Thursday, September 6, 2007

After A Long Timeeeeeee...

Me back after a long time ......
what was I up to?...

Not much...
Got into IIM-A for the fellow programme (FPM)...
So very busy with studies...
Looking to finish the first year with the required grades to actually begin my journey towards higher learning from the next year...

IIM-A seems a lot different from inside. There's no doubt about the quality of faculty or about the caliber of the participants, but I still felt that IIM-A would be radically different from the others in all respects.

Let me recount the beginning of my journey at IIMA.

There are rituals conducted by the 'so-called' PGP-2s to induct the new students into the IIM-A environment. I was not at all convinced by the necessity of those rituals and made my point aptly clear to many, of course many didn't and still don't subscribe to my viewpoint. Well, different people got to have different viewpoints...
So, things went on as usual (IIMA-usual!!) with quizzes, projects, assignments, etc. etc,. etc... The actual traits of the class actually comes to the fore when the grades of the quizzes are disclosed. This is where I thought IIMA would be different. Most of these guys (I don't consider myself a PGP... as for me, grades are meant only to get to the next year...) are solely aimed at grades as they are their passport to the 'Crore' galleries. I thought IIM-A would devise a much better way to impart learning.

Class Participation: One important issue for the grades are the class participation marks (CPs). I, personally don't like to interrupt the professor during his lectures... Somehow, my engineering days seem to continue with me even when the profs ask questions (general to the class... questions to specific students are termed as 'cold calls')... so, I generally tend to keep quiet in the class. Asking questions to the prof seems perfectly fine to me as long as the question is valid. The concept of CP dilutes this aspect of learning to such a level that most classes get totally disoriented and directionless because of the frequent, illogical interruptions.

Professors:
One professor I would mention here more than anyone else is, Prof. Sunil Maheshwari. He is truly a GOD. Imparting learning on HR is the toughest and Sunil Sir the best anyone can ever get. After working in the industry for close to 5 years and being totally disillusioned by the HR practices of my ex-employer, I was in no way looking forward to HR classes. But, the structured classes interspersed with his own experiences and the basic level interpretation of HR practices made me eagerly await each of his sessions. This was the most productive and useful course so far.


I will continue with my journey later...
May be a week later... when I would be enjoying holidays after the end term exams!!!...

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