Life Reloaded!!!

I know I am more than a year late in posting these photos, but I just received them today. Special thanks to Alpit Saxena from current AlumCom who made the efforts to get these photos from Academic section of NITIE.

I am just going through few of my past blog posts about NITIE. I can't beleive we performed skits to these topics - Andheri Raat mein, Diya tere Hath Mein  Hath Hata Waha Se Do Boond Zindagi ki Ek Rupye Mein do Ki Lo Phati Chhatri Hua Dhamaka Dheeru Bhai Ka sapana, Sab ke Hath Mein Apana Karo Lekin Dhyan Se Doodh Piyo Mast Jiyo Karo Jyada Ka irada Jahan Teri Yeh Nazar Hai, Waha sab ki Nazar hai Maal Asli Hai Ek Tupakati Bund aapki zindagi badal sakti hai Aadmi Hun Admi Se Pyar Karata Hoon Paro…. Main aa Raha Hoon Tu hut, Main Lagoon Ganda hai par dhanda hai yeh Din Mein Dangal, Raat Mein Mangal Ek ke Sath do do, ek hame bhi de do Original Link - http://sidh299.blogspot.in/2009/06/life-nitie-day-9.html

As its been more than 6 months since I made any significant posts on this blog, let me rewind back and think about all the important things that happened during this period. As, it is hard to remember things in the chronological order, I will try to put down the memories as they come up. First, latest and the biggest is that my brother just landed in US few hours ago. He will be studying Industrial Engineering at University of Washington for next 2 years.  Next in the list is receiving my Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Management. On 21st August, 2012, we the student of Industrial Management batch for 2009-11 (Batch XVI) received their degrees. A big surprise came on the previous day when during the first rehearsal my name was announced for the Second Best student in my batch. As I was 3rd in the batch during my first year and had a very bad Final year project viva, I was not expecting this award. My mother and brother both were present during the convocation ceremony wh...

2 things I have noticed about my NITIE classmates post MBA - MBA seems to be a pass for marriage for most them. I have been receiving one invitation of wedding/engagement per week. Most people either don't join the company they get placed or change job within first 3 months.

One of my classmate's FB status after Business Law grades were announced (most people got "B") "Law is equal for all and so are the grades..."

One thing I noticed during the placements which I had only heard from my seniors – that is desperation. I am no exception for this rule. Placements is a pretty rigorous process and after a day in the process if you don’t make it to the final list of any company, it feels like hell. What is worse is that you start to doubt yourself. And mind you it is not about people who have low CGPA. Whether you are 2nd or 3rd ranked in NITIE, whether you have done a summer internship at the biggest FMCGs in the world, you feel the “heat” nevertheless. No wonder, after you do get placed, in most of the cases, the emotions really don’t come out. You are running high on adrenaline, your heart is beating like the way Sehwag’s strike rate. Suddenly, when the results are out, once that feeling sinks in, you feel completely different. Yes you feel happy but there is more to it than just happiness.

When you are about to enter the placement process, you have so much expectations. At least I had. I had dreamed of the companies which most likely would give me an offer. I had even started imagining the kind of reaction I would have when I get selected! Of course, none of that really happened and what really happens is something which you remember for the rest of your life. PS:- This reminds me Lehman's interview when Sidscope went for HR interview before me told the interviewer that I was his best friend and then at the time of my interview I was asked about Sidscope :)

I was placed in ICICI Bank on last Tuesday. More about the whole experience will follow soon :)

NITIE…. Following things came to my mind - Great place to have 18 months of vacation :) - One of the best experiences in my life! - Looking at the watch at 11.30PM and saying I can watch an episode of FRIENDS now and then go to sleep at 12 - Kuldeep (my neighbor) playing “Saat Samunadar Paar” after every Mod exam at the highest volume of the speaker. Post final Mod exam when he didn’t play this song, Sarthak and I actually went to his room asked him why didn’t play it this time!!! - The night when Prashant, Karunendra and I were watching various old Pop music videos despite slow NITIE net, till 3AM in the morning (it was too late for someone like me). That was the first time I saw “Nigori Kaisi Jawani Hai” - Varun coming to room during exam times and saying, “Yaar, ek baat bata” And then asking multiple questions - Talking of exam time, the number of people coming to my room for so called help and the way Prashnat used to be pissed off because their noise - Bakku/ Chapp...

The 2 Gupta’s staying next door were two of the amazing people I met at NITIE. One of them, Vaibhav, left yesterday and Varun will be leaving tomorrow. I used to call them Gupta gang. Vaibhav was like “God” to me when it came to business gyan. I always felt that he deserved to be in an IIM. Constantly reading some new stuff, a die hard Cricket and Soccer fan. We used to call him Bade Bhaiya (or as Varun used to call him “Dadda”), considering his superior knowledge. Varun aka Fachchha, was the heart of left wing of 6th floor. The NITIE record holder of most shortlists and unsuccessful attempts in Summers is registered against his name, and I think it will take another recession for his record to break. People appearing for final placements breathed a sigh of relief when his PPO was announced. Jokes apart, he has been my best friend in NITIE. I wish both of them all the very best in future.

Few more results out including Summer Internship where I got B+. CGPI drops to 8.98 :( Oh and happy birthday Nik :)

When 6th Module’s timetable was declared during exams, we were little scared about the fact that we had been assigned Prof. S. S. Bhattacharya for Leadership Development class. Though he had a reputation of being a really passionate speaker, he also gave one of the toughest and the most innovative paper for section A & B. I missed the first class since I was at home during Ganeshotsav. There is one most important rule in his class – Come on time. For people who are not familiar with NITIE, this might not be so big thing. But NITIE people know how late one can be for a lecture. I thought Prof. Khanapuri was lenient with our batch as he did allow some late comers to attend class (which was unlike his reputation as told to us by our seniors). So during the first lecture 7 people made it to the class whereas during 2nd lecture 8 people were allowed to enter. In fact, at the time of 2nd lecture more people were standing outside than there were people inside the class. During his fir...

Section C’s defense breaks down… A General and a Soldier fall..

Time – 11AM Before we got into case solving mode in Business Ethics class, Vaibhav Gupta shows me latest score he received on his mobile. It was 124/8, Bhajji has just got out and my reaction was - Sid – Damn it! Can’t they last for even 10 balls? After a few minutes, VG asked me to check the score on GPRS. Sid – Nah man. What’s the point in checking score now? Honestly I have lost hope now. VG – Come on! Hope is a good thing, may be best of things, and no good thing dies. Sid – Hehe… Lets see! And we again started tracking score during the whole lecture..   Time – 1.45PM India wins the test match by 1 wicket And what an atmosphere in Hostel 5!!! Unforgettable!! I went to VG’s room and said – Yes man, hope is a good thing!!!

A particular professor in my college has been asking us to sell the Gandhi’s Auto-biography in corporate offices. The reason for this, he says is that it will improve NITIE’s image. I really wonder how it is going to improve or establish our image in the market place. According me, the only to prove that a college is good, is the Alumni network of that college and performance of the current batch in various festivals/ certifications/ exams. Because when someone like CRISIL comes to NITIE’s campus then it would like to see our financial knowledge. If it doesn’t see any talent, it would reluctant to come next time. On the other hand, if it finds more than a bunch of good people, then it will be more than happy to come again. How can selling books make us more “visible” in the corporate? It makes me little frustrating especially when the Prof tells us that we can even ask corporate to pay us money if they want us to come to their campus. Now, why on the earth company would want to pay to ...

Well, September just passed by and we realized that it is 2 more months for the Final Placements. Time to gear up for the Ultimate Challenge of 2010!!!

Today we celebrated our annual function where Juniors show their singing, dancing skills to the rest of the college. I was given my Class Representative certificate by the Director of NITIE, Dr. Subhash Awale. Feels Good

So it begins!! The last quarter/module in my academic life has started. Soon the final placement fever will start taking effect, and it will be a different place altogether. Hopefully people will get the profiles they want. Previous module was a little hectic as compared to module 3, especially if you consider the amount of time spent on Project Management. Comparatively the exams were better than I expected. Honestly, some of the papers were so pathetic that even a 10th standard boy would be able to attempt those papers given the ppts used by the Professor. In fact, for few of the electives people wrote the answers in an hour’s time when we have been given 3 full hours. So much for quality! Speaking of quality, the last 2 papers – FRM and PM were worthy of getting highest attention among students (and hence giving more tension). After FRM mid term (where I got 3.6 out of 15, first exam in record in which I technically failed, but still fared better than average), there was a lot of ...

This PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) Guide reminds me of that boring book of Software Engineering by Roger Pressman. Taking a quote from Dheer Singh’s dictionary – “HORRIBLE PLEASE!!!”

I am getting more and more infrequent with NITIE updates. Well, the exam is getting closer with less than a week to go for the first paper. I think I have got a good schedule considering the fact Data Warehousing and OR Modeling papers are on the same. Also, I will be finished with 4 papers in first 2 days, leaving me with 3 papers in last 3 days. We had 2 mid-term tests last week, but fortunately for us, Strategy Management Faculty forgot her lecture, so we had no test on Saturday. Sunday’s FRM test was one of the toughest exams in NITE. 15 multiple choice questions with multiple correct answers in 30 minutes! To be honest it was practically impossible to finish the paper in 30 min. I was just able to write answers for 6 of them, but I am happy with my attempt, especially considering the fact that I was coming to FRM class after a gap of 6 weeks This was the first time in my whole life that I saw a faculty in the last lecture of that subject Siddhesh is changing!!!