Day 0 @ DoMS, IIT
Madras
- by Rachana, Neeraj & Utkarsh *
It was dawn, when we got down at
the Chennai Central. Lost in the beauty of Chennai, the golden letters at the
IIT gate brought us to the sudden awareness that our age-old dream of being
IITians had been finally realized. The wildlife and the greenery in the campus
were pleasing to the eyes.
Seated in a classy
air-conditioned room, amongst my batch mates & dignified, wise professors, our
orientation started off with our HOD introducing the birth & history of the MBA
programme @ DoMS, IITM. The excitement was unimaginably palpable and reflected
on every fresh face when our HOD talked about every possible element composing
the department. - the high energetic students, their activities, their laurels
achieved all the year around and also their contribution in bonding with the
under & post grads at IITM. We also felt very lucky to have an entirely new
5-storied department. Building, department library and lab facilities added to
the other world-class facilities on the campus. Lastly, he spoke about the
triumphant batches of the past.
"Can MBAs make good
entrepreneurs?" was a gripping lecture conducted by Mr. G. Shankar, Head, Madras
Consulting Group and an IIMC graduate. The lecture started with a discussion on
the problems faced by small business while establishing themselves especially
acquiring loans and overdrafts. The discussion then highlighted as to what we
can gain at IITM DoMS to tackle those problems. It was enlightening to have
knowledge on the problems, challenges faced and the responsibilities of a senior
manager in "A Day in a Senior Manager's Life" by Ms. Sandhya Shekhar, an alumnus
of IIMB, who was the Vice-president of Gartner and is presently pursuing her PhD
@ DoMS IITM on a sabbatical. Our new revamped curriculum was introduced to us.
As testified by our seniors, it was definitely a more demanding curriculum and
was designed to give us an exposure to all the fields of management from the
first quarter itself.
The next day, we had an
illuminating presentation by one of the co-founders of "Ma Foi", a
top-of-the-line HR Consulting firm, Mrs. Hemlatha Rajan who discussed with us
the importance of using a MBA programme as a springboard in our careers. Up for
grabs were some pearls of wisdom by Mrs. Usha Titus, who, besides being Medical
Doctor and an IAS Officer, is the Registrar of IITM. She described to us, the
simple fundas of life, which if implemented, would leave a lasting mark of
prosperity in our lives.
The Lecture on "Management Tips
from the Kitchen" by Ms. Malini Shankar was an interesting and enriching one
with an enlightening revelation that our mothers (and in some cases fathers too)
were excellent managers as the work in kitchen was easily associated with a
process in a company and in management, decision making with buying of
perishable and non-perishable items and multi-tasking management with the number
and order of the dishes to be cooked.
Col. Nair, an alumnus from the
class of 2003, with an experience of 15 years in the Indian Army, was on campus
to interact with us. Narrating his experiences at DoMS, IITM, he guided us as to
how we should go about developing our skills and balancing our academics,
extra-curricular and relationships in our daily lives. The Alumni and our
seniors also added to this during numerous formal and informal sessions.
Tomorrow, its back to classroom for that 8 am lecture when we begin our lives at
DoMS, IITM.
