A brush with Guest Lecture session- The ordeal/experience at B-School Continues

Forced on you or stemmed from your own bubbling will or a mix of both---Desperate for it or shunning away from it or just surf through it…. Whatever you do, you just can’t deny the existence of it – The existence of Guest Lecture session.

So I was now in the process of getting nirvana 3rd time on row from 3rd Guest Lecturer (gl) and I was looking forward to this session with lots of vigor. But blame this classes and study group which extends their territory without fail and proliferates to the greatest possibble extent,I was sapped of the energy I needed to break even in this session. So I was cat walked towards,the Leadership Hall minus my thrill and excitement level and no wonder was transported to the literary world as soon as I took a place there. Thus began this process of penning this article . A word of caution before we embark upon the exhausted thought process. This had been conceived out of sapped wits, so please fasten your seat belts, as we dive into a world full of care and time to stand and stare(borrowed from the poen Leisure by William Henry Devis.

Suddenly my eyes are becoming heavy and seems my senses are ditching me, the din around this GL session seems to bother me no more, infact this helps me camoflauge and chance to unwind my random thoughts,..

Suddenly the relation between thought process, idea, feeling and people around me forces me to think that parallel world might need a research to be proven, a research much more advanced than we could comprehend in these times, but surely we might be living in two different worlds connected by same emotional domains. Confused!! It was meant to be, for its never so easy to preach. But lemme try.
What I mean is that me at Dubai in 6.00 PM, some one in NUS, Singapore at same time, some other fellow in INSEAD , France at that point of time might be having a GL session and would be living in the same quotient and mix of feelings as me – a feeling of detachment from the surrounding and contemplating on what is happening with themselves – what they are gaining and what are they sacrificing.
I wish I could devlop means to transmit emotions in that thread and connect to like minded (sorry similar emotional turbulence) people as we connect to each other having a number in the telecom world.

What we do in telecom world specifically CDMA world is that we send signals in a particualr frequency, add some code to it and transmit it...the reciever just needs to decode it and listen to it in same frequency...

similar process in emotional level could make life so better for most of us who have hard time finding the right kind of people to gel to .

But the stage at which this gets feasible seems to be not right this time. So , lets Move to thought process 2.

Thought Process 2:
There is a unique similarity which appears through out the GL sessions- and that is the Subject. The gl needs to be either a consultant professor .. and mix of these. While am not denying that they do carry loads of insight but what about choosing different set of people for making these sessions lively and refreshing.
Why not ask the Captain of South Africa Cricket team to teach us a lesson on two of team spirit? – the mantra which spurred them to chase the mammoth team against the invincible “the Australian cricket team” , and win it on the last ball. Why not ask Daya Nayak to teach us how to keep working what you think right amidst pressures from all directions? and how not to lose focus and hold on to resilience from Lance Armstrong? We might have committed the crime of keeping the learning enclosed in the world we are preparing to be in or are in – the world of stock markets and process re-engineering, when we know for sure, that there are lot many attributes and factors, on which this world is hinged on. But am not in the PR committee…. so why not delve into thought process 3 !!

Thought Process 3:
What will these GL sessions and how much will this impact us over the course of time. I formulated this logic.Ohh the gl seems to be wrapping up the session, so would be dropping the pencil now and scan for the zone in the hall from where i could dart my way to the bus, waiting to carry us to the hostel.

The First Milestone

2 weeks into the Business School and nervous system already feeling the rush of adrenalin over and over again.

12 Quizzes, 5 Assignments, roughly the same number of workshops and classes extending for 8 hours a day..Sometimes pouring into Monday‘s and late nights …..I am really amazed by what one could perform when placed in a situation where there is one and only one option left. It was just the transition was so huge over such a small period ( I quit TCS just 2 days before I took a flight to S.p.jain Dubai). It was like waking me up from a pleasant slumber, putting me in a flight without the time for buckling up my seat belt and left to feel the intensity of change in momentum.

But I admire myself and so would most of my friends out here, since we took care of the situation and did things as demanded. Now we are getting used to the hectic (this would be an understatement)life here. We prepare for 30 page- chapter quiz – almost daily on the bus to school and something in us, makes us do as good or as bad as the rest of lot. Is it the idea of teaching us to excel – when thrown against unreasonable deadlines?

We already completed Organizational Behavior (OB), Financial Accounting and Communication classes and they were enlightening and fun. Life had been hectic and loaded with studies, but that hasn’t yet deterred us from indulging in fun. The cruises and shopping spree have become the luxury and so we are hell bent on making the most of it. The cultural event was a show case to identify the budding singers and star performers, also a nice platform to interact and network with the alumni. But not to forget – is the typical Mumbaiya attitude towards life at hostel – Live Life coz you live once. But most of the times, when we are immersed in the lighter moments, we have been suddenly jostled out of the merry making by Kathy’s mail in the middle of night –Promising us more classes, assignments and quizzes – the next day.

As an instance the FA assignment was hoarded with us for long, when we suddenly reality deflated the spirits. Soon we would get the acts together, regain the compose, collect and brainstorm with friends, discuss assignments over the hoarsest of home made coffee realizing that all the while the rest of world has slept, went to deep slumber and woke up to new day and we were still fighting to give our best for the best presentation . And when I look back at this with eyes drooping to need of sleep and body – mind aching for the urge to take rest, deep down there is an unusual pleasant feeling rising within. Wasn’t this – the life I had ordered? I find myself like Robert Frost did, walking on the road of Life when I suddenly came across a junction, where I had 2 options .

A) Road usually travelled by others, comfortable zone and less of risks. Getting promoted for nothingness and just because I consumed the time seating at that location .Waiting for things to happen around.

And b) the other was a road less travelled, brimming with lots of challenges and unknown risks.

But I had the urge to not to get lost in crowd and be exemplary and I chose the road less travelled. And now I am on that trail, the mission to be what I thought I want to be , I know I want to be and I believe I must be.

Brakes on The road to Success:

I really feel like the dog in the pic now :-( .. Am in such a HUGE mess

First day and the first taste of problem! And that too which demanded me to take a return cab from check in to no where. I was at check in counter when, I found out that I need to have ECNR status updated before I could fly to Emirates.

This was more of shock to me since; I had travelled USA and came back only last year without issues. So I was lost at the right time to take off and had to say bye- bye to my perspective batch mates … What a tragedy and what a wrong way to make a start for the journey towards my MBA degree!!

The next 3 hours were the most grueling one in recent times since I was under the fear that I have been los t in NO MAN’s land. Had to tussle with the greedy bunches of agents at Emigration office, getting a ticket for Dubai ; filtering out the possibilities based on cost and time of arrival and arranging for pick up at Dubai International Airport.
Now, as I take some time off watching the rains splashing across the streets of Mumbai, there is only one thought rocking me on and on. This was the most disliked way to start something but I can’t help this. I am sure whatever happened today was scripted by GOD to give me lesson even before I plunge into the hugely talked about program.

Jai Shri Ram!

Things I will carry as I leave TCS

Skeletons out of the cup board now :-) and just wanted to share these few things which I learnt at TCS

• Dream Big - Make a start atleast .. then tread on to that highly impossible path with commitment and intelligence and surely you will get the things done.

when I joined TCS , we used to listen to lofty aims of TCS being in Global top 10 in 2010, and made a fun out of it... 4 years down the line we are almost close and we stil have 3 more years to go.

• If you find every day as Friday at the office - smell an alarm.

Though fun is integral part of work, never over indulge it ..If you do it dont let your BOSS know it. And working for the amount you are being paid is doing justice to it .If you find most of the people in your team do find week days as an extension of week ends .. it means that either the team is on bench or producing something which doesnt affect/bother hence value much to others.It 's then time to shift to fifth gear and look for other avenues. Keep on Learning. The punch line of TCS had been " a learning organisation " before the "Experience Certainity " one.

• You CAN make a difference to the organisation and if you can't then don't waste your time- If you are serious in bringing some changes even to mamoth organisation, you still can bring it despite your profile !!

Companies like GE already have laid precedent for it. But at TCS, the glass ceiling still exist in some quarters, the leaders should look into this. The MATC should think of associates as human rather than im-mobile entities, who are supposed to be tied to one project/ place and not given the freedom to choose the project or place(TCS boasts of offices in all major cities of India) they want to be.

• Do something for society . We owe a lot to society and nature . I liked TCS mostly for I was proud to say I was from TCS than saying I am from Infosys or IBM since TCS has done a lot for the society and done it in a hush - hush manner.

Be it "Maitree" or "CSR" activities, I enjoyed teaching at a blind school and doing my bit for tigers which face the threat of being wiped out from the Indian map.

• Make LOVE not WAR. This principle holds good at bed room and board room.

I will miss TCS because I got so much love in here and made sweet relationship.

This list is just a glimpse of what all I learnt and want to carry from TCS. 3 and 1/2 years is pretty long time.. and I see a different personality in the mirror from what it was when I was at college.

Thanks TCS for every thing ..