Sunday, July 8, 2012

PGSEM Qtr 1 (2/5)

As quoted in my earlier posts, I guess I was absolutely right when I told future isn't bright with respect to me jotting down day-2-day experience on PGSEM. Blame it on the time which is flying so fast, I have almost lost track of time. And now too lazy to pen down what happened in past 3 weeks of first quarter classes in individual posts. Not that, I am devoting too much time on studying, it was never my way nor would ever be. Or I guess its too early to say about future, royal screwing on grades may/will change this ignorant attitude. *Hopefully this won't happen and utopia will continue*

I have settled up for 3 posts a quarter now. It is useless to tell what would be future of this comment too.. hehe

Coming back to school after a long gap has its own set of disadvantage. 6 years have gone by since last time I attended a School (or say College) where getting grades were piece of cake. And I was, and am still in same mode thinking getting 9/10 CGPA (IIMB equivalent would be 3.5-3.6 out of 4 ) will be child's job like Engineering. So I am chill and is doing everything apart from studies. And worst part is, this is when couple of topics discussed in class are going over head. But,why to worry when sword of placement is not there. Nonetheless learning is important and Profs make sure that you take back some learning with you after ever class.Yes, I can imagine you all who went through the ordeal of IIM B rigor, laughing at  this attitude and thinking time will teach me in brutal way what is required even in absence of placement but definitely till that time I can have all the fun in the world. This is the best management course, I am telling you. ;-)


So, what exactly I am doing. Working in core committee for Pehel event  (Exclusive event for PGSEM Community) where I am suppose to coordinate between PGSEM office, inviting Profs/PGSEMers for the event, doing ground work on event plan. And this week participated for Badminton trials for Sangram, IIM K event. Unimportant point is whether I will be going to next round in trials or not, important is I am living my college life again and doing things which I always enjoyed doing. Except hostel experience and few friends who could have possibly given a crash course before exam, I am not missing anything. Time left from trivialities mentioned above are dedicated in making new friends and off-course continuing with usual office work. A fully power packed day. 24/7 times a week and 365 days a year. ;-)

Core courses covered during 1st semester are Microeconomics, Financial Accounting and Strategy Management.  After 6-8 classes idea is sinking in and shows interrelation of all three courses. For first time subjects taught in school/college are showing sense/relevance. 'Knowledge' flow statement as mentioned here

Microeconomics - Microeconomics talks about economics of individual units. There is dearth of information stored in Demand and Supply. How subsidies, income increase, taxes impacts the consumption pattern. Elasticity (Demand, Supply, Income), Marginal Utility, Indifference curve, substitution effect. Why company and Govt some time bring some policy changes, how they optimize their profit, production lines? All these with relevant anecdotes aided with class participation made the subject interesting. Prof teaching ME has an impact from day one. Luxury to have him as our mentor for this subject.

Financial Accounting - Anything distantly related to maths has been my favorite since the day I scored the magic number in Class 2 (2 for 2). ;-)  Accounting talks about Balance Sheet, Income Statement and 'Cash' flow statement. With this line you would have guessed from where the 'Knowledge' flow statement mentioned above was originated. All in all everything in Accounting revolves around Assets, Liability, Owners equity, Expenses, Revenue, and to be honest this limited scope is what which makes life difficult, as first timers always find it difficult what to consider in in ideal scenario. Going 'practical' on any item would violate 11 accounting principle even without your knowledge and put the balance sheet in real mess. FA prof figures out in various consulting project for Govt and have close to 20 yrs of teaching in IIM B.

Strategy Management - Any theoretical subject with loads of definitions/reading become a nightmare to me. Strategy seemed to belong to those class of my arch enemy with maximum weight of subject matter (in term of Kg's obviously). So far SM talked about Industry Attractiveness, Micheal E. Porter's five competitive forces, Competitive positioning and Micheal E. Porter's three Generic Competitive Strategies. Not a single item made sense to me even after reading around 1 kg of subject matter. And worst part was, I was reading this subject only for all my free time since the cases and books were handed to us during Orientation. Profs had different teaching style which did not made any sense to me and was slowly drifting away from the course. But the allocated case presentation suddenly changed the view point. Strategy is totally mathematical model and an interesting story/subject. Know Porter to know SM. Profs too talks about his real-life experience which is a great value add. I look forward to listening to him, whenever he talks. Lets see how things goes with remaining 3/5 portion of this trimester.

With mid-term date declared as 27-28 July, some seriousness is being called towards studies as well. Not sure when I will be doing my 3 projects for 3 subjects and when I will be studying for end-term scheduled on 24-25 August. Future is not bright on many extracurricular items. Balancing things will be a challenge for sure.

To be Continued..

P.S. : IIMB campus is a runner's delight. I had planned to go there on daily basis for running after Orientation day as campus is quite close to my home. But because of lazy attitude and tight schedule this plan was never brought in execution. I have decided to go there at least on Sunday morning when there is no rush for office or classes. I need to do this bit as my running club membership is biting dust and so is my body, aiding to my weight :P  Hope will be able to do this.

P.P.S : For a change this time I had some relevant header for my blog. Detailing 2/5 part of my 1st Quarter. Also, frequent readers of my post would have missed the disclaimer as well. Why to keep when you have read so far.. :P