My experience for Tata Institute of Social Sciences - M.A. HRM and LR Program

Always being interested in HR, TISS is the Mecca for HR in India. With all the wishes that I have behind me, I have been able to score well. I believe my experience might be able to help a few people, hence I share it here. I would love to hear from you, if this helps you in any way for your TISS preparation. Do write to me at marwahpalak1@gmail.com

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TISS NET –

The pattern of the examination changed one week before the exam and was communicated in an orientation program conducted in TISS, Mumbai, held for category students. The official notification of the change in pattern was communicated over the website 3 days prior to the exam. The earlier pattern had 30/100 questions based on GK, while the new pattern had 40/100 questions based on GK. GK being my weakest section out of Quants, Verbal Ability and GK, this was a difficult change.

The preparation – As I was preparing for CAT, TISS Quants and Verbal Ability was taken care of by this preparation. Ideally for Quants and Verbal Ability – Arun Sharma books’ Level of Difficulty 1 was sufficient, Level of Difficulty 2 would be a safe practice if you have sufficient time, this would make sure you score as high as possible in the final exam. For Logical Reasoning questions like patterns etc, you can also try RS Aggarwal. I tried only a few exercises from it because of its huge size, and paucity of time.

GK – I was in the space where I could not name even the Vice President of India before the preparation, which is my sheer ignorance towards GK, as I have never been into quizzing since school. I started my TISSNET GK preparation only after XAT which was on 3^rd January 2016, one week before TISSNET (9^th January 2016). In the beginning the size of GK syllabus can be scary but if you keep going it works out, surely. After one week of 16 hours a day GK study, I could recite all PMs, Presidents, RBI governors, important battles, state wise folk dances and other things in one breath.

Material for GK –

1) I majorly referred Manorama yearbook (yeah finished the whole book in 6 days, still cant believe it). By mistake I had ordered Manorama 2014 instead of 2015, but static GK remains the same. Quite a few facts in Manorama are incorrect so you should keep checking it online or from other books.

2) Lucent for Static GK – Whichever topics were not there in Manorama or were incorrect, I referred those topics from Lucent.

3) The website – gktoday – they have monthly current affairs’ boosters, that is indeed helpful. You can also subscribe to their Whatsapp messages on GK

4) The website linked below– which has small MCQ sets on Quants, English, reasoning and GK – This was good for revision as I was only studying GK 1 week prior to the exam.

5) Bulls eye, CareerAnna and my coaching in Nagpur - HR Mentors have GK PDFs. I did not subscribe to any course for TISS, but some of my friends did, and shared their PDFs with me, which I will share on Dropbox and post the link below.

6) The whatsapp and facebook group were really helpful for GK. Most applicants from other MA fields are very well versed with GK and are kind enough to share their notes or conduct quiz sessions. These sessions are like a revision booster.

As ignorant as I was about GK, it is slightly difficult to cover everything in 1 week. Somehow the luck was in my favor and things worked out. If you are really serious about TISS, GK is the toughest and most vast section that you should prepare for as long as you can. Maths and English are really basic Class 10 questions.

  

TISSNET Exam day –

There were serious management issues with the exam. My exam started 2 hours later than scheduled time due to server error. After the exam started there were no classification of sections. The questions were listed one after the other, 1 to 100. This made it a little difficult to prioritize which section you want to solve first. Even though all Maths or all English questions are listed in one order, say 1 to 30 all Maths questions, there were still issues with the questions. Especially for DI, the graph or pie chart was listed, then 2 questions based on it were listed and after 4 or 5 questions the 3^rd question on the same set was listed. As it is a 100 minute exam with 100 questions, each second counts. So it is important to stay alert and focused. Some of my friends said their test ended 5 minutes early automatically. So it is important you take a few mocks for the speed. Giving NMAT for non-negative, speed based exam is a good choice that is what I did. I will list the mocks’ links below.

GK and even other sections can be easier with some presence of mind. For example one GK question had a long statement based on economics, which was taken from a book and the question was which Nobel laureate said this. The options had all Indians. Among the options only Amartya Sen was a Nobel laureate in economics.

Interview preparation – After the shortlist, you are supposed to fill a DAF – Detailed Application Form, which lists your extra-curricular activities, reason for interest in HR and previous work experience in HR. I regularly read the website – peoplesmatters (they also have a FB page), for HR related current affairs.

Interview day –

You are supposed to report in the morning, the students of TISS HRM LR program give a brief presentation about the program which clears your doubts about it. The interview is very meticulously managed. The volunteers are really helpful and help you cool down in case you are nervous.

You are supposed to write a small essay on one out of 2 given topics in around 15 minutes. The topics for me were –

    1)    Justice delayed is justice denied

    2)    Aadhar card and how to implement it effectively (not the exact same words though)

I chose the first one because it was the topic of one of the debate competitions I had participated in, during school, and hence I had statistics and quotes on it.

After the written test, you need to participate in a GD. The group of around 15 people, is given 1 minute to mutually decide which topic they want the GD on. Luckily 8 to 9 people from my group wanted the 1^st topic, so we went for the 1^st one. We were given 20-25 minutes for the discussion.

Specific pointers for TISS GD –

    1)    Make sure you talk about the social and political impacts of the topic.

    2)    Make sure you give enough time to everyone to speak. One of the candidates in our GD did not speak a single word till only 5 minutes were left. The moderators then asked her if she had any opinions to contribute. As she had not spoken at all, we all let her speak for over 3 minutes continuously, due to which we could not formally conclude. Thankfully all of us were almost on a similar conclusion

    3)    TISS jury loves new points or examples from current affairs. One of the candidates talked about the Paris attacks and how quick justice was delivered, the jury liked it visibly.

    4)    In the GD and interview, do not make very strong opinions, especially if it is a social issue. You can humbly state your stand and give reasons for choosing the side that you have. Example over the JNU issue, do not stubbornly say that JNU students were right or wrong. But you can take a side and cite reasons for your choice.

The interview –

Dr. Zubin Mulla (apologies if I am spelling his name incorrectly) is quite a famous faculty of TISS MA HRM and LR Program. Many forums said that his interviews focus very specifically on “WHY HR?” and if you convince him with your reasons, you are through. I had Dr. Mulla in my panel.

There were 3 people in my panel. Dr. Mulla (P1), one sir (P2) and one mam (P3).

The mam was mostly observing and listening to my answers, she just asked one question at the last.

P1 – So introduce yourself

PM - My name is Palak, which literally means eyelashes but its contextually used in terms of swiftness or agility.I have epitomized my name by being a part of various activities in both school and at college. Currently I am in my final year of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at NIT Nagpur. My interest in management stems from my diverse interactions. I was selected by Japan govt and MHRD India for JENESYS – An international youth exchange program to visit japan for 10 days. I have also represented India at HPAIR – A conference at Harvard University.

P1 – Okay. So if I want to make the best bell, what material should I use?

PM – Sir maybe Aluminium because it has better formability and low cost

P1 – You didn’t get my question. Best bell means that gives me the best sound. I do not care about the cost.

PM – tried with a few materials, he wasn’t satisfied

P1 – Do you not have a particular test for optimizing this property?

PM – Sir I can think about optimizing a set of properties but not sound singularly

(bad start, I know)

P1 – Okay, nevermind. So why HR?

PM – gave my reason

P1 – Do you read books on HR?

PM – Yes sir

P1 – which was the last book that you read? Brief me up about it.

PM – Sir, I am currently reading this book called “The Engagement Formula” by Ross Reck. It talks about how to maximize employee engagement, reduce attrition and improve employee satisfaction. It is based on case studies like the Southwest Airlines, which have been in the aviation industry that is an economically instable industry, yet this airlines has never faced a loss since its induction. They have this really interesting policy – they have never suspended a single employee, its their strict no lay off policy.

P1 – Is that the only reason behind their success?

PM – no sir, there are various others. All the employees contribute equally to the job. All the employees have a clear idea of the vision which is customer satisfaction.

P2 – So how would you use this in say Air India?

PM – Sir as this is based on a scenario in the US, it cannot be applied verbatim.

P2 – Then why did you read the book if it cant be applied in India?

PM – No sir, the book is explicitly for Indian readers, but what I mean is it cannot be applied as it is. It needs to be modified. For example, in Southwest, if there is a quick turnaround of the flight that is scheduled, even the pilots help in taking out the thrash. The ex-CEO was very commonly seen distributing doughnuts during midnight working hours especially on days like New Year’s Eve or Christmas. This kind of equality in job can be the first step to implement in Indian companies. Similar is the case of W.L.Gore and Associates, where no matter what your position is, you are named as an Associate only.

P2 – Okay, what if you want to apply this to say a fire station? That would be dangerous right?

(P1 asks me to pass the journal that I was carrying – It had the research paper that I had published in HR, and was bookmarked)

P1 – Let me see why are you carrying this?

PM- Sir do you want me to open the page

P1 – No, no, I will have a look.

PM –sorry sir, I was saying, no, rather this would work wonderfully for a fire station as all of them would be aware that extinguishing the fire is the prime motive

P2 – Then you want all of them to hold hoses and stand? Who will lead?

PM – Sir, as all of them would be aware of the motive, even if a few firemen are unavailable, the others would happily take their place. Also anyone who is available can lead and others will follow because they know some day they might have to lead. So it would be good team work.

P2 – Okay what did you do in this HR Internship at NItika that you have mentioned?

PM – Answered

P2 – What are the qualities of a good HR person and how do you fit in?

PM – Sir a good HR manager should be able to vary his response depending on the situation. Sometimes, a situation requires urgent action while others need a thought over and introspective action. He should be able to use the diversity of his team to his advantage.

P2 – That is an obvious quality for HR managers. How do you fit in? (was trying to grill maybe)

PM -  Sir, I have been able to work with people from different nationalities in Japan and Harvard, and have been able to change my working pattern depending on the situation.

P1 – But you were not responsible for their performance right?

PM – Sir, at the end of the 10 day program in Japan, I was voted by my delegation to present a report of their learning,  on behalf of the team, at the Indian embassy in Tokyo. My report was translated into Japanese and assimilated in official records.

P1 – So you are a fresher. Why do you not want to try a core field, or even other fields of management like marketing, finance etc? Why restrict to HR directly after college?

PM – Sir, actually I have pursued an internship in core at BARC (which is just next to TISS, Mumbai so I used the abbreviation), an internship in marketing at IIM – Ahmedabad and an internship in HR. I enjoyed the HR internship the most, and that is what really interests me.

P1 – Smiles and says – do you not sleep at night? When do you find the time to do all this? Japan, Harvard, all these interns and research paper?

PM – Sir Japan was after Class 10, so that was before college. BARC and the HR internship was during 2 month ling summer break after 2^nd and 3^rd year, and for Harvard my HoD was kind enough to grant me a week long leave from college. J

P1 – Hahaha alright. Do any one of you want to ask her anything? (looks at P2 and P3)

P3 – yes. You spoke about the airlines case study. So can you tell me what impact these changes in aviation industry have?

PM – Mam, they impact various spheres. First direct impact is on the economy, as is the recent case of Kingfisher airlines

P3 – No, no I do not want a specific impact, tell me about the social impact

PM – Mam there are 2 major impacts. First, due to privatisation, air travel has now become accessible even to middle class Indians. Earlier air travel was perceived as an upper class luxury. Apart from that it has opened up jobs, for example my house-maid’s daughter is working with Air India, which is a great jump for her family.

P3 kept on nodding and smiling.

P1 – Okay Palak, that’s all ! Thank you.

I was smiling about the last “Don’t you sleep” comment for long after I walked out J

My profile – I have been interested in HR since my 2^nd year of BTech, hence my profile was aligned with it. I have published a research paper in Organizational Behavior and pursued an internship in HR.

Details of my profile can be found on –

    1)    www.marwahpalak.wix.com/palakmarwah

    2)    LinkedIn profile - https://in.linkedin.com/in/palakmarwah

    3)    You can reach me on marwahpalak1@gmail.com for any queries J

Overall score – 82/100 (TISSNET)

                             41/50 (PIT) the written test and GD – 30% weightage

                             65/75 (PI) – 30% weightage

The first column is score, the second is percentile of XAT GK 2016.

Total score – 83.40 Even though the institute does not explicitly mention that the converts’ list is in order of merit, my name is the first on the list J

Scoring around 80-85 in TISSNET is a safe bet. This would give you an edge in the final selection as TISSNET has 40% weightage at the end. 

Some links you might want to see from courses I create - 
1) Courses on Unacademy - https://unacademy.com/user/marwahpalak1
2) Courses on CareerAnna - http://www.careeranna.com/online/members/palak-marwah/


Important links to refer –

    1)    gktoday - http://www.gktoday.in/ - for monthly current affairs’ capsule

    2)    www.indiabix.com – my favorite for revision of all sections

    3)    www.peoplematters.in – HR Current affairs

    4)    Free mocks on testfunda, bullseye and a few other websites.

    5)    TIME paid account has mocks

    6)    Mocks from official TISS website

    7) Dropbox link for all material I used-https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qvu0fzdc4iol49l/AACoC9bHTdsFplFVi1iuOBCGa?dl=0

A little personal note – In XAT GK, a week before TISS, my percentile is 28.149 percentile and in TISS GK at least 30/40 questions were correct.

My teachers had been telling me all along that I have a fair chance to be shortlisted for S.P. Jain profile based interview call and I had begun to believe it. Exactly one day before TISS, the S.P.Jain shortlist came out and I was rejected. The same day CAT results came out and it wasn’t as good as I had expected. Rather I believed I would not get any calls at all. All this 24 hours before TISSNET.

They say the night is darkest before dawn, I guess as difficult as it might seem to believe it, this is true. I had truly lost hope and thought I will have to take a drop year, something I never wanted to do. But turns out there were better plans for me. I will be joining IIM Bangalore for PGP 2016-18 this June J

I would specifically like to thank ARKS Srinivas Sir and VistaMind. He has been the force behind all my converts. Archit Chandak was the guy who gave me a great pep talk a night before TISSNET because I had lost all hope due to SPJain and CAT. Also the friends that I made over TISS prep who have helped me a lot with GK Aratrika, Maanushi, Dr. Avhad, Shiladitya, Pratik, Akshaya and so many others J

Thank you! J

Culture and Business: Corporate Siamese Twins

India. Coming from a land which has played a pivotal role in defining the social ethos of culture and tradition, we pride ourselves in being one of the pioneers of two most important roots of the present society – culture and business.

There was a time, starkly different from today when both these terms had no considerable region of overlap. Traversing back to the Vedic system of life in India, it was a staunch belief that any individual could be involved even in acts of culture or of business. There were a class of Brahmins who had to learn, teach and preach the cultural nuances to people, who were in return awarded with pieces of land, gold and food stock for their services. In contrast, the Vaishyas were assigned the job of agriculture, cattle rearing, money lending, trading or any commerce aligned field. Even though the hierarchy were pre-determined by birth and upheld by segregation, restriction on social intercourse and endogamy, it was acceptable to the society and worked wonderfully in maintaining the then social structure and commerce organization.

Even though both these spheres were considered mutually exclusive then, the route to exchange and symbiotic growth of various countries in the pre-modern period were almost the same. On the northern end as Silk route carved a path for trade and cultural exchange, southern India had maritime business links with the Roman Empire from around 77 CE which later led to the establishment of Indianized societies in Southeast Asia owing to its cultural influence.

It is evident from these ancient facts that business and culture, since forever, have been two aspects of every society, which if not voluntarily, always exist and flourish together, almost never independent of each other. It would be a folly to assume that business (or trade) and culture were considered or maintained separately. In one instance epitomizing their effect on each other is a tale from the Chinese Manchu Qing Dynasty. Qianlong, 1711-1799, Fifth emperor of the Chinese Manchu Qing Dynasty, responded to Lord George MacAartney, representative of King George, who visited China to open up and develop trade in 1793 – “Our dynasty’s majestic virtue has penetrated into every country under Heaven. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious and have no use for your country’s manufacturers.” MacArtney did not even get to see the Emperor. Qianlong wrote the statement and left it on his throne and that is all that the British Emissary got from his trip. In reality much of the difficulty had to do with the refusal of the English party to observe Chinese Court Etiquette. It all had to do with bowing and kowtowing. The Chinese chief minister persuaded the Emperor that since China was the center of the Universe and the most advanced civilization as such China was in no need of the Barbarian English. MacArtney would not kowtow or prostrate themselves in front of the Dragon Throne insisting that kneeling on one knee and bow to the throne as they did for their King. So the king never appeared and MacArtney returned empty-handed. In contrast Isaac Titsingh, the Dutch trade emissary did kowtow and follow court etiquette and was quite successful.

This more than justifies the fact that culture and business, in great effect, germinated and were reinforced due to each other. However, the slight distinction between the two, apparent to a layman, began to fall off as modernization and globalization paved their way into all countries and societies.

Over time, not only did the line of distinction disappear, there came up extensive studies on how culture affects business which later led to a new concept of “business culture” or “corporate culture”, later refined to more theoretical terms like “organizational climate”. There are extensive pieces of study on the intercultural aspect of dyadic business relationship interaction from an individual as well as holistic perspective.

Today, as much as the distinctions in paradigm, social etiquettes and cultural diversity are falling off to establish a global, unified manner in which business is established and sustained, there is a stark trait of one’s culture in his business routine. This is because the global world is on the path to attain a unified and singular corporate culture.

So how does culture in actuality affect business or corporate life?

“Culture” as defined by Ifte Choudhary, Associate Professor at Texas A & M University, refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.” Culture, according to him, has various layers – national. Regional, gender, generation, social class and corporate culture. Whereas “Business” is most simply defined as “an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial or professional activities.”

In such a literal environment, the business or corporate culture is, as defined by Lismen (2004), “a complex set of values, beliefs, assumptions, and symbols that define the way in which a firm conducts its business”.

Culture reflects both abstract and identifiable components of a corporation from practices, beliefs, customs and values. During the advent of the Industrial revolution, it was believed that the asset base of any greenfield site and its prospective accelerated economics depends on cost structure (fixed and variable costs), value propositions, customer segment identification, revenue streams, key resources (suppliers and commodities), viability (economic and practical), channels and key partners. All these elements were distinguished from immeasurable parameters like employee job satisfaction, quality of work life, consumer relationship management, post-deal services and sustaining customer belief in the brand. As the competition in every sphere from products to service providers has gotten more aggressive over the years, these unquantifiable elements have developed to play the role of the distinguishing “wow” factor for any corporate giant over its contemporaries.

Hence corporate culture plays the role of the distinguishing element both locally, inside the firm in its daily affairs, and globally while expanding its dimension of business to other culturally distinct parts of the world.

Corporate culture, on local, internal terms include the Organizational Climate of an organization and is a very clear reflection of employee job satisfaction. This includes making the employees feel valued, flexibility in work nuances, environment, basic amenities provided, vision penetration into the work force and overall positivity in the organization among other local factors.

On a global scale, apart from all-encompassing ease of communication and shared online resource base, corporate expansion to various countries is unequivocally decided by adaptability of organizational practices to the local culture. Any organization needs to include and exercise cultural awareness in order to achieve a breakthrough in local markets. In most situations a firmly established global name and loyal customer base do not ensure success in new markets. This is shown by this comprehensive plot between cultural awareness and extent of global involvement.









The plot reiterates the fact that cultural adaptability is the sure shot way of entering a new market and establishing a strong hold over contemporaries. Global technology and experience, combined with adaptability to local work culture make a lethal combination for any firm. Hence it is imminent that culture and business have grown to form a pair of Siamese twins.An epitome of striking the correct balance between culture and business and effectively utilizing the former to boost the latter, has been displayed by Coca Cola Company over the past few decades. Marking its re-entry in the Indian market after its 17 years’ absence in 1993, Coca Cola decided to go the Indian way by marketing its return in the form of Juloos – a traditional Indian procession involving a parade of trucks, vans and trolleys. This flashed Indians with the memory of their beloved drink of 1970s and connected well with the festive sentiments of general Indian society. In order to reign the South Asian sub-continent, Coca Cola utilized its knowledge of the fact that India and Pakistan, two neighboring South Asian countries with severely strained political issues that has even resulted in warfare, have very similar culture. Coca Cola in a move to unite our two countries did an incredible thing. They installed two interactive, high-tech vending machines in a popular mall at New Delhi, India and another one at a mall in Lahore, Pakistan. These "Small World Machines" used 3D Touchscreen technology to capture a live image from New Delhi and project that to Lahore and vice-versa. Much like Apple's FaceTime. The machine bought laughter, smiles, cheers and most importantly, a moment of happiness between these two estranged countries, apart from some deep-set marketing and positive PR about the company and the beverages!

Apart from Asia, Coca Cola had culture coherent campaigns in the USA as well. By the time the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Coca-Cola was already established as a symbol of the American way of life. In countless letters home, soldiers serving abroad spoke of fighting for the little things, like an ice cold Coke, rather than politics or ideology. In a mutually beneficial edict, Coca-Cola Company president Robert W. Woodruff declared that any American in uniform could get a Coke for 5¢, regardless of the listed price or cost of production.

Coca-Cola’s advertisements during the war addressed the softer sides of the conflict. Rather than show war-weary soldiers enjoying their product, the company focused on Coke’s ability to bring people and nations together, as seen in ads portraying GIs intermingling and laughing over Cokes with British, Polish, Soviet and other allies from Alaska and Hawaii to Brazil and China, always with a caption along the lines of: “Have a ‘Coke’—a way of saying we’re with you.”
Coca Cola surely hit the bull’s eye with so much perfection that Coke has almost replaced water in every eatery in USA since then.

The company perfectly achieves its aim of penetrating all the seven continents and briefly declared its vision with the very famous campaign “I’d like to buy the world a coke” where citizens of various countries of the world sing the Coke jingle in unison holding coke bottles in their hands. This commercial promotes basic values of racial equality and heralds the dawning of a common global culture of world peace and harmony. Also it worked on the paths of mob psychology and hence they appealed to the sentiments of their viewers. This commercial and song recorded immediate success selling 96,000 copies of their record in one day eventually rising to a sale of 12 million records. It declared to the world that business could be done very differently from the conventional methods of trade. Thirty years after the commercial, Coca-Cola is still more than a beverage. It is a common connection between the people of the world.

Today, 3.1% of world’s beverages consumed around the world are Coca Cola products and you cannot be surprised.

Hence, it is pertinent to note that, culture affects business to the extent of having the capacity to build up or burn down a potential future market. With the gaps in the culture narrowing down at a faster rate, understanding trivial differences in foreign cultures is one art which would definitely determine the monopoly amongst existing competition in every sphere of the corporate world. Undoubtedly, it will be a missed opportunity to ignore this inter-relationship of culture and business.

Hence it is only wise to observe, dwell upon and develop the methods in which cultural awareness and adaptability can be utilized as an effective tool for sustainable, long-term business growth and development across the globe.

To growing up…..

To growing up…..

10, 12, 13, … 16, 19….

The milestones in growing up are such numbers, though seemingly harmless, leave you in a plethora of changes, some of which are starkly intense. When we reach our much talked about “teens”, you get to hear of, read about and advised on the changes that we are going to encounter.       

But there is no guidebook to skipping out of nineTEEN.

             Suddenly, probably not so sudden for all of us, we are not expected to make careless mistakes. The words you once uttered, which were excused, considering them as teenage malfunctioning of your brain, are now supposed to be literally meant. You can’t have a casual conversation or you are a loose talker and not a “chill guy” anymore. You can’t blame your short tempered upsurge on a mood swing because you are technically not allowed to have one. You ARE supposed to be calm, composed, mature.

   The situational irony of “behave yourself, you’ve grown up now” at once and “do you think you are already too old” now falls off and you ARE assumed to be responsible and careful.

      I believe growing up is more often an internal expedition than not, much more than what meets the eye. The flickering ideas, wandering thoughts, thumping heart, obsessive dreams, gleaming eyes all evaporate, all subservient to the new master, the mind. We are at the helm of a new world.

The one, wherein, we are hurt by people, but we no longer want to hurt them back. The one, wherein, you know that nobody stands by your side for real. Your “har friend zaruri hota hai” gets a “conditions applied” asterisk claiming “only in the happy times” because when both of you are stuck in a rut together, he/she simply doesn’t mind trampling over you, indifferent to consequences you would have to face. These are practical demonstrations of our parents’ words that seemed to be cacophonic lectures. Not anymore.

When we are able to tell ourselves to breathe in rage, we grow up. When we can rise above hatred, envy, inferiority and evil, I grow up. When we can hide our tears, even when in desire to shatter and weep, we grow up. When we no longer believe in innocence and truth in people around us, we grow up. When we can bear with the fact and take it in our stride that the world is not a just courtroom, you grow up.

           

             Sometimes we ARE supposed to be polite to a person, you know, who has talked crap about you and you want to punch him in the face, you can’t, you’ve grown up. We must bear and not complain, fight and not lose, forgive and not avenge.

This new world is an epiphany for most of us, me at least. A world where being straightforward implies you are going to be kicked, where it hurts the most, soon and again and yet again.

Fake is the new trend, diplomacy the new weapon and flattery the only virtue.

I might seem to be a pessimist to most of you, but you don’t really need to boast about the pros of growing up. Isn’t it more important to deal with the cons? Growing up is not as glittery gold as it seems, but it is something I loved being introduced to.

The hurt people give doesn’t ache that much anymore, a setback isn’t that discouraging and I surely am ambitious, calm. Focused and determined like never before.

                                      Cheers to growing up!! :)

Attachments- this really makes sense now. Ticked off almost all  on the list, determined for the rest-

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

When you have parted ways….

When you have parted ways….

“I am counting my days, when’d I leave college”

I heard her say this, took a second to absorb that and then, something changed inside me.

On one hand are the final years who are all perplexed at the idea that they have to part ways soon, distance themselves from people who matter to them and move to the real battlefield called Life; on the other, are we, the others. Frustrated because of petty issues, subtle politics (doesn’t seem so subtle when you are at the receiving end of it though), internal conflicts, waves of rage, envy, inferiority complex or any other ingredient that you can think of which has a potency of making your life distasteful. 

This frustration has often overpowered the surreal fantasies that we carved out in our mind about college and college life. But the bigger question is, what is more important?

Trivial differences and conflicts or the loss that we’d bear by missing out on bonding with equally talented people around us?

2 years down the line, when each one of us would walk out of the gate we walked into in August 2012, look BACK at the MIG that we looked FORWARD to and stared in absolute surprise, bid adieu to the stone engraved with VNIT that we clicked photos with, what do we want to look back to?

A time where we could have made our expectations alive but we didn’t because we were struck with ego or extreme sensitivity or just the thought that he dint ask me why should I? A time where we had so much of unhealthy competition amongst ourselves that we began to think of each other as machines rather than working together to build one? A time when we sat looking forward to an opportunity to degrade the other?

OR, better…                                                                                                                 

A time when a Nescafe with friends in the VNIT rains breathed life into the sessional-end semester race, a time when we fanatically screamed in the auditorium and made IG one of the most unforgettable moments in life, a time when a healthy discussion on prospects after graduation made you feel intelligent?

It’s a choice that we make today.

Make the one you won’t regret when you part ways with people.

Agreed, every instance   doesn’t head the way you want, every person doesn’t react the way you expected, neither can they, nor should they. But we must make a choice. Is the difference more important than the person, his one comment more important than his friendship?

We need to rise above pettiness. Look at the bigger picture. Because, not after a very long time, we’d part ways. Probably never to meet some people in life. EVER. Not even those who you’d feel could have been your best buddies.

What do we do? Call/text/meet him. Sort out, throw up stuff, hit him, give him a hug and stay happy together.

If regret is not one thing you want to walk out of college with, just 2 simple tasks weave the magic- Apologize and Forgive. No difference, no hatred, is bigger than losing a person irrespective of how he is.

To some, this might seem one of the other crappy emotional piece, to some it might create the change it created in me. Irrespective of it. Ending the all too emotional and straight from the heart piece, I’d like to apologize to anybody who has ever, knowingly or unknowingly, felt otherwise about anything relating to me.

I am sorry, because life for me is too short to cultivate differences and too short to love enough.
 "When you find somebody you want to keep around for a long time, you must do something about it".

Love

Palak J

First Year in VNIT

“Whatever you get in VNIT, just take it” is what every person who has scored a rank exceeding 10 thousand in AIEEE hears. Same was my case. I wouldn’t throw a blatant lie proclaiming “I wanted metallurgical branch, it was of my interest” and so on. The reason for this does not lie in some fault in the department/course. It lies in the mass-‘UN’awareness that exists amongst people.

Like most people, I was admitted to Metallurgical and Materials Engineering department in the spot round, and frankly speaking I had my inhibitions about the department. Believe it or not, accept it or not, the importance of a branch is weighed against the closing ranks of admission to that department, which disillusions most, not excluding me.

Well, starting from the first day in college. Being admitted in the spot round meant I was to be in the L section and what I faced the first week was mere indifference. People seemed to be absorbed in themselves and unresponsive to calls of help and it instantly made me loathe attending college. What changed in the next week was like a roller coaster ride aiming to touch its zenith.

As the auditions of freshers was announced , which also reached my ears on the last minute because of being a day scholar or “dayski” as we are called, life in VNIT took a huge U turn. From quite an eventful audition where I was introduced to the “sir-mam” order of college to being selected in compering and dance events, there was never a looking back. Compering, as promised by Srijana mam, gave me friends who were to stay by my side all through college. Spending endless hours writing scripts that could amuse the audience, practicing with thumbs stuck to our nose to rehearse how to use the “not so Bose level” mikes, compering helped me grow from a school girl to a mature college person, apart from awarding me with the most caring seniors in college and my first Tech- Family.

After freshers next eventful occasion was the Department Gathering. Being anxious yet excited about meeting seniors, all of us thoroughly enjoyed all the attention we got. The epic rose day and a star studded DJ night, it was the first time I took part in paper dance. It still amuses me how Shreyans Sir pleaded all of us “please participate in paper dance” and how ruthlessly we shouted our hearts out in the funky rally. Meeting various people and getting another Tech-Dad, Suyash Sir, was another event for me. We never wanted that weekend to slip by but then the coming days had something more in store for us, both good and bad.

With the arrival of the end semesters, the wish to change branch and the illusion that our elders create was broken to pieces. Everybody tells us, “study till you get into a good college, then you don’t need to work so hard”. What a lie!! First of all coming a month late to college and giving a hurriedly sandwiched sessional examination, the endsem grades dropped like the value of rupee. Maybe it was only my experience and others scored well but then being a 9 pointer and socially offline was never my idea of college. So, post participating in almost everything, I scored a 6.79 SGPA in the first semester.

Like most VNITians the second semester brought a New Year resolution of getting a good pointer this time and I did succeed to some extent. The semester started with the much heard of Institute Gathering  because all we had heard of in the Department Gathering was “wait for Institute Gathering and then you will know where MME department stands in the college”. Seniors instructed me well in advance to enquire about preferences of the first years and prepare a list of the same. As another active meta-mate of mine, Mihir, would agree, deriving things out of people wasn’t easy. Despite various personal messages, Facebook posts and mails, I started receiving responses after 3 weeks. Then making a document of the same and arranging the trials of each event, began the greatest hurdle of inviting people to IG practice. Yes, INVITING. As orders, requests and pleadings never work trust me. As many people would tell you, day scholars are the most difficult people to get into the IG events. Well this year was no exception barring me and Shruti. Repeatedly facing seniors’ agony for people who refused to leave their homes and honor the sports ground with their visit, the IG mania had begun and unknowingly I was roped into 6 events. We had heard about the various slogans that departments made, the way they cheered, the funky rally and the meta dance! As people await the weather forecasts, we awaited the “theme of the day”. Though I never got the chance to dress up due to various events of mine, it was a spectacle to see people dress up as Daya from CID or ghosts in Halloween. As the IG was flagged off the adrenaline rush began. Playing badminton in a court surrounded by pseudo hooligans and department love driven maniacs made me giggle in times of tough games but what stood strong all through the IG rush was our Department Representative Rupesh sir. Never had I met a senior so supportive and caring. Every match of mine began with an “all the best beta” and ended with “congratulations! Party!”, from him. After winning every event that I participated in, except for tennis as I had picked up the racquet a day before the match, IG gave me the very important self-confidence and daring to try new things. Other than these materialistic advantages, IG helped me meet seniors who now not only support me in every aspect of life but also treat me like their very own kid. Poonam Mam, Priyank Sir, Aashish Sir, Akash Sir, Tushar Sir and of course Rupesh Sir are the people I can turn to always in the department. The real inferno that VNITians can create was symbolised by the prize distribution ceremony in the IG. Dancing atop chairs and screaming till you can talk no more, the last night was one I can never forget. The pride of coming third had surpassed all pleasures of life. We were now Meta by heart and soul.

Post the fantastic IG was CONSORTIUM 2013, a fest I was waiting so long for. It fanned my desire to be an entrepreneur and made me learn various things about that sphere. Giving me the opportunity to write blogs for CONSORTIUM, Abhirup Sir was a patient guide and imprinted in me the confidence to build my very own business plan which moved on to win the 3^rd place in Ascent, a B-Plan competition in CONSORTIUM 2013, thanks to my team mates Abrar, Anmol and Jenil.

The events in the even semester seemed never ending as AAROHI 2013 followed CONSORTIUM. As most people would assume, being a dayski, I should have been a major part of AAROHI. But the fear of another low SGPA semester made me quit my desire to join in.

Succeeding AAROHI came the Inter-NIT tournament in Nit Surat. Playing badminton in school was different but wearing the college T-shirt gave me a different honour of being a VNITian. Being insecure about the trip, the first hour in the train was uneventful and lonely, but what followed was incessant fun and laughter. The volleyball team and badminton team were like doting parents with Aditi Mam and Pooja Mam playing my mother at times and friend at the other. Nobody of us wanted to return from Surat, a life of pure fun, be it the 1am cheering on football ground, funny motivating slogans or mall yatra at 10pm. Winning a badminton match is inevitable when you have Aditi Mam playing by your side anyways and hence VNIT secured the first position in Women’s Team Event.

If Surat wasn’t satisfying enough, the Physical Education Department awarded me with the Best Class Representative for the 1^st year due to support of people who did not let me quit in times of distress.

The final year farewell brought in the sudden realisation that one day we would be leaving VNIT and the emptiness that it would cause would be too hard to repair. Yes, I will be making the most of these 3 years to last a lifetime, but one can never have enough of VNIT, never have enough of its aura and never have enough of its love.

With Surat being the last milestone in the first year, this year brought too many things in my life.  Best of friends Aditi, Maharshi, Niket, Rushika, Mukunda, Pratiksha and a group of 15 pseudo maniacs along with loveliest of brothers Omkar, Ravi and Abhishek, most patient guides Priyank Sir, Keshav Sir, Viplav Sir, Abhirup Sir the list goes on and on and I can name people from everywhere.

VNIT in the first year itself has secured the position of first love in my life and has contributed in ways nothing has ever. I look back and laugh at the situation of my first week where I was lost in 216 acres of forested land and 1000 unknown faces transformed to my second home. VNIT will always stay close even after 4 years. I would never want to leave this place. Never.

VNIT

“Things will change in college”, they said.

“You will meet new people”, they said.

But they never said one could have fun tending to infinity.

Moving from a CBSE school to a college, anxiety reined my thoughts. My fears came true when the first week at VNIT fed me with indifference and non-cooperation movement. But then the roller coaster was destined to meet its zenith.

As I celebrate my first birthday at college and last teen birthday, I want to thank so many people I met in college for all that they have given to me through the year. Going in order which I met people here’s a small token for you guys. As it consists of many people and small messages for them, I will be tagging people in order of their appearance in the video. Though I strongly plead all of you to please go through the whole thing at least once and please please give me your word on this!

A big apology to Aishwarya Hoizal and Apurva Sharan, due to certain problems I could not put up your photos and I am really really really sorry for that. But there are no second thoughts that you guys are really important!

Starting with the compering team in Freshers- from the one boy one girl rule to all the rigorous practices we had, compering team friends still remain the closest! You were right Srijana mam! J

Aditi- I really don’t know how hellish VNIT would have been without you. Though I hate you a lot for inhumanely waking me up every time you are at my place, yet I love you loads!! You know I can write pages after pages for you but this isn’t the right place you see! :P

Niket- Can’t put up “our” word over here! :P For all I know, I really value a lot as a friend and you are one of my closest people in VNIT! Hope we strengthen the bond in times to come!

Sanskar- babaaaaa!!! Being with you is awesome fun as I can’t stop laughing! Hope to have a great time in this year’s freshers and hope to go on more baddy trips in the next 3 years! J  

Aeishwarya - a sweet girl with a golden heart! Pure innocence and pure fun! Hope to giggle incessantly with you in next 3 years!

Aditya ‘Sing’hania- All of us fail to understand your extreme passion towards singing! Although your jokes were never a pleasure, your singing makes us suicidal! :P Jokes apart, a cool friend you are. Hope to have more fun times with you!

Varada- a simple girl with great ideas! It is always good to be with you! I adore you for your simplicity and individuality!

Abhishek- My first tech-brother and the naughtiest one too! The mischief spark in your eyes is quite visible and getting random crazy ideas from you is never a surprise. Yet in you I got a great friend!

My first tech-family (first because there are many parents to come :P)

Rahul Sir- It was great to be a part of compering team, mostly because of you all! Thanks!

Viplav Sir- I have absolutely no idea from where do you derive so much of patience to answer each of my questions, irrespective of how dumb they might be, with calm and ease. Never ever have I seen you without a smile, and I have known that one person who could derive fun out of any adversity is you. You have always been there and hence I vow to keep troubling you all the time because you are one of the best grandads! :P

Srijana Mam- Sorry from all of us for being late every day for practice :P I know many people wonder why we guys have so much of regard for you. It is because you actually never let us feel as freshers. Mingled with us, had fun and all I have seen of you is you are always smiling! Thankyou for so many things (you know what I mean! :P)

Compering seniors-

Nisheet sir- always soft spoken and polite, you have some treats due :P

Apeksha Mam- I was actually scared of you in the beginning :P but then I saw the other side of you and really like you now J

Sharva Mam- thanks for giving me the opportunity to give the introduction speech. It means a lot to me J

Tech-Dads- Suyash sir, Devanshu Sir

Tech-Moms- Prithvi mam, Poonam Mam, Apurwa Mam

Tech-Grandad- Shreyans Sir, Niteesh Sir

As all my meta-mates would agree, Institute Gathering was the best time of the year for us!

Rupesh sir- you were seriously a very understanding and supportive DR! I won all matches because of your “all the best beta!” ;) IG was enjoyable majorly because of you!

Saurabh sir- Seldom do I find somebody so down to earth and polite. Met you in the intramurals and since then found a great friend in you! I cannot imagine you ever being rude to me. Thank you so much for being a confidant! J

CONSORTIUM 2013- A learning experience

Abhirup sir- Always guiding me through things, learning is fun with you! Hope to learn some more in your last year in college!

B plan team- Anmol, Abrar and Jenil- it was great working with all of you! Hope to take our plan to further competitions and win some great prizes ;)

CULT NIGHT- the first cult night was amazing for me, all thanks to our performance ;)

INTER-NIT 2013- NIT SURAT

The first ever trip with college mates, it started on a low note but later it was the best trip till date. Nobody of us wanted to come back from there. Be it the 1am football ground cheering or “khelenge jee jaan se” slogans, everything was just too good.  And the epic mall yatra at 10pm with the trophy :P

Life without some of you would have been really bad. Friends are the choco-chips in the cookie of life and they gave me a chocolate overload!! <3 :*

Aditi- again? :P There are loads of things I wanna say to you, but saying this completes them- just be by my side always!  No matter how bad I get, I would always love you a lot. No matter what somebody would tell me, I would always trust you the most! Chal bohot senti hogaya. Panipuri time :P :* <3

Maharshi- what to say about you MARS :P waving past all my insecurities about you, we turned to be the best of friends. Hope yours or mine anger does not ruin this someday….. If at all it does, we can kick each other and get back on track right? :P its effortless to have fun with you and Aditi. Hope to hear more of your crazy galaxy stories :D

Friends are people who know the song in your heart, and sing it back to you when you have forgotten the lines. For this god gave me two pretty people

Rushika- I know we have not known each other closely for long, yet sometimes you know the first time you speak to somebody. Hope to be a closer friend to you! Love you for your simplicity and straight forwardness. Just want to let you know that whatever I say to you is always heartfelt. Love you a lottt rush! :* <3

Niket- nikeeeeee! The most masti khor friend of mine:P you are the first person I knew in compering team and have been the closest hence.  Hope to have more fun together in the next 3 years! Umm…….aa…  :P :D

God dint make us siblings, because he knew no mother could handle us together :P

From being the most senti people to being crazy maniacs, we do it all and know it all. Every outing is enjoyable and fun. In you all I got every type of person, a singer, a dancer, a comp.sci.psycho, a mom, a best friend etc etc etc …. so on and so forth!

The three musketeers- From gravely serious issues to fun stuff, we enjoy it all! Making a deadly combination, really love you guys a lot!! Thanks for so many things Niket and Maharshi!!

Pratiksha- met you in the auditions in freshers but got to know you closely recently. A girl who smiles her heart out and dances from the soul. A sweet friend and simple girl, love you for your innocence. Keep your love for simplicity and Indian-ness alive, then I have a supporter :P

Prachi- a fun loving person and really extrovert! We always have fun!!

Brothers

Omkar- the sweetest and best brother that I could ever get is you. You are the closest to me in college and have always been there for me. I hope my situations do not make you suffer in the college this year :P a very very innocent and docile person, I admire how you never let your new priorities affect your relations. I could trust you with anything. Love you from the heart omi!

Ravi-  the “mai dabangg hu” brother of mine. You were the one who taught me the first lesson of college :P did not let me quit and that’s how I got an award at the end :D thanks!

Guiding stars in college-

Priyank sir- intimidating at first, but a great guide at the end, you have taught me various essential things. Love to be you great granddaughter! J

Akash sir- ever ready to solve all my doubts with a smile. Thank you  J

Keshav sir- sometimes I feel, you have been pre destined to pull my leg all the time :P despite your mischievous smile and humor, you have always made me smile out of the saddest of things, thank you so much J

Aditi mam- from being a tough mum to a lovely mischief accomplice, you have played all roles since I know you from school time. It is always fun to be around you and an honor to share the court with you. You are a great badminton player, many have told you that, but you are a fantabulous senior! Love you!

Friends-

Meta mates- baheti, prathmesh, alwira, mihir hope to have great fun this year! Yo meta \m/

Rajat sir- you already know what we all want to say to you! The most cooperative senior who never undermines you saying tu junior hai! We all will miss you a lot! J

Tejasi- the GOD! Down to earth and simple you have always been since school. Hope you shower a little of your pointer getting skills on us too :D

Apurva and shivani  the surat trip was awesome fun al lthanks to you guys! J

Mukunda- I am amazed how you can be so calm always! Nothing in the world seems to get you angry. The most ready to help and a “close friend in process” guy. There is lots to learn from you. J

Saujanya- sujiiiiiii!! Love you for all the fun we had in the first year! Thanks for mixing up with me so well!!  <3 :*

Abhijeet sir- I remember our plan :P it is great fun to be with you! J

Aniruddha sir- a very happy birthday to you too!  You are that one person in college whom I call up on my birthday, wish you “happy birthday” and get a “thank you same to you in return” :P

Credits-

Keeping up with my silly incessant doubts all through without questions- mukunda and apurva sharan

Constant supporters throughout- aditi, rushika, omkar, niket  and maharshi

Please do give me your feedback all of you J

P.S. There are loads of other people I value in VNIT, this is for all of you. Also the Chikni Chameli music piece is especially for Pratiksha! <3

         Regards

Palak

FREEDOM V/S SECURITY

IS MORAL POLICING JUSTIFIED?

                                  Recently a 15 year old girl was shot in the head for performing an IMMORAL  act that is attending school. Malala Yousufyai, a resident of Taliban occupied valley. The crux behind the matter ?  FORCED moral policing.

              So what actually is moral policing? EDUCATING a child about the right and wrong by the experienced people.

NO

                           “Forefathers’ teachings” is the veil for curbing somebody’s individualism and making him submissive to your self-righteous and dominating intentions and this is subtly named as “moral policing” today. That is an imposition of your or your forefathers’ experiences to the present generation. Then the question arises is do the same conditions and environment persist as they were with you or your forefathers? The answer obviously is a resounding NO.  We very well acknowledge the fact that we determine something called instantaneous acceleration or instantaneous velocity because we understand that at every moment the same set of conditions do not apply in space and time. Then why do we not accept this in the real world?

                        Moral policing in the past was displayed by the now extensively criticized acts of the Brahmins and pundits or the higher classes, wherein they decided everything for the whole community. It was them who decided what everybody would eat, how they would pray so on and so forth. That was done in the name of helping the individuals to gain ‘NIRVANA’ and hence people continued to accept everything that fell out of their mouths. But it has been irrevocably proved by historians that the sole aim behind this moral policing was their urge to keep the reins of the society in their hands, stay in control of the community and exercise immense power. Is moral policing justified?

                    

                    Today this “hidaayat” has taken various forms of either daily sermons by elders at home or more rigid forms of anger at certain acts of yours. Isn’t this done for your benefit? Protecting you from problems of society and safeguarding you? Have we forgotten the story of the little boy who nursed a butterfly’s egg for a quite a lot amount of time. Then one day he sees that the little one wants to come out and see the glory of the sun but is hindered by the egg shell, the boy in his attempt to HELP and SAFEGUARD it from the pain of the shell cuts open the shell so that it can come out. The consequence? The little butterfly can never ever fly because the very necessary initial pain caused by the shell was necessary for it to enable its wings for later flights. As the boy rescued the butterfly from that pain, he crippled it for life.

                

                  So what are we aiming for via moral policing? We are aiming to give our kids a golden spoon in mouth, fur coat on the shoulder and velvety roses under their feet for life? But if somebody is given a chance to live, he has got his fair chance of experimenting, striving, falling and rising up again in all glory. How many of us know about SWAT- Special Weapons and Tactics forces who use specialized tactics in high risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular uniformed police? They have a policy. They employ only those people who have seen at least one major failure in life and risen from it. Will a protected child befit that? NO, because he was never given a chance to experiment. Unfair and unjustified.

                

                                  I would like to conclude by stating the fact that if something as brainless as litmus indicator doesn’t show the same color in every environment so your educated self believes that a moral could in general apply to all irrespective of his conditions?

All I would like to say is LIVE AND LET LIVE and you would be amazed when people come and ask you to guide them J