1 by 1 will go and see the sessions.
I saw three sessions and they were really good.
1. Technology Underpinning Enterprising India- Future technology trends. It was a panel discussion by Mr. Moorthy Uppaluri(General Manager, Microsoft),Bimal Shah(Senior Consultant,TCS), moderated by Pradeep Udhas (Founding partner, KPMG). They discussed cloud computing and how it is today a boon for SMEs in India. Cloud computing provides software as a service and has a global reach. It is like an elastic which can contract or expand as per requirement. Users would pay as they use and hence useful for SMEs who have capital constrains. Also cloud computing is scalable. On hind side there are issues of security and privacy but can be tackled.Mr. Uppaluri said that today any application is created so that it can run on all the three screens that dominate our lives computer, mobile phone and TV. High technology enables applications to run seamlessly over different platforms. Mr. Shah reinforced how technology is radically changing business landscape. He said companies can better serve customers by having automated CRM. He gave an example of a wellness company which had used cloud computing to record customer contact details, information like what music a particular customer prefers, which employee does he prefer to be attended by, what services he take, what drinks he like, emailing or messaging him after the services for feedback, etc. Technology has drastically brought companies and customers together and if leveraged properly can work wonders. It has opened up doors of global market and any IT company today has the potential and means to become google and microsoft of tomorrow!

2. Made-in-India Session with Co-Host – KV Kamath introducing 3 Enterprising Indians on “Inclusive Development”.
Anurag Gupta (A Little World)- he has conceptualized ZERO platform for branchless banking by bringing together bank like SBI and tried to bring financial inclusion to villages. He uses modern technology to operate micro-banks in rural and remote areas.He said in last 12 years how his organization has grown in numbers but still has has not been able to make profit in any single year. One of its major challenges has been raise funds as his operations require large amount of money to serve its purpose.
Sudesh Menon (WaterLife)-Mr Menon has taken up the initiative of providing clean and safe drinking water to villages and urban-slums. His revenue comes from villagers who are ready to pay some amount for safe water . The company undertakes maintenance of the water tank,unlike government who ask big companies to construct huge tanks but in few months they become defunct due to no maintenance and follow-up. Mr. Menon wants to reach to nook and corner of the country and provide clean water, eliminating various water-borne diseases and ailments. He works towards educating the villagers and creating awareness for clean water.
R. Elango (Kuthambakkam)- Mr. Elango, a simple man from village of Kuthambakkam, was a powerful speaker. He, a scientist, left his job for making his village a better place. He became the head of the panchayat and has relentlesly worked to make villages self-sustainable. His business is to create a role model- a role model village that other villages would like to emulate. He considers caste-system to be the biggest adversary in villages. He tackles it by making duplex kinda houses where one dalit family and one non dalit family lives side by side. This leads to tolerance and brotherhood. He has formed clusters of villages where some villages grow and provide food to others, other specializes in infrastucture constructin(roads,schools,etc) and some looks after textile,etc….Hence overall the villages prosper with co-ordination and co-operation. He wants this model to spread far across India. He ended by appealing to Indian youth to come and work for Indian villages . He also said youth should enter politics, atleast locla,ward level politics and bring some changes in that area. He said India can shine only if fellowmen in villages are happy.

3. India - Fast Forward, 2020 - Power Panel with KV Kamath (ICICI), Rajiv Bajaj (Bajaj Auto) moderated by Sridar Iyengar (Chair, TiE Enterprising India)- It was the last session of Tie and I must say Mr. Rajiv Bajaj made the end fantastic. He was clearly cynosure of all eyes with his witty remarks, insightful reasoning and learned and lucid explaination. He spoke on various interesting aspects. I woulds touch upon some-
-He said that in business like his (automobiles) products as such cannot be much different from competitors. Bikes and cars are inherently similar to each other. In such cases what is important is to create a perception in the mind of customer that this particular product is better.
-Then he said if perception is the fruit then differentiation is the root of any thriving business. To differentiate from competitors the company has to be drastically different-opposite of competition(more than 50% different). He said that if companies try to be like others then no one will buy their product. They will think Pulsar is trying to be like Apache , means Apache is better and hence they will go for that.
-he said there should be alignment between frontend(sales and marketing) and backend(quality,SCM,operations,etc). Frontend should be sharp and backend simple.
-brand would give direction to the company. It would show how and what should be the innovation. Eg. Pulsar is a sexy , fast and powerful bike and hence innovation is directed towards pick-up,power,etc while Discover is fuel efficient hence RnD has to be done in that direction.
-Like in yoga you take position,find your centre(stable posture) and then extend and stretch likewise is a company in the market. 1st take a position, find stability and then expand.
He was an instant hit and I think first time speaker and TiE as Mr. Iyengar till now they were bereft of his addressals and would like to have him more in such events.

All in all it was a day to cherish…I loved the jewels of knowledge I was able to get and hope to have many such opportunity. This I say is Mumbai advantage :)

MBA Rocks... :)

Its been long time I updated my diary. Most of us have the unique ability of making ourselves busy whatever be the magnitude of work….
Now I am on the verge of finishing my first year in KJ Som. How fast the days have flown! And I feel sad…. MBA venture had started as dream come true, then all excitements had drowned in transition troubles and there were moments when I felt like running away…. I don’t know when the fear, apprehensions, regrets, negativity vanished down the line….I started enjoying ,loving the place and people with all their positives n negatives and we all became a part of each other…. Now the thought that this would end in a flurry is scary.That’s life…
Doing MBA was a terrific idea and I am glad I took it. Last year has been joyous. Learnt so many interesting subjects, came to know different things, attempted lots of activities and had a blast! MBA I feel is something that sensitizes us to things around us, which are there all the time but we hardly notice. Whether its reading newspaper with the understanding of nuances and undercurrents, looking at problems as gaps in society that we can fill, looking at people around and thinking how can we make their life better,looking at ourselves and contemplating what do we actually want to do and how are we going to achieve it….it has given direction and made us think strongly!
Apart from that I met wonderful people and we had great time together. Celebrated birthdays, went on outings, played games, fought with each other, helped each other, comforted, complained, teased and troubled, laughed and cheered….. Gamut of feelings that make existence worthwhile!







It gives an opportunity to meet CEOs,CMOs,CFOs and listening to them,talking to them I feel is the most inspiring moment. It makes us realize that faces on newspapers are not some ethereal,out of the world beings….they have crossed a phase like ours , been once where we are and reached the heights of success driven by their ambition,hardwork,attitude,passion and faith! Impossible is nothing…..





Taking part in competitions and winning some cash and prizes always gives a kick. Saudagar at IIT-K, Be-Unique by Uni-Ball pens, Ideas for India by KJ Som E-Cell and Postive India by DNA was fun (especially seeing my photo in newspaper and pretending like celebrity ;P )





I am so grateful that all my initial fears were unfounded and as I had hoped this has become a terrific experience….. I hope, wish and pray that it continues and each day turns out better that the last!
All the guys who wanna do MBA,please work hard and do it. Its worth the grind :) It just needs persistence…..MBA indeed rocks!!!

Experience at Prabandhan, IIT Kanpur

Department of MBA , IIT Kanpur organized "Prabandhan"- its Annual Management Conclave.
That fine evening Chitra asked me nonchalantly if I would be interested in participating in one main event of the programme called "Saudagar"-The Marketing Extravaganza.It involved coming up with innovative marketing strategies for a flailing company given in their case study. Challenge was in the time limit- we had one day to submit the executive summary! I am always game for any new experience of this sort especially…so how can I ever say no? So we became a TEAM!
As we started working on it, I realized how much hard work is required for participating in such events. We took guidance from some very helpful seniors. We sincerely incorporated our learning and the executive summary started taking a satisfactory shape. After rounds of review and correction we submitted our proposal to Prabhandhan team and waited with fingers crossed. The result was supposed to come out the next day.
Entire day we waited. Inadvertently thoughts would deviate towards the forthcoming results and a wave of hope and excitement would run through us. But alas the website showed no result till the time I went to bed. At our 5 in the morning I was woken up with a call from Chitra, a look at the name flashing on screen gave me the joyous inkling of what the news would be. Yes we had cleared the first round. I felt rapturous when I saw the result on the website. We were among the 5 teams selected all over India and other teams who made it were from IIM Indore, XLRI Jamshedpur, FMS Delhi and IIT Kanpur. Seeing KJ Somaiya(SIMSR) name among them was huge pleasure.
Well then comes the grueling part. If preparing for the executive summary was hard-work then now we slogged to prepare the detailed document and presentation. Seniors helped us in understanding the concepts that were not yet taught to us and faculty members encouraged us. It was a very different and nice experience, a superb break away from the mundane day-to-day life of college where excitement comes by way of deadlines for submissions of assignments or doing presentations in class or going out somewhere for "time pass"(though there is hardly enough time……)
A journey to Kanpur from Mumbai is around 24 hours. We studiously took tickets in tatkal for sleeper class . It had been ages we traveled in sleeper coach since 3rd AC has become the norm of travelling these days. But I didn't mind because I wanted to relive those childhood days when we use to travel to "nanighar" like this feeling the air on our face and eating from all possible vendors that came selling their goodies…As we started early morning to catch the train our journey started on an adventurous note. First we didn't have the ticket print-out(kudos to our carelessness) and second, we started really late. We ran to the station, jumped local trains, prayed continuously and somehow caught the train in nick of the time. We showed ticket to TT on our laptop(thankfully only 1 came) and completed our presentation in train. As we reached Kanpur, it was raining heavily there. Chitra's all desire to see the place died down because from where we entered the city all we could see were dilapidated buildings, pot-holed roads…everything looked ages old… But the moment we took the turn towards IIT Kanpur, lo behold there was a magical change! The view that awaited us was simply heavenly. The impoverished surroundings changed suddenly to one of pure wonder, well-maintained huge green parks with peacocks dancing, beautiful houses, well spread out buildings, stadiums, foot-ball and cricket grounds, basket ball courts….welcome to IIT Kanpur! We were given a superb room in their VH(Visitor's Hostel) well equipped with A.C,T.V and whatever was needed. It even had a cute balcony overlooking a green meadow-like ground with a serene willow tree(I guess).
It all looked like dream world. We met the organizers of the Prabandhan,roamed around in IIT campus and also completed our presentation and practiced it.
The D-day of presentation came. We decked up nicely in our college formals. We thanked SIMSR of giving us the formals in time. All our competitors were there looking smart and confident in their formals. Surprisingly we didn't feel much nervous. We were not supposed to see others presentation. When our turn came we presented well though we felt we could have still done better. The judges grilled us on some questions. We answered but then had our own doubts when it got over. We returned to our room thinking its all over for us. There was hope but lot of apprehensions. We had to submit the accounts assignment in college the next day so we sat down with the work. In evening suddenly Chitra shouted….we have won the first prize..!!!I jumped…it was like the best thing to hear..!
Yes it was their on the website... "Dexterous Duo from SIMSR" had indeed won the first prize. We were elated…these last few days were wonderful…like a roller-coaster ride but soooo good! There were congratulations from all sides and it all felt so good. Now as I sit in the train writing all this…it feels all the more good to go back to college with the with the winner's prize for SIMSR.. :)

Maha Mandi 2010

NITIE organized Maha Mandi 2010 where the volunteers had to come down on the roads of Mumbai and sell merchandize provided by an NGO Navnirmiti. Proceeds would be used for the welfare of under-privileged kids by the NGO. It was an opportunity to work for a noble cause as well as learn direct selling by approaching customers, convincing and selling them toys for kids and T-shirts. I was very much interested!
On the day of Maha mandi i.e. 31st July, when I somehow pulled myself out of the bed early, it was raining cats and dogs (of course…its July and its Mumbai). I wondered how difficult it would be trample down the streets and sell in pouring rain. I got ready quickly and ran to gulp down some breakfast. Nitie bus was suppose to come by 8:15 a.m. Since the bus was late, we like diligent, responsible sales people started with our selling right in our SIMSR academic block. There I realized how business can get harshly competitive or rather mean too. I and my mandi partner Harshit,targeted people who were free and steered away from those who were already being persuaded by other mandiians.As we spent time and energy trying to convince them with all our heart, the moment he was ready to buy a classmate of mine emerged from nowhere and sold off the item to him. It was like capturing someone's else's customer but then life or rather business is not all fair,that taught me to be alert all the time!
Then we strategically moved on to Polytechnic and Engineering blocks and sold quite a lot of items.
When we reached Nitie, Mandi inauguration was in full force. But seeing infra of Nitie we felt much more appreciative of our own college and hostel. That was a good feeling. In Nitie bus we left to western side of Mumbai. We played antakshari and had gala time in bus. We got down at Andheri. It was pouring thickly, we stood by the road under the umbrella trying to keep safe the mandi bag of goodies. As we wondered where to go, one option was "Infinity Mall" and we started walking towards that direction. Before boarding an auto I thought lets try our luck in nearby buildings. We entered a big official block which had lot of small, quiet offices. We stood outside the doors and tried to peep in and gauge the prospective buyer. I realized how challenging it must be for salesmen to muster courage, approach peple,sweat and toil and be ready for hearing refusal or bear disinterest of people. Many of those posh office people heard elaborately about all the items and at the end they just bought one piece of the cheapest item of all. Some doors had explicit "Salesmen strictly not allowed" written which somehow felt offensive. Some people were considerate, caring and bought in bulks. But definitely all had a word of praise for we management students who had given one day for this noble cause. And it felt like music to ears and left a very satisfying feeling. Every item sold, any word of praise lifted our spirits and made us happy. It was an awesome experience. In fact after having lunch, thanks to Harshit's initiative, we sold our last item a T-shirt to the hotel owner, a grandfatherly lean man who on hearing our social mission, instantaneously agreed to buy the "XL T-shirt" and sportingly said that he would wear it.In less than two hours our whole inventory was sold.We were ecstatic.Meeting so many people, talking, selling,taking snaps and getting drenched in Mumbai rain has left wonderful feelings and priceless learning. A good take-away was the re-enforcement of the fact that world is full of good people.
While we were returning to our college in local train an unfortunate accident happened.While train was stopping at Bandra station a man slipped on wet platform and came under the train.His one leg was badly crushed but he somehow survived.I had no courage to peep out and witness all that.I felt terrible thinking how delicate the life is and prayed silently. Fellow passengers talked for a minute or two on the misfortune of the victim and then got back to their own work.Train too chugged off in less than ten minutes.On one side a person life was devastated,on the otherside no matter what happens life just goes on....apt evidence!
I feel so glad that I participated in this noble event. True was its theme "Selling is the game, learning is the aim,mandi is the name"!!!

In KJ Somaiya...

Ooops its been long time….important phase n its bad that I was not able to pen it down here…

So I am in KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai.
Its been more than one month here. How it feels is difficult to put down in words.

The beginning was not so good.Infact I was feeling bewildered…sometimes lost…sometimes gloomy…sometimes angry….Frequently questions like -why did I leave the comfortable job , convenient infow of monthly salary,company of my near-dear one n land into the "wonderful life of B-school" kept coming in mind.The lectures on "mushrooming B-schools-fierce competition" and "first-deserve -then-desire" brought us on the hard ground of reality. Quizzes on current affairs made us realize how much more aware and conscious we must be…New faces around provided interesting opportunity of knowing new people but I felt exasperated at my natural reservedness that keeps me back in the beginning .I saw some people mingling fast, some forming groups , some very professional or impersonal , some very active and smart …a rich variety but still all unknown…. A voice within kept asking where will I fit?...Or will I ever adjust in there?

I kept going back to those big promises and ideologies with which I had weaved my dream of doing MBA, to have the most worthwhile two years of my life,to do my best,to give it all that it takes and emerge as a much better individual. I thought all that and told myself-"yes this is it,you are living your dream.Every minute is precious". This indeed, boosted my energy and propelled me to face all and move ahead.

Slowly as expected and wished it has all started improving. Our group assignments has made us work with our classsmates and know them better. There is more talking more understanding. There are ample assignments and presentations to keep us on feet. There is lot of information sharing,taking new initiatives and a good process of learning and un-learning….All of us freshers went to Lonavala trip and had fun.We had a blast in the ice-breaking event "All Izz Well" organized by seniors( in which we , PGDM-A,won the show and yes what a magnanimous feat it was...) and today we had Impression 2010 in which our dance group won the first prize..So all this has started becoming lot of fun…

I wish with all my heart these two years turn out really valuable n memrable one..
As rightly said on our Impressions T-shirt "A journey of thousand leagues starts with a single step"..!

Time For Transition

April has started…my last month in Wipro. The count down has begun.
When I am not thinking about it, everything is just the same. The same story of day and night unfurling itself in methodical rhythm. Going to office, swiping in, logging into desktop, cycle of coding-debugging-coding, lunch break, tea breaks, meetings, complaining, gossiping, swiping out and back to home. The corporate life-hectic and draining in one way, secure and calming in other . All this coming to an end soon. Think about it and I feel a tingling down within. The transition from a professional to student is round the corner. Myriad thoughts come in mind, inexplicable emotions rear their heads.
Two years, four months and thirteen days in my first company have been memorable in a lot of ways. It gave me a chance to have a taste of what corporate life is all about. It took me through different stages of existence as a project engineer in an IT giant. The initial three months of training provided me a gentle transition from college to corporate by providing classroom training with peers, all of us freshers out of college with mixed feelings of pride, hope and wonder bonding us together. The initial days of assessments,tests,group activities,outings,fun and frolic are memorable. Then came projects which pushed us deeper into the corporate jungle. All vying to get good projects, fearing the much used word "bench", some wishing to be in project with friends, some fearing client interviews…..ah the plethora of feelings, ambitions and desires! Getting into project, heat of activities,deadlines,client calls, tickets taught me so much…..right from arranging innumerable mails in mailbox, to trying to comprehend the foreign accent on phone, to understanding office politics and tactics…experiences are varied! The journey started as a naive, missing meetings at times in the event of having ice-cream parties after lunch to becoming more responsible, professional organizing meetings/presentations…of course the journey of learning continues….The tenure started in Pune, let me have fun with a good bunch of friends, started me off in this career. Then it took me to the IT hub, Silicon Valley Of India, Bangalore for rest half of my IT experience. It was a different turn, a lot different flavour.The internal project had different work style. I learnt to explore,leran on my own without the so-called client pressure. The new place,less friends, relaxed work atmosphere made me strengthen my resolve for higher studies and enabled me to work towards it.Moreover,my first company is very special in many other ways as it made me meet some very special people of my life.
Now, with so many experiences/offerings/memories in my kitty its time when the rendezvous with Wipro would end soon. Though a good amount of time was spent in complaining about package,hikes,appraisal ratings,etc etc but looking back there is a soft corner, lot of good feelings and nostalgia. Going back to student life is not easy. With supposed carefree life of student(not for MBA student surely) comes insecurity,doubts,study-marks-placement cycle…..most of all it’s a major change…life moving from one phase, life of secure,cosy professional to another, a life of hard work, grades and unpredictability. In a book of life-a milestone. But then that’s the feeling between all new Endeavour and MBA for me is not just a money spinning option but the heart's calling.Inspite the inhibitions, there is more of enthusiasm, excitement and happiness for the path that I prayed for I got from the Almighty(thank u:))….Come what may it would be worth the try…And of course professional world, wait I am coming again in just two years….coming with a bang!!! :)

Great time!

Recently returned from a wonderful trip of Tirupati-Ooty-Conoor.

It was a nicely planned and very smooth trip. We had no glitches at all!
Thanks to the planning and foresigtedness of Shubham and Dheeraj.

Also Lady Luck was on our side as we got a very good cab driver who took us to fantastic n comfortable hotels,restaurants and showed us all spots in a very well organized way.






Idea of going to Tirupati cropped in my mind which was later followed by visit to Ooty as suggested by Shubham,I kept nagging him for not taking me to different places/adventures so he wanted to make the most of the opportunity and definitely it turned out to be a very nice trip.




Darshan of Balaji was pleasant with not a too long wait of which all were apprehensive.We took ticket of Rs 300.
In one or one n a half hour we got the opportunity of having the glimpse of the Almighty.What a calming n peaceful moment it was!That matter of seconds view was powerful enough to leave a long lasting impact!One ironical fact that I came across in Tirupati was that the prasad of Balaji,the famous laddoos,were being sold in black quite openly.Rs 10 coupons of laddoos could be taken in Rs 50.Anyways Tirumala was beautiful with small glittering shops selling items related to deities,worship,etc.

Ooty was good though it was sunny.But being off season rates were low and place was not too crowded.Infact timing was good enough as from April i.e just in couple of weeks the on-season would start.We went from Ooty to Conoor in a toy train.We got up early,hurried for it,striking off "Dodepetta" from our itinerary to catch the train, though the train experience did not much turn out to be worth the pain.

Conoor appeard more beautiful and scenic than ooty.We even had a tour of tea making factory,had masala tea and saw miscievious monkeys(one snatched the packet of cherry from my hand!)






All in all we had a great time and a much needed break!!!

Also today I paid my admission fee in SIBM-B.
The first stone of my MBA career is laid!!!