Student Exchange

From the very first day that I joined IIFT, I had been hearing a lot about the Student Exchange Program. Some of the seniors who had been on a student exchange described it as the "best experience" that they had till date and the rest described it as a "looong vacation". I liked both the versions. When the time for selection came I opted for the Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki. The only criteria guiding my decision was the time factor. I wanted to be back in India by April not to miss my summer internships and Hanken's exchange period was just over two months. So, it was the best fit for me.

I had never been abroad before and was all excited about this program. To add to the excitement was the fact that the third trimester in IIFT was supposedly the toughest term. I wanted to run away and I was happy that I was running away to an exotic place.

On 13th January, I along with two other friends of mine reached Helsinki. The entire runway as well as the surrounding areas were all white. For the first time in our lives we were seeing a city colored white by the snow. The temperature was -6C and this one more first time for us. It has been 50 days since then and I have not yet experienced positive temperatures. Initially we loved the snow and cold but gradually we started hating hating it. On top of that the days were very small and for tens of days we did not see the sun. It was tough to go out and travel and sitting inside the rooms, we were bored to death.

But one thing, Finland is an excellent country with great people. I mean I have not been to many countries to comment on this, but they have impressed me like anything. No matter whom you ask for help, be rest assured that you will be treated well and helped. I have met people who have walked along with me for 15 mins just to show me the way when they were going somewhere else. A tip for people who may visit Finland: Finnish people are very shy and hardly talk. Don't mistake them to be high-headed. I mean even 10 Indians in a train can make a noise equivalent to that of a band party, but I have seen coaches full of Finnish people and you can hear your breath.

I am bit unlucky to have visited this place in the winters. From what I have seen in the photographs, this place is heaven in summers. With greenery all around, beautiful lakes and long days, summers is the best time to visit Finland.

Helsinki is a small but well maintained city. Figuring amongst the top five livable cities in the world is a testimony to this fact. Some places that are worth visiting in Helsinki are Suomelina (an island about 20 mins away from Heslinki), the Natural History Museum, the Temppelliaukio church, the Parliament house, the Finlandia hall, the Finnish National Opera, the Sibelius monument and the Kaivipoisto park.

Its winter and I am not able to travel much, but the beauty and calmness of this place has bowled me over and if ever I get a chance I would love to visit this place in summer to get a feel of paradise.

I had thought of writing about my student exchange experience and ended up writing about Helsinki..Well that is basically "student exchange". "Looooong Vacation"

The Ultimate Warrior League 2.0

I know the title sounds very pompous...

The UWL (Ultimate Warrior League) is the exclusive sporting extravaganza of IIFT, conceptualized on the lines of IPL. But when looked at from a B School graduate's eyes, it goes much beyond it. It has all the nuances of IPL at a level which can be handled by students.

The million dollar question that arises now, "Why am I writing about it, considering the fact that I always try and write in thin air so that I don't get caught??".
ANS: I owned a team. YES!!!I owned a team. Before the event started I had imagined of wearing my shades and sitting with four girls under my arms just outside the playing arena. I had infact started feeling like the KING before the event started, but trust me once it started I had the most awful time of my student life. I was caught sleeping in almost all the classes, I spent all my monthly dole in two days and am going to secure ZERO in two quizzes. And dont ask me about the off-field experience. I did everything starting from waking them up in the morning (I was abused like hell) to carrying their water bottles and towels.

Ok. Lets get down to something sensible. Yes, its true that I owned a team along with one of my friends. In fact we were the only guys from the 1st yr to own a team. Now let me elaborate the entire scheme of things. It may sound corny but I want to write and I will. The process kicked off with the selection of owners. There were four teams on the table, namely; Aryan Juggernauts, Mumbai Hawks, Eastern Gladiators and Southern Stallions. We bought the team Eastern Gladiators. It was followed by the selection of brand managers and we selected our brand managers who would market our team and promote the event for the next two days. The entire concept behind it was to combine a sporting activity with a management activity.

The next day, we had to bid for the players and we had a maximum amount within which we had to buy all the players. Now unlike IPL, the UWL had almost all sporting events starting from cricket to athletics. Thus, we had to bid for 25 players who could participate in these events. The 2 hours bidding process and the 5 hours that we had put in selecting our players and adjusting bids for them were some of the most mind boggling and memorable moments of the entire event. Luckily we had a good day and we almost got 19 our first 25 players(the best hit rate amongst all the teams).

The next two days were dedicated exclusively for the pre-launch promotion. The entire campus was covered with posters, flexes, banners and mascots. Our branding team did a good job at it and the most innovative and visible ideas were ours.

The opening ceremony was scheduled on the evening of 24th October. Vijay Dahia, the former Indian wicket keeper was the guest of the evening. And know what...our team launch was adjudged the best. Our players staged a ramp walk which was followed by a formation using candle light. We launched the team t-shirt and our international player, Daniel was the first player to don the t-shirt.

I can't explain how it was like to own a team, bid for players, plan for events, etc. It something which one can't understand unless he/she experiences it...

I know I am stretching it too long..Aaj k liye itna hi...
Will come up with the coverage of the events in the next blog.

IIFT

After investing close to a lac of rupees on b school forms and interview expenses, finally I have joined IIFT Delhi. I was dying to take a break from my job and had it been any college (if not IIFT), I would have joined. But with IIFT, I was a bit happy as its one of the better known colleges in the country.

I joined here on 1st July and it has been close to two weeks now. Each of the past 13 days has been different in some way or the other. It is a batch of 159 people from all over the country. So, one thing that is for sure is variety. Moreover we have got guys from all sorts of fields, starting from IT guys to fashion specialists, from 11 yrs work ex guys to 20 yr old boys. It was this variety which I had been searching for so long. Although I have hardly known a little over 70 guys in the batch, but I am sure within a coupla months I will get to know all. The professors at IIFT are good. The workload is not as much as I had expected it to be, but I am enjoying the free time. The initial two-three days were great when the seniors conducted some PDPs (only IIFTians can understand what these "Personality Development Programmes" are) but because of a few problems they had to be stopped midway. I guess life would have been a lot different if they had continued. The meetings of Placecom and other clubs have already begun. I have decided to get into the quizzing, marketing and consult clubs. On the flip side the infrastructure here is not very good. A little improvement in the infrastructure can make this place a lot better.

Apart from other things I have decided to get back to quizzing and nurture my dream of first hand involvement in a theatre group, in these two years. Though my parents have strictly advised to concentrate entirely on my studies but I see no point in studying and getting great scores. I feel that its better to be an above average guy over here and enjoy, probably the last two years of father-earns-son-spends time. Hope my dad does not come across this.

See you..after a yr... :)

( My blog becomes alive once in a year)