The journey that awaits.....

Every student creates his or her Bucket List when he first enters college. There are lots of goals, dreams and ambitions that have to be achieved. Through the process a lot of those items may seem unreasonable, impractical and unrealistic. At the same time there are a few that are achieved which give you immense pleasure and joy. I am no different. When I first reached SIBM Pune I had a bucket list in place. Though there is barely any item that has been checked on that list, this post is dedicated to one particular item on that list.

I have just completed my first semester and have reached home to spend my well earned/required vacation. As the clock ticks, I am half torn between looking forward to going back to college and to spending a few more days in my most favorite city with the people closest to me. Pure logic would suggest that there is absolutely nothing that could compete with the latter option. Unfortunately In my case there is one small thing- Coffee... with SIBM.

Coffee with SIBM kicks off this November. This is one of a kind platform for aspirants. They get a chance to interact with the students of SIBM and understand what MBA actually has to offer. On a personal front it gives me a chance to do what I do reasonably well- Talk!! Ever since I joined SIBM Pune one of my aims was to conduct Coffee with SIBM across cities. As MBA students we talk about branding, marketing etc. It doesn’t get better than this. Going to various cities across India, interacting with aspirants of various age groups, highlighting the importance of MBA in general and MBA from SIBM Pune in particular, life couldn’t get more exciting or challenging. It’s a one of a kind opportunity which I hope to make full use of.

To add to all this excitement this time Coffee with SIBM gets bigger and better. Over 23 locations across India, interacting with thousands of students, my next few months resembles one exciting journey that I can’t wait to get started with.

Hoping for many more exciting journeys to follow......

Apollo aka Hemanth Vasudevan

MBA-1 Marketing

CWS Nagpur

It was the middle of december, when Pranita, Nakul and I set out for the Coffee with SIBM event.
We boarded a bus (thats a long story in itself! will share it some othr time) for Nagpur on friday night.

The event was to be held on saturday in Nagpur, and, on Sunday in Indore by our team. Well, the overnight
bus journey was taxing and exhausting. But, the new city, the roads, the markets all were intriguing, as I had been there for the first time.
Anyway, after freshening up and having a nice lunch, we headed to the venue, and set up all the posters and the laptops with the ppt and stuff.
The coffee was arranged, so was the parking for the incoming aspirants.

In came the crowd, bit by bit, braving the heat, afterall, it is SIBM Pune, they were looking up to!
It was a different experience having so many faces staring anxiously at you, hoping for us to spill some special beans which would by itself take them to the coveted B-school. Well, I could not blame them, it brought back to mind, my days of preparation at the coaching centre I went to.
Anyways, we went ahead with the presentations, videos, which surely had a great impact on the audience, and made them determined to crack SNAP and somehow just be a part of the beautiful campus (institute!).

There were many questions on SNAP, the cutoffs, the fees, the different quotas, the campus life, the study load, the placements and so on. After this they were given mock SNAPs and a parting gift, which would help them with their preparations. Our team stayed back to handle any personal queries with any member of the audience which he/she was unable to bring up during the session.

Soon after we packed and rushed so as to not miss the evening bus to Indore, thankfully, this time it was a sleeper. The journey was relatively less consuming, although, much longer than promised by the driver! We reached Indore in the morning and looked for a decent hotel (DO not mistake it for Hotel Decent-as in Jab we met!). There we relaxed a bit and got the dirt picked up enroute off our skins. After this we started for our search of the legendarrrrry poha-jalebi, which we devoured plate after plate, and returned for more the next day too!

After lunch, we got going for the job, reached the venue and went through the same preparations. Only, this time we also had to run around in search of a place which could supply coffee for the event. Well, it was again taken care of, and aspirants again flocked at the venue. But, this time was different for me personally. I had been a bit unsure of how to handle the audience at Nagpur, but, here at Indore, I became really comfortable and along with awesome partnering with Pranita, got the audience to literally open up and clear each and every doubt in their head.
In the other room, Nakul was weaving his magic and many a girl did seem to have fallen prey to his charm too... The graffiti sheet said it all after the event!

We gathered all the info on the places to be at Indore from the audience, and hit many of those at the night, right after the event. The next afternoon we hopped on a train to dear ol' Pune, where we had an amazing group of typical aunties who had loads to talk about and loads of energy to shout it out to each other..... NON-STOP. Anyways, somehow we managed to survive it all and reach Pune the next morning.
Morning meant breakfast, so our fun continued in Pune too, as me and Pranita hit Vaishali, where we even brushed our teeth and then enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast. Thereafter we headed to the campus and hit the sack to have some dreams about the amazing 2-3 days we had, the places we went to, the food and drinks we enjoyed, the lot of things we learnt along the way which still remains fresh even after 4 months gone by!

Ashish Chhabra
MBA 1, SIBM Pune

Chennai ... whistle podu... :)

Chennai witnessed the 1st city meet of this season with a get together happening at the Anna Nagar CCD.

It was attended by Kamesh and Ishminder from present batch at SIBM pune . Karthik P and Nandhini P from the incoming batch graced the occasion.

Kamesh reported that amazingly the weather in chennai was very good and nature paved way for the chennai meet. :)

Kamesh is a student of at SIBM pune.

Ishminder is a student of marketing at SIBM pune.

Karthik P is an engineer from TCS who hails form Trichy

Nandhini is a fresher from UP who lives in chennai.

The interaction went on for about 3 hours. They had a great time for sure.

Regards
Kameswaran.N
SIBM 09/11
9689898718

Mysore pak & Cheese Aapam

" Hurry up... else..we will miss the Bus"
Varun, a Raghu in making, yelled at me as i had steeped out to buy a water bottle & some snacks.
Where to ??? Namma Bengaluru...:)

Well the journey to Bengaluru as part of 2nd Phase of CWS had begun. To spice it up we were sitting right in the front seat of A luxury bus which would drop us at the destination 15 hours later.Cold breeze of uncertainity was washing the converged expectancy. The honky horns, dim shady head lights of vehicles, and many little chats were enough to keep our pulse ticking... it was long before we fell asleep.

" Wake up kid... Majestic is here"... He yelled 2nd time... Startled i looked at my watch.. 11pm. Mystic dusk was at its peak. We decided to show some mercy to our grumbling tummys and call it a day... Waow... Here i come.

Next day early in the morning, travelling through the slim paths, i took varun to my college and placed our luggage there. We had to set up the venue by 2 pm.... As my prev college was in festival mood, We had a lot to be happy about. Firstly...some coolant to eyes, fresh faces, loads of music and FOOD. :) Ha Ha... what a way to start the day.

4 pm: The event started with many students entering with puzzled looks. Guess they were wondering , why on this earth 2 handsome looking guys from SIBM, Pune were there to ENLIGHTEN them for the next 3 hours.. Hmm.. Price to fill SNAP form Baby... :P I am sure they attained "Self actualization" right on top of Mr Maslow..

Day 2...

I am already sweating.. where else can i be? Chennai....Filter coffee,Heart thumping music which i was lucky to pick some beats, white revolution in form of Dhoti's and Brilliant ciaos... Edging off the Loyola college wasn a difficult task. Thanks to Varun(fact that he is a unofficial Tambi...) my conversation was easy. Learnt to talk in terms of 1,5 and 10 rs ... :)

We had to run around to accommodate extra chairs as the enthusiasm of chennai crowd was never better. Crisis handling( expected to know in a B School).. was put to execution . We decided make 2 teams and explain them About CWS... "Hello Chennai....Good evening.. I am Sandeep.."

Standing by the super fast train, chugging its way through silver waterways, golden beaches and fresh Cheese Aapam...i looked around me. My heart was satisfied... traveling Thousands of km and conducting an event successfully, was amazing feeling...

" Tambi..... Coffee??????" asked a Coffee wala...

Sipping aromatic filter coffee, calm breeze tickling my face, the horizon faded in to violet calm evening.... turning crimson...

I will be back..

Sandeep B Hanchanale
MBA 1, Marketing A

ART Exposed.....

Travelling 3 major cities over 2 weekends..... Phew... What a time. I already feel like a CEO :P

The event CWS received a tremendous response across 18 cities and saw more than 5000 aspirants attending it across India.

It feels great to stand in front of mirror and see the smiling "moustached" face( ya.. that's mine..).But as u shift the angle a little you see those calm faces who have been the pillars in planning this event prominently.
Surviving on classic lavale vada pao and tea(wonder if i can vouch for it... ) we endured the long chilly nights in the team room. The ghosts of the last year's hiccups and some last minutes goof ups always kept up pushing for the ultimatum. I wonder how many times i had to look all that check list before coming to the final one after umpteen spoof reads.

A typical team day would begin with me or Anna starting the day. As the sun shone brighter, Preeti and Adwitee would come. The fact that they are ladies(our team lead is also a lady ), we were slaughtered many times for NOT KEEPING THE TEAM ROOM CLEAN...whew... That's the flipside. Thanks to them it was clean..( most of the time). As our classes used to begin, Lolly and Bakli used to take charge. By the end of the day after all the entertainment (supposedly) we had in our respective classes, the actual day began for us. Planning for a big event like this takes a lot you...what i sacrificed?? Well... My Girlfriend('s/s') calls, evening snacks( complimented by Parle biscuits), patience(.. i assumed i had a lot of it before :)) and social networking:P. How can i not mention my beloved senior team??? We are what we are because of them... Thanks :).

When i sit back in those armed chairs, watching the gold draped curtains across the team room, and sun slowly peeping out of the misty clouds trying to get the last glimpse of Lavale.... i am happy... a lot :)

Thanks team :)

Sandeep B Hanchanale
MBA 1, Marketing

Coffee with SIBM 2009 - Memories for Life!!!

2 weekends of action...

More than 2 months of intense back end planning...

18 Cities...

5500 plus aspirants...

Memories for life...

There was discussion, there was ambition and there was.... Coffee with SIBM....

The event was the biggest event I have ever handled in my entire life. Big in terms of the objective of the event, big in terms of the magnitude of expected turnout. Big in terms of the budget involved and big in terms of the details in planning.

I would rather call CWS as a project rather than just an event, because it in essence had all the ingredients of a project. It involved conceiving the ideas, planning various aspects, designing the entire process, working out to the minutest details and over all, the actual execution and implementation of the project.

It all started in mid October when 6 members of the Junior Aspirant Relations Team met one evening to chalk out the strategies for the same. Planning needed to be solid and strong in each and every aspect to ensure that we did not falter anywhere. 6 people with diverse backgrounds, varied talents, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, each a genius in his or her own way, joined hands together for this and made it possible.

It is impossible to forget the numerous late nights spent in the team room for discussing strategies, evaluating alternatives and options, freezing on one or two final options and sometimes going half the distance only to realize that we are walking in the wrong direction. There have loads of moments of fun and equally good number of tense moments. There have been as many moments of madness as those of seriousness. There have been moments when the decibel levels due to celebrations of each minor milestone in the project reached the sky. On the other extreme, there have also been moments when the silence has paralleled that of a graveyard.

Planning and designing the process was the most important aspect that decided the success of the entire CWS. Drilling down to the minutest details was the necessity and all of us managed to do that quite efficiently. Our team dynamics were especially tested rigorously, when each of us handling different aspects of the event had to sit and work with the others to ensure that there was enough smoothness in the process. Most of the aspects in CWS required a lot of co-ordination between the different people. The one handling logistics needed to work closely with the one handling publicity. The one responsible for finances was required to be in great sync with the one who was actually spending. In order to ensure that there was no clash of anything, we met every day and discussed the progress. Above all, we had a wonderful Senior team, which at each and every step, critically evaluated our plans and gave us the necessary feedback. This was an icing on the cake, because getting inputs from the people who have already been there and done that, actually gave us a readymade platform to work on.

There were instances where we have had to change or drastically modify our plans for some reasons beyond our control. There were instances where we saw some danger on the actual occurrence of the event. But what was important was that we were quick to realize the impending trouble and flexible enough to change our plans. Changing one aspect of the plan automatically meant that a lot of other aspects that were related to the same also needed to be changed. But then, we managed to pull it all off.

The small ego clashes, the big fights. The great arguments and the humble confessions. The moments of lending a helping hand to others, the pranks in and outside the team room. The memories of these two months will remain etched in my hearts for the rest of my life.

There have been glitches in the event in spite of the meticulous planning. Most of these have been because of our over reliance on people and parties outside the team. But this taught us the importance of follow ups and continuously monitoring the situations. There have been hiccups in the event, but that taught us the importance of having an equally solid Plan B in place. There have been times when things were going exactly the opposite way we had expected them to, but perseverance and patience showed us the way out.

Having done all the ground work, it was important to execute the entire plan effectively. What was important here was to have the right people at the right place doing the right things. With the amount of constraints we had on the time, the resources & the manpower and keeping the objective of CWS in mind, it was imperative that we leave no stone unturned. We gave our best shots at publicity using multiple channels for publicizing the event. We tried our best to have the right people accompanying us. We all travelled that extra distance and took that extra effort, because we all realized that after taking the responsibility of an event of this magnitude, we could not afford to fail. Having taken all the pains so far, it was all the more important to make sure that the event did not fail just because we did not bother putting that additional bit of an effort.

The real action, which took place over two weekends, actually was a test of the entire planning and execution process. I am glad to say that we did a great job. I personally felt that we exceeded our own expectations. We did a wonderful job with whatever we had at our disposal. With the support of loads of friends and wishes of batch mates, CWS 2009 was a phenomenal success. We managed to visit 18 cities, a never before achievement. We managed to contact 5500 odd aspirants, a first timer again. CWS had never got this big!

On a closing note as I said earlier, all these would never have been possible without the continuous support given to us. The main players behind this are the Senior team members and also the faculty and admin. We were entrusted with responsibility and were given total freedom in making decisions. And with this type of an exposure, we all enjoyed working together.

At the end of it all, when graffiti sheets carry your names, when lots of unknown people add you on Facebook and Orkut, when you exceed your own benchmarks and when people look up to you as someone really great, there is reason to cheer. The sense of gratification is simply so fulfilling.

Nitin Prabhu

MBA I - Operations

'Coffee with SIBM' - 2009

The Aspirant Relations Team wishes to announce the successful completion of 'Coffee with SIBM' - 2009. The event was conducted across 18 cities all over India and saw the participation of more than 5500 aspirants.