Chronicles of Life At TISS - 7

I am back in Mumbai yesterday once again to complete the last part of the Journey called "fourth sem in TISS". Its kind of sad and exciting feeling for that i would no longer be in the campus after these 6 months but at the same time excited that in another 6 months i would be starting my career on how i wished it to be years back when i started my MBA prep .

 I traveled  to LTT terminus like the way me and Hemanth( My team mate at Infy , classmate at TISS and an eternal enemy :P ) traveled when we came to Mumbai for the first time to face the TISS interview . We knew nothing about the city then except the fact its not much far from LTT to TISS campus in Deonar and we need to ask the cop there on what is the best way to reach campus and the way to sub urban train station ( the famed mumbai locals from that day onwards became part of the Journey in TISS) . Yesterday when i got down things were different . Now i have a fair understanding of the city ,language but one thing remained the same , i still need to ask for directions to  Tilaknagar station :P .

Coming to the campus is a warm feeling , its a feeling of being at home .From the past one and half year TISS had become second home for me . The campus bore a deserted look for hardly there are any one in the campus except for those from outside college who are undergoing some training sessions in TISS. I miss familiar faces but thanks to few of my idiotic classmates (just like me) who were back few days ahead of campus reopening , i had some company
In few days we would be facing our laterals , go for the last fieldwork ( by the way i am equally excited about which sector i would be sent this time and which company , My guess it would be FMCG  , will know in a week) . There are only 4 subjects to be done this time ( would have been only 2 had i credited the optionals i had audited) and completion of research work .
Come May , and like many batches who had done before us and many more going to do later , we become Alumni of the institute which gave us everything and we remain as Batch of 2013 ....Wish the time freezes in the last semester ( though the juniors would curse , as second semester is the HELL semester in TISS :P )

Chronicles of Life at TISS - 6

Its been quite some time that i updated the blog ,Initially it was the work at my internship and later being at home 

Disclaimer:

This post is more of random events put together (just like a journal entry and nothing great, so even if there is remotely any thing else interesting , don't bother to read this post)

I never had looked for reopening of college any time during my school or B.tech days , its been like back to the place where i truly belong , the protective environment of TISS with good old friends (not so good when we meet on a day to day basis  and i should say they are good as some of them do read the blog ;) ) .

There is not much action that happened in the last one week except for the fact that "SHE" (hehe..its nothing but Safety, Health and Environment ) is back to haunt yet another batch of Tissians

16 Brave souls dared to take  "Advanced Compensation and Benefits " shortly and sweetly called ACB ( i know its gonna fill most of my days in 3rd sem) and we already recieved the first shock with 650 pages compendium.This time the deadlines for Mulla sir's assignments are sunday nights which essentially mean there are no weekends for the next 3 months 

This season is the best one to be in Mumbai and rains already started , its time for some good trekking and hopefully we go for the traditional trek which we go at this time of the year 

PPOs and PPIs started flowing and excitement is just begining in the class 

Lastly, my long time dream of staying in the hostel did come true and i am fortunate to stay in one of the oldest hostels in TISS (i know its not cool for some , but not for me) and i stay in Hostel 3 Room no 017 ( the room with the best view in the entire campus, one have to be here to know about this :P)

Might be will get some thing interesting to post in the coming days :D

The Saga of My Singing Career 2

Continued...................




Incidence 3: The young singer in me had grown up amidst many small performance in my colony ( there use to be a power cut every day evening and all the colony kids in my street use to gather at a place and play "Anthakshari" ). Its a different story that they discontinued this game and shifted to others with no scope of singing ( i don't know why they keep changing the rules ). Any how now the grown up singer in me had joined Engineering first year and its time for some ragging .
 This time i had a much smaller crowd of 4 senior girls ( heheh..they dont have a chance to escape). At that point of time they don't know what's gonna hit them , they made the biggest mistake of their lives . THEY ASKED ME TO SING" (:D :D :D)


Singing i did , but they are rather particular about minor mistakes like the lyrics ( the actual song from film "Gharshana" which says hero rose from some thing and i said hero drowned in some thing ..what difference does it make ;) )


so after few unsuccesful attempts to correct me and having laughed their heart content , they left me ( now seriously tell me , how many singers out there had this talent of making their audience laugh )




Incidence 4: Its some time during my training in Infosys and we had personality development classes. The rules of the class are simple : who ever comes late should either sing or dance. if they don't , they can ask any of their friends to do so.( wait: i didn't delebrately come late for the opportunity , u know opportunities come knocking the door to the talented)
The strength of audience this time is some 30 odd and they were all well versed with my singing talennt ( thanks to all the nights we spent in classrooms doing boring coding stuff )
Now this friend of mine came late , and the facilitator asked her to sing . My friend, who did had this uncanny ability of recognising talent better than her, suggested my name . The facilitator had no issues , but the class shouted in unison "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
I did come late the next day , but for some reason i had been excused from the rules ( might be the facilitator had deep respect for singers and hence the exception, i would love to believe so )


I prepared more vigorously this time expanding the range of songs i can sing (covering Telugu,Kannada, Hindi and English) for i am going to join TISS and i would sure get a chance during the ragging sessions  but alas, my seniors are far more intelligent or might be the word travelled far and wide from Arabian sea coast(visakhapatnam) to Indian ocean coast(mumbai)..(are the sea names correct???, it doesn't matter). They didn't ask me to sing :( :(


But as sharukh says "picture abhi baki hei" , who knows ..i will try for auditions for "Indian idol" and become popular






so my saga continues............................................

The Saga of My singing Career 1

This time , i promise . There would definitely be  a second part (as i had already wrote that too :P )


Well it might come as a surprise looking at the title of the post , but yes i did tried my hands (rather my Voice) on many platforms ,but sadly my audience do not have artistic heart ( better word would be audacity) to encourage a great talent (:D) like me 



so below are the few incidences on how an upcoming singer's dreams had been crushed, grinded and what ever ....


Incidence 1 : Its year 1997 (or may be 98 it doesn't matter). I am in either 5th or 6th standard and our school won the inter city cricket championship . So to celebrate the occasion , our entire school students (around 800, quite a good number for my first performance) had been gathered in the ground ( The concept of cheerleaders is not yet thought over by Lalit Modi then, so we rather had celebrations after the match ) . One of the teacher announced that who ever is interested can come on to the stage and sing a song . This call is more than enough for the artist in me and immediately dragged my friend (Amaresh) along with me and been the first people on stage to sing the song which i had been practising for the past 10-15 days (not for the occasion though)
   As and when we started the first few lines (its from the famous kamal hasan movie that time , "Indian" )and song goes like this "Pachani chilakalu todunte , paade koyala vintunte (which literally translates to green parrots be on our side and koyal listening to our song...:) ) , we were stopped and asked to get off the stage 


reason: they changed the rules of the game ( does we had a role to play in that , we don't know) and said we should not be singing cinema songs . so that's the end of my first performance


Incidence 2 : Its again some time in the school and this time i had a fool proof plan so that no one would be stopping me midway . I had given my name for district level singing competition ( quite ambitious considering my reputation as singer at school and at home ) . I dragged my dad to take me to the venue on a sunday ( poor dad..can't say No ) and this time i had a modest audience of around 100 people . I did complete my song this time , but i did observe that by the time i completed the song only 50 remained in the hall ( i love to believe that they had completed their singing and after listening to me , would have thought they don't stand a chance).


Result: hahaha...if u still are looking for some fairy tale ending with me winning , u should definetely give me a call to listen me singing ...On second thoughts, u can send me an SMS with ur interest of being my audience , i can call and sing for u :P


To be continued..........................

Ek Chalis ki Last Local 1

well to start , let me put the standard disclaimers


The title and content of the post are no way related except for "local" part and its just another trick to attract some eye balls :P  and this post is inspired (which in other times is to say "i copy pasted" ) by one post on similar topic by one of my super seniors


But all the contents of this post are from my experiences with mumbai locals in the past one year ( 2 field works and 1 summer internship) during which i covered Harbour,central and western lines  and hence most eligible person to pen down my experiences




Ok, now cutting long story short , let me list down some etiquetes , unspoken rules , observations and etc etc on locals

• You will never get any space to board the local when it is on the platform , but even if u manage a small 1/2 foot space , the passengers will take care of space for rest of ur body , but the next dialogue u hear is "Chalo andar chalo"
• Remember , it is customary to let the passengers board the train and then u get out of the train especially if it is DADAR or CST during the peak hours ..don't believe me ?? try getting out first and i will give u a prize :P
• Carrying luggage during peak hours is a feat worth mentioning in the guiness book records ( infact the feat deserves more )
• Don't venture any where near the seats if ur stop is in the next 3 stops ...the question to ask is " utarna hei" and wow u will be given the way
• Forget what ur parents might have said u in childhood  that don't get down from a running bus/train etc.........It is expected that u get down much before the train stops ...and definetely don't be first person at the door step , u are literally expected to jump out of a running train ...Uthuro uthuro is the war cry for getting down which is religiously chanted by all regular commuters :)
• Now some stats, the probability of finding species from venus ( the fair species) in general compartment during the peak hours is as frequent as catching a glimpse of manmohan smiling ( i know pretty poor analogy , want to mention Mamata banerjee but i don't want to be popular so soon ;)  )
• Wallets and mobiles are meant to be kept in bags and bags to be clutched close to u with both hands ..this is the norm ...want to try some thing different ( do remember to invite me while buying ur new mobile :P )

It is an experience and an achievement in itself to board a train going towards  CST in govandi station during the morning peak hours ( TISSIANS can relate with me)


Having said every thing , Mumbai locals are the life line and the fastest mode of travel in this over crowded yet charming city   and to be a true mumbaikar u should survive the locals first :D :D

Chronicles of Life at TISS- 5

Final exams of second semester are under way ( is it the right word ?? hardly matters ..in plain simple terms we are having our final exams right now :P)


we have Marketing exam tomorrow and it is an Open book exam ( we have not yet forgetton the terror of writing an open book exam when looking into the book would be of no use) and we are here facing it once again .


as per the preparation , went to KFC and McD and observed their branding strategy and service quality beside trivial matters like having some food :p


Hmm..thinking of other events in college, 
The farewell of our seniors is fast approaching and true to being managers , we are organising farewell right in middle of our exams :P


Recently an exclusive study room is constructed on 4th floor of library (not quite recently but i started frequenting it quite recently with the onset of exams :P)
The best part of the day now a days is to watch the Tata Institute of Social sciences sign board  while leaving for my flat at 2 Am, 3 AM in the morning depending on which exam i am preparing for 


standing on the main road and watching the name is in itself worth staying in the college so late , even after an year the feeling is yet to sink in that now i am part of TISS :)

My Observations on TISS interview- Part 1

Its close to one year that i attended the TISS interview (March 9th to be precise :). The year had completed pretty fast & its quite eventful  and here the next batch is ready to attend the interviews in few days . So i believe its time to clear some air around the interview process


There are quite a few misconceptions when it comes to TISS interview , just to quote a few :
(1) TISS looks for people who had done so much of social work
(2) Extremely good profile is required to make it into TISS
(3) Clearing written cut off just by a small margin affects the final offer
(4) High score in written exam helps in sailing through the interview part
(5)High level of HR knowledge is required in the interviews
(6) The conversion ratio is only 1:10 and that too with 50% reservations , there is hardly any chance
(7) If interviewers come to know that i had given MBA entrance examinations (or got some IIM calls ) , they won't select me 
(8) Last but not the least , Is it worth leaving XYZ college to join TISS
and so on .............


When i had attended the interview an year back , i myself had quite a few of the above doubts . But seeing my batch , seniors and interactions with faculty , most of them are clarified


It is a fact that TISS participates in socially relevant causes ( for ex: M-Ward initiative ) and students across the courses actively participate in them . But its not a mandatory requirement that u should be having an experience working for a social cause . I had literally none , along with 50-60% (conservative figure)of my batch . So if u really had some  experience , portray it else don't try to fake


Its a fact that quite a few in the class come from elite institutes like LSR,SRCC ,Stephens , NITs(for Engineers) . But there are also others who come from normal colleges and with quite ordinary acad records . At the end ur attitude is what matters


Coming to the scores 
Once you are in for interview process scores hardly matter . If the panel wants to take you in ,rest assured u are IN . if they don't want to take even perfect 70/70 in written will not save you


An overview of HR knowledge would be appreciated and shows your interest in the field. But the interviewers obviously won't be expecting you to cover "organizational Behavior" (we read it for 2 sems :0 ). But being aware of happenings in the country and having an opinion on them would be of great help


coming to the conversions , its a fact that only 60 people make it into HR course from a rough estimate of 9000 applicants . The fact that one made it into 600 people itself is so special and its a utter waste of oneself if he/she believes he cannot make it into the top 60 . One best advise i received while i am preparing for MBA entrance exams is " You are competing with only yourself, never even bother to try comparing yourself with others" . This would be of great help on the interview day where you can see lot many studs , if u are afraid and feel not worthy enough for TISS, definetely u are not worthy to be here 


There is no mistake in disclosing about your other interview calls. No one ever writes only one exam . But be sure to make it a point that TISS is of priority to u and not just a fall back option


"Is TISS Worthy enough to Join"--i would better not answer the question atleast at this point of time


PS: All the above points are my personal opinions and i am quite prone to be biased :P , so take them with handful of salt 


PPS: Would try to come out with other post , if i happen to remember any more points (i so love to write in parts :P)

Best ways to annoy ur classmates - Life at TISS -4

Disclaimer : Dil pe mat lo :P


these are some sure shot ways to annoy ur classmates ( Certified from actual observations ) and these are just few of them ;)


(1) Asking doubts so sincierly when prof is about to give a break or finish with the class ( u would literally be fried with all the angry glares from ur poor classmates)


(2) Showing ur nose in a round aroooooooooooound manner  
EX: To discuss about economic conditions in Afganistan in Compensation class to bring home the point of salaries in India :P


(3) Missing out most classes and talking full faff (read "Strategy" ) in 1 or 2 classes attended


(4) Taking 20 mins in a group presentation of 20 mins just to say the intro part


some golden words in the recent presentations :
" what is the use of post mortem when the person had already died " ( Jinda aadmi ko post mortem karta hei kya ) 


Online advertisement and online sales as the most important strategy (Appears so good , but only issue is that we are referring to a case where the scenario is 1989 :P )


PS : will keep updating this post as and when such golden words roll out

Life at TISS -3

Well, every time we hear that having a small batch size is huge advantage as it helps to know classmates better (really :P ) , easy during the time of placements and etc etc..( really cannot think anything else ;) 

But the “Grass is not always greener on the side “ . So from my experience at TISS , I had come across quite disadvantages of having a smaller batch size . Going by my new decision of not stretching the blog posts , I would write them in crisp pointers J

(1   (1)    Most recent disadvantage I found is that “ Its too difficult to collect sample size for ur research” . There are hardly 60 people and even if u threaten to kill them , only half of them fill ur forms .

(2   (2)  Group assignment presentations comes so quickly , there are hardly 10 groups of 6 members each and in 2 months u are up there for presentation ( hoping that u get the last group to be presented in the lottery :P )

((    (3)  Faculty tends to give too many individual assignments and there is no option to free ride :P

(4   (4)  Even after regular attempts of being as invisible as possible in the class , the faculty easily identifies on the day u bunk the classes L

(     (5) U don’t have enough strength to win elections in the college and had to depend on coalitions to get second rung posts , even after leaving president post as a distant dream 

(6   (6) If u start with the plan of forming a team for cricket , u end up forming it for a singles badminton :P

(7  (7)   Too less choice to try for  ;)

(8  (8)  The real fun is when the placement PPTs begin as u would be made to sit  compulsorily through all the companies (numbering in 40s to 50s ) so as to project good image of the batch

(9  (9)Other fun is when conducting 2 events at the same time . Had to literally fight to get some audience for the events

So my friends , life is not very easy in having a smaller batch . Hence proved :P

Life at TISS -2

It took a long time to come out with part 2 of "Life at TISS" . This delay is not for that i am too busy but there is hardly any life left after being inundated with submissions and deadlines :P

Its almost the end of second sem which i realise only from the fact that most of our sessions are getting over but still leaving us with submissions and presentations.

As such we are better prepared to face this sem (having learnt good share of jargons :P ) , but couldn't guess what's gonna hit us ..now we fully understand why our seniors call second semester "THE HELL" , but the fact that 3rd sem is gonna be no different is not such a pleasing news either

But the fact remains that this semester is the best part of my academic life . Never i even remotely remember being literally studying every single day through out the semester . Never i had prepared this diligently for class readings . Overall its a enlighting learning experience

Acads apart , this semester we had "Thanks Giving Party " to seniors for all the efforts during our summer placements . Two more parties are pending for this sem , one being thanks giving by seniors and other the Farewell party.

Other interesting events in this sem is one of a kind of experience spending one week in "M WARD " - the most back ward area in Mumbai . This is what sets TISS apart from other colleges.

Other events include Campaigning for elections , for 2 of my room mates and observing the drama with all the  masala and equations of regular elections which even keep seasoned politicians to shame :P . the election is postponed to june , though for some irrelevant reason

This sem we had 8 subjects including the famed Mulla and his train loads of assignments , But others are not far behind and infact this sem , it seemed that some managed to overcome him in terms of the assignments .
The best part is with "Employee resourcing " subject where with in 15 mins u need to analyse a case as a group and present it and the worst part is , it is evaluative :P

Inspiring words

SOURCE: Taken from internet . 

I’ve learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them;
I’ve learned that no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back;
I’ve learned that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
I’ve learned that you can get by on charm, for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something;
I’ve learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I’ve learned that no matter how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take it’s place.
I’ve learned that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re downhill are the ones to help you get back up.
I’ve learned that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry.
I’ve learned that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
I’ve learned that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to doesn’t mean that they don’t love you with all they have.
I’ve learned that maturity had more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
I’ve learned that your family won’t always be there for you.
I’ve learned that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while.
I’ve learned that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to forgive yourself.
I’ve learned that no matter how bad your heart is broken, the world doesn’t stop for your grief.
I’ve learned that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
I’ve learned that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.
I’ve learned that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
I’ve learned that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I’ve learned that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will get hurt in the process.
I’ve learned that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don’t even know you.
I’ve learned that it’s hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people’s feelings and standing up for what you believe.