It feels good to be busy.. Sometimes :)

Life has been pretty busy recently. College actually brings a lot of activity along with it. And these activities are not monotonous like a job. In the past one month since the college started it has been a mixture of academics, some serious extracurriculars, some masti – basically a good masala mix. The sufferer in the process I guess has been this blog and lack of creative juices flowing inside the head – lack of time you see!
Well, where to start with.. The Game I guess.. It was one of the biggest and most complex simulation games played. With 250 decisions every round, 4 rounds and over 2 months long, it was indeed tough. But the prize money was huge – 8 lakh rupees (12000 euros to be precise) which divided by 5 Bulls (of NMIMS Bulls fame) came to around 1.5 lakh per bull. The Bull Run carried on fine till the semi finals. In the semis too, we were the 1st 60% of the time. The shocker came in the 4th year of semis (the simulation involved running a company for certain number of years in each round). We were pushed to 4th position. The next day was a marathon, ending at 3.30 AM after some 20 hours of serious business. It was a rare sight at college at that hour. The campus which is buzzing with at least a thousand people had only 5 zombies at that time. But all that effort was put to dust when the results came. We were 3rd and could not advance to the finals!!
Coming to some masti aspect of the past month, it was time to be on the better side of the interview table. Being a core member of the alumni cell of the college, one of the fun jobs includes recruiting first yearites for the cell. And what better way to recruit than interviews. 40 interviews in 2 days was stressing but lots of fun. It started with going easy on the newbies – just like what u would like an interview to be to getting a bit nasty (just like a interviewer wud like it to be) later. I hope the juniors are not vying for my (or my other collegues’) blood when we meet them tomorrow.
As far as academics go, there has been only 1 subject for the college and it is called SFM or Strategic Financial Management. Our new dean, an eminent prof from IIM Ahmedabad is teaching it on the exact lines of Harvard Business School (even the cases are same- acc. to him). It demands a lot from the usually ‘chill’ crowd of NM but is insightful – even for people like me who don’t have finance as their specialization. The cases are 30 pages long and reading material double the size. Needless to say, the whole college seems to be studying SFM these days.
SFM or no SFM, masti remains an integral part. It was a trip to Malshej ghats and Shivneri fort (where Shivaji was born) this weekend. The place is unbelievable, especially if you are coming from Mumbai. Awesome roads, greenery everywhere - the whole setting seems you are in some Switzerland or something. Cloud kissing hills, cool weather, country side setting and a history to round things off. It was seriously one of the most scenic places I have visited.
Back to Mumbai, it was a proud moment for NMIMS when C.K Prahalad, the #1 Management thinker in the world addressed us giving his vision of India in 2022.
Accompanied with this High was the Low of the sad tradition of NM – Parampara. Despite efforts taken to not repeat what happened last year, the boundaries were broken, insults were the order of the day and mockery prevailed. Show offs from second year were there in numbers – trying to hog limelight through idiotic behavior. The rumor of Dean finally interfering in the matter and taking a strict note of it is heartening to hear. As the saying goes, “Laaton ke bhoot, baton se nahi maante”

Update: Just heard the news that the tradition of Parampara has finally been laid to rest by some quick action by the Dean.. Things have started changing in NM!!


Just 50 km from Mumbai