My Alma Mater – I Salute You

Today is the day when my alma mater, Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management (SIOM) Nashik, completes its successful journey of 5 years. And my blog post coincides on this beautiful day of foundation of my alma mater. It was on this very day of the year 2005 that existing Nashik campus of Symbiosis Centre for Management & Human Resource Development (SCMHRD) was rechristened as SIOM after inauguration at the hands of Mr. Baba Kalyani.

When I joined SIOM to pursue my MBA in Operations, I thought that two year period would be a long duration. But, time passed away so quickly only to realise later that the day to bid adieu to my institute had arrived. Most of us had doubts galore when we entered the institute to pursue our Masters. But today when we look back, we certainly not only cherish the memories of our time spent at the institute, but also thank our destiny to bring us to such a place.

I found it difficult initially to adapt to a 7-day working schedule of the institute. But, gradually I got used to it. First semester exams at the institute were one amongst the most horrific times of my life. Two final exams scheduled every day for almost a week in the first semester gave me the sleepless nights. I tried my level best to sleep as early as possible; however, the nightmare of two tough papers scheduled for the subsequent day virtually never let me sleep for a week-long exam time. Today, those horrific moments have become memorable moments for me.

I still treasure the teachings & assignments of Mr. Y. R. Rao, when we used to sit at the green turf and discuss the case-studies for hours without any breakthrough. The teachings of Mr. Rao, who served as the CEO of many public limited companies, gave a new angle to my thought process. Another wonderful fellow was Mr. Vivek Kaul, former Head HR India– Kimberly-Clark, who made a seemingly boring subject like “Principles & Practices of Management” most interesting for us. These two teachers were my all-time favourite.

Today, I take immense proud in calling myself an alumnus of SIOM. For everything I am today, I owe it to a large extent to none other than the institute. Hope I’ll able to visit my institute some day again for all the good reasons.

Goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I’ll miss you until we meet again!

What Motivated me to Blog?

To start with, let me tell you about the motivation behind my first blog post. It’s not that I had plans to write a blog from a long time or that I wanted to start my blog just for the heck of showing off to the world.  Then, what motivated me to blog?

Although, I am an Internet savvy person and love to engage in social networking in whatever possible and meaningful way, yet I had no plans to write on anything till recently. It was on March 1,  when I read the tweet of Mrs. Rashmi Bansal (Author of the last year’s Best Seller – Stay Hungry Stay Foolish) asking for sharing placement experience on which is going to be based her next blog. In order to get featured in her blog, I quickly started my Microsoft Word and started writing my experience. Within an hour’s time, I was able to finish up writing my experience and immediately after I mailed her the document describing my experience. A day after, I received her reply:

“Wonderful – well written – and congratulations”

This was motivating enough to make me start a blog. I always thought that I was not a good writer and as such writing a blog was never something serious stuff for me. But now having started, I’ll try my best to do justice to my blog.

I would love to receive your comments on my posts because it’s only the readers who can do justice to a piece of writing. I hope you won’t mind if I make use of my art, so-called Poor Jokes by almost everybody, to make my blogs more interesting! With this short post, I would mark the beginning of my blog!

Caution: Reading my blogs can be injurious to people who get irritated by Poor Jokes (PJs). Due diligence has been taken to inform such readers beforehand!