Memoirs of ILP at Trivandrum : The Panorama Part 1

There is a certain phase of life when one does so many things that when one looks back, its almost like a movie, your mind speaks to you like a little talkative child, excited & gleaming with joy.When I joined TCS and got Trivandrum as my location for Initial Learning Period, little did I know that I would do things which I never thought I would.

Here are the events which are memorable during my time at Trivandrum,something I will cherish forever.

1) Hill, Waterfall & Sea: I have climbed a hill, been to waterfall through a forest with slippery rocks, surrounded by leeches all of this wearing lady like slippers.Yes, slippers ! The all girls trip to Ponmudi with the beautiful drizzles & greenery of Kerala, dancing in the van, walking through clouds, drinking mountain water,eating hot biriyani in a restaurant surrounded by clouds, slipping through the rocks to go to the waterfall, helping each other, almost crying with the dread of leeches yet emerging out victorious and playing in the stream water.Towards the end our driver surprising us by taking us to the beautiful Shankhamugam beach. Hill , Waterfall, Beach   all in one day.Mother nature couldnt be more kind ! :)

 

2) Saving Bruno - One day , coming back from the lab in the evening, me and  my friend Soumya found a little puppy helplessly running here and there amidst speeding vehicles.Being avid pet lovers , we both have a very special corner in our hearts for dogs. We can go to the extent of saying that dogs are better than most humans.Seeing the little one moving around scared, we couldnt help but go and hold him in our hands.We started talking to him, mostly the pet lovers can relate to.We asked him where his mommy was, when the guards told us that his mommy was no where to be found.

 That moment Soumya said that if we leave him here, he might die.We decided to take him with us, take him where? TCS Executive hostel strictly forbids animals in the premises.Yet we decided to take him with us.We named him Bruno, I still remember me & Soumya holding Bruno and running.We got muffins for him from a nearby Maggi shop, which he happily ate.Beneath our happy smiles was the fear of where we would keep him. On reaching hostel, the guard told us we couldnt take Bruno in, our hearts sank.We started pleading  before the guards. Nothing worked. Lastly I went to the Mess staff to get some milk for our Little Bruno. 

There are times when you feel God is present, just next to you.It is a moment of miracle,the Head Chef of TCS Executive Hostel heard about Bruno while I was getting food for him.Seeing my tear filled eyes , he decided to meet Bruno, and after meeting him, he decided to take Bruno with him to his home.Yes, those hands which prepared food for us everyday decided to be the guardian of Bruno.Me and Soumya were overjoyed.We thanked him through our happiest smiles.Bruno was sneaked in to the TCS Executive Hostel where he was the center of attention of the entire staff.From the roads to the home of Head Chef , Bruno had made quite a journey !

Tears rolled down our cheeks.I realised for the first time I had tears of joy :) Life truly is beautiful !

Snapshots from Hell : A Review

Ever since I came to know that TCS Bangalore library doesnt have fiction books, my heart sunk.I am an avid reader and fiction books have been my favorite.I mean I have nothing against books titled "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" & "How to Instantly Influence People" etc etc but I believe human mind is so intriguing that it cannot change itself by books that step wise tell it to look at things or develop a perspective.

The most powerful books that truly leave an impression are the ones in which we live the life of the author in the book.These books make us ponder on a lot of things that we would miss out otherwise.

One day wandering through the book shelves of TCS library , I came across a book titled "Snapshots from Hell" by Peter Robinson.Delighted to see a title that differed from topics like SAP FICO, JAVA Complete Reference, Performance Appraisals, I reached out and opened the book. The introductory note said this book was about the experience of a poet in Standford Business School.I went ahead and issued it.

The author was the former speech writer in Ronald Reagan's office when he took a sabbatical and went ahead for MBA at Standford hoping for a life with money and happiness ever after.Set in early 1990's, this book talks about the MBA phenomenon where the smartest people go to a business school, from diverse backgrounds ranging from Banking to Civil Services to Army, all with common idea that they would win the world after MBA. Almost 2 decades later I feel nothing really has changed.

While students like the author who were "poets" or students with minimal mathematical background had a tough time managing the calculations for subjects like Macroeconomics, Computer modelling etc, the "Non poets"  like the bankers, consultants and engineers happily & competitively sailed through them.The book is filled with interesting insights from the Standford classroom where sometimes Professors taught something that went totally above heads of even the brightest of the class, where students protested against mediocre teaching, studying hard for mid terms & end terms, competing , falling in depression, making study groups and slogging over case studies.In other words, It felt like just any other college.

The author states the biggest impact of Standford MBA was that it helped him develop a quantitative & analytical way of looking at things. Right from Organisational Behavior to Finance, each course made sure the students develop a perspective that is supported by numbers.Standford MBA students having numerous accomplishments were also normal humans  having strong egos,relationship hassles, worries about future, yet at the end coming together as a single group just like any other graduating batch.

The biggest lessons from the book were when the author describes two incidents. One, where the transition of students from rosy life assumption after MBA  to the extreme hard work during Business school to some landing a dream job at The Investment Banks while others struggling for jobs.It says that "While we all chase some things beyond our reach, crying helplessly, running restlessly , without catching a breath , it dawns upon at the end that there was no destination after all, it was the journey that was all that mattered."

Second was during a Marketing class when an executive with Procter & Gamble visited the classroom and discussed about a product they launched which failed miserably at the market. It conveyed a simple message "Its ok to make mistakes in life". Even big boys like P&G who hired the best brains made mistakes, so it was absolutely fine for mere mortals like us to make mistakes.

An awesome read! This book exhibits the journey of a person who joined an institution where he considered himself as a misfit but at the end discovered a side of his he had never met before.Hope I experience something like this in life :) Cheers to life !