Special October month this year

Big B to copyright his voice

Today is Big B - Amitabh Bachchan's 68th Birth day.  He has been my favourite actor for four decades! He went through many ups and downs in his cine-career.  He attempted at Politics (as an MP) and Business (ABCL) but was unsuccessful.  KBC gave him biggest turning point.  And today, KBC4 is being launched again with Amitabhji.  This month Super Star of South India, Rajani Kanth's top Tamil movie "Endhiran" (Robot in Hindi and Telugu) with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been released all over the World!

This month, the October 2010, is going to be a memorable one from so many angles. I have been designated as Dean (Planning & Development) at TAPMI from 1st of this month. I am shifting to a new 3-bed room apartment in the campus during this week. I got in touch with so many friends including Laxman from Singapore, Sridhar from Canada and after long years, S Thandava Krishna of SCB, Dubai (thro Linked in).  Next week, I will be meeting Mr PK Reddy of Hyderabad again after a long break, in Bangalore on my 58th Birthday on the 19th Oct.

In the Campus too many events are taking place on an ongoing basis like some additions to Faculty,  preparations for Dec 10 campus inauguration by President, two more B-School Rankings (Business India @ 28 and Week @ 15) and so on.  And on 16th Oct., we have two events on campus - one is foundation laying of TAPMI School of Business (TSB) and the other is a Round Table discussions of the TAPMI's Centre for Inclusive Growth in which I also would take part alongwith Director, seniior bankers/professionals and academicians. The topic would be on Professional management of SMBUs and role of Academic / Banking Institutions....Management students would be the beneficiaries.

Two important family events have taken place on 9th Oct. One is naming ceremony of Preethi's son (second child) in Hyderabad. Papa's daughter Deepthi (Wipro, Hyd) got engaged on the same day in Vizag. Mom and Baba Mamayya attended from Hyderabad. We could not go to either of the functions. We are planning to attend the wedding on 19th Dec in Vizag.

Thanks to a balanced judgement in Ayodhya-Babri Masjid Case by the Supreme Court on the 30th Sept., the country is going peaceful. The Common Wealth Games are going on smoothly despite all sorts of apprehensions about corruption, poor quality construction of the facilities, delay in completion of the projects, etc. Indian participants are also on the move to set a new record as to number of medals this time. In Mohali, India had an exciting one-wicket win over Australian Cricket team, thanks to an excellent performance by our own VVS Laxman again.  Second Test is going on in Bangalore now.

There is a serious political crisis going on in Andhra Pradesh even after Mr Rosaiah, the Chief Minister completing his one year of rule. It is for the Congress High Command to take a crucial decision on the State Leadership and Jagan. Gaddar gave a shock to KCR and his separate Telangana movement. Mr Yeddiyuruppa is going to face his acid test this week to survive in power and BJP in the South.

Oct 02 every year is celebrated as birth anniversay of two great sons of India - Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Sastryji. And this month on 16/17th, Dasara is being celebrated all over the country. Yesterday the 10th October (10th month of 2010) is unique with 10-10-10 (DD MM YY), it seems. Then at 10 hrs - 10 Mts - 10 seconds, it is all the more special, happening after some 860 years or so. All for good, of course. Life is like that.

Another Book on IIM-A life

SECOND DEGREE (One Crazy Year at IIM-A) by Prashant John.  After having read and expressed my painful feelings on the book The Two States by Chetan Bhagat about two months back, I found this new book giving a big relief to one and all.  Chetan had painted the two premier institutes IIT-D and IIM-A in a very bad taste; hence I suggested that the book could have better titled as THE TWO TASTES.

Second Degree is about life in that giant sprawling pressure-cooker called the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad.  It is published by Ekalavya Education Foundation, Ahmedabad, India in 2009. It is a must read for all those who wanted to join MBA in India's best of the B-Schools. Foreword to this book is written by none other than Rashmi Bansal, who is herself an alumnus of IIM-A and author of the ever popular book titled "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish", listing out the profiles of 25 IIM-A grads who opted out of placements and turned Entrepreneurs setting up many successful enterprises.  It is all about Prashant pursuing his one year Post Graduate Program for Executives (PGPX) introduced by IIM-A in the year 2006. 

It is such a wonderful coincidence that I am writing this blog on a day when a report appears in the Economy page of Business Line daily of 18th July, with a caption "IIM-A executive programme pass-outs hired for top positions". IIM-A's PGPX news.  It is amazing to read that these sixty six graduates of the 4th batch (2009-10) have been offered positions such as CEO, ED, Senior VP, VP, GM and Practice Partner by the campus recruiters.  The average salary offered was Rs. 26.1 lakhs - 29.5 per cent higher than what was offered last year.  The batch had an average work experience of 10 years with 80 per cent having spent an average of five years working abroad and most were placed in the traditional consulting and general management roles.

Prashant, in his typical special style narrates his one-year long experiences spread over 28 Chapters in this book.  He shares his experiences in and out of the class room as also his encounters with the Profs at IIMA. In the beginning of the book, he lists out the lingo in the campus under the heading "The Lingo Buster" to familiarise the reader with the flip side of academics and students life in the hostels too.  These include Fachhas (freshers), Tuchhas (Second Year students), Lucchas (PGPX batch), Muggon, WMD, Quiz, CP (Class Participation), CGPA, Quant Jocks/Studs, IM/Dbab, TANSTAAFL, and RA/TA. 

What a contrast in the two books from the same alma mater?  More in my next blog report.