Jassu_2012HRLP015_Freedom

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken-up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving streches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost it's way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the wind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action.

Into that heaven of freedom my father let my country awake.

                                                                    - Rabindranath Tagore

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_First_meet_with_Mentor

After all the hit and trials, finally today me and my mentor decided to meet at 5:45pm in Cyber City office of Serco. Mr. Arsh Maini is Director of Serco for ASEAA region. I had met him in Mentor-Mentee workshop in SOIL campus. I really liked the way he asked the students to be precise and direct in their approach. The more important underlying fact is, you can be direct in precise in your approach only if you have clarity in mind. So, today post the classes I got ready and hired an auto to Cyber City. With the kind of traffic that prevails in Gurgaon, it took little more time. However, I reached in time, in fact I waited for around 35 minutes by the time Mr. Arsh Maini finished with his meeting. The moment I met him, I felt he was very direct and precise in his approach. We interacted for around 10 minutes and done! Whatever he said in 10 minutes was high impact. He gave me some to-dos that I have to do and let me assure you the to-dos on myself are not easy by any means. I have my task cut out guys...cant write more...take care bye..&..yeah would like to add the learning of the day: be precise and be direct. Less means More! Less means High Impact! Be precise. Be clear

Yash Dogra_BLP054_First_Meet_With_Mentor

The meeting was scheduled for 11:00 am Friday with my mentor Mrs. Archana Kumar, HR Head of Ireo - The Big Multiplier. I was very much excited and for the first time in life, I started for a meeting at time. But near Genpect as I turned right on my bike, 3 traffic Policeman ran towards me. As I do not usually wear helmet and my bike is having Mumbai No. plate, I was sure why they want to catch me. They took my license and instructed me to go to a big fat police woman sitting nearby who was just looking at "Chalan" register only. In typical Haryanvi accent, asked me "konnsi gaadi hai terrii, kya kiya tanne" Then the Policeman told her that "iska helmet ka to challan banne madam ji". Constantly looking at the Chalan book she issued a On-Spot Chalan of 100 Rs. After submitting the Chalan I started again and reached the destination. The building consists of offices as  Ground and 1st floor- Audi, 2nd Floor- Coca Cola, 3rd floor- Wal-Mart, 4th Floor- Ireo. As I entered Ireo office, I can say it is a building of 22nd century, well architected and designed with two beautiful receptionists in the middle of reception and 7 big screen LEDs on one wall. As my mentor was in meeting, one of the receptionist asked me to wait and sit in reception and called for a coffee. I thought that the first part of day (traffic Chalan) went bad but now that is being compensated here in reception. Soon my mentor came out of meeting and I entered the meeting room. For the first time I was meeting a HR of new organisation for interaction and not for Interview and I was loving it. I started interacting and introductions took place from both sides. In the starting she was talking very professionally like a teacher and a usual HR person. I never thought she will ask me that how many subjects you have read in first term, what were the projects and explain what you did in OB. Unexpectedly, I remembered name of all the subjects may be due to 9.3 lacks factor. Then she asked about my aspirations and long discussion continued with my consulting interest. Then a twist came when she said that you should consider HR consulting also as a future and to answer this I was not prepared and for the first time she smiled and explained the importance and demand of hr managers. Then a discussion about Anil sir occurred and guess how she has been selected as a mentor, I came to know that her husband once worked with Anil sir in Eicher. I didn’t felt that it’s more than a hour being in discussion and she is giving me “gyaan” from all over the world. It was really a nice experience to meet such a highly qualified person and who is at such a big position. I wish all of us will have a pleasant time with mentors and I would like to thank SOIL for such a opportunity.

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_SEBIsession

The Team from SEBI visited the campus today. I was not clear as to what all to expect from the team and what would be there in it. However, I was sure of the fact that there would be something for me to learn out of it. Little did I know that I would end up appreciating the fact that SEBI is really taking the ownership of building a community of intelligent investors?

The very fact that SEBI is even targeting school students starting from 9th standard implies that SEBI really cares for the society and community as a whole. SEBI is reaching out to young minds so that by the time they start earning, they have wise heads over the shoulders to invest and grow their money rather than just saving money. I truly appreciate the effort for the awareness carried out by SEBI. And yes, the power of compounding is huge!

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_ExcelinExcel

I will now excel in excel. That’s how I would like to put it. All thanks to Aakash for the wonderful learning and knowledge transfer sessions. Over last two days, I have practiced and learnt some very basic short cuts & better way of doing things efficiently and quickly in excel. HRM class with Snehal Mam was as interactive and full of energy as ever. The Role play to understand the importance of the very first step in System Approach to Training was really exceptionally good. I also realized that this very first step of Need assessment is of utmost importance and at times is not given due importance which results in problems. I also picked up how and when Training and Development actually converges to Learning. The day followed up with a GD. It was really nice to see all of us getting together for something that helps all of us improve our speaking skills and helps us to accommodate each other views. Good day!

Anand B Mishra_BLP027_One more Singham

Just finished the movie singham, anyways I am fond of hindi movies especially based on some touching issues, I liked Ajju's Gangajal and now Singham, Its really based on ground reality, if we as people of the nation really commit ourselves to stop corruptions, or to invade people like Jaykant Shikre (A Character in the movie), we really can do but nobody is coming to take initiative, I know the power of one and have decided that i will not allow to anybody to exploit others, till I can fight or protect.
On the Kargil Vijay Divas, we had a great lesson on courage, I think when a short guy can face a mob of hundreds of people who were really there to kill others during 84's riots, then why cant I???? a big question mark on myself...............  

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_JaiHind

Workshop on Courage! Wow, was the word I said to myself! 

 

The beautiful workshop which I witnessed today was all about introspecting. I asked myself what does Courage means to me? What do I understand by the term 'fear'? What is my ultimate Dream? What would the world look like, if my Dream comes true? And, on the contrary what would the world look like, if what I fear the most actually happens? What are my strengths? And how can I use the power of my gifts to make my vision come true? I delved into the deep waters of my inner self and found a lot of peace and Joy there. I could sense the basic urge in me to realize and see my planet greener, I could visualize what would the world look like, if the word 'under-privileged' gets demolished from world me and my friends live in. Post sincere introspection, when I discussed it with my colleagues, Prasoon, Sahiba, Anand and Anurag I felt that somewhere deep down in our hearts, we all share a dream, where whole eco system is balanced. A world in which we take ownership of our responsibilities & can spread happiness all around. A world known for compassionate people and a world where people get equal opportunities to dream and work on those dreams to make them a reality. On this auspicious day I salute each and every Jawan on Sarhad and in us who is fighting for his dream. Jai Hind!

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_CFday

The day unfolded beautifully! CF day as expected was a much awaited day. We all were looking forward to information as well as guidance to do well in the forthcoming placement season 5 months down the line. We were very curious and thanks to Rohit Gandhi, he catered to each and every question very patiently and openly. Post lunch session was amazing. I picked up finer points regarding what should a smart interviewee prepare on, before entering the interview room. Things such as proper company research, role research, product and services research beforehand instils confidence and helps a great deal. Mr. Prabhakar Tiwari shared with us that no matter how qualified one is, but still one has to prove his ability in the interview. He shared his own life experiences. The most beautiful part was that he emphasised on defining the basic things in life that matter for us, like Career. He made us think what is the definition of career, what career we should pursue and how each one of us is unique and thus needs to find out his own career path. He made me realize that at times in life, we get opportunities and our priorities change. He cited examples like Harsha Bhogle, Imran Khan and Steve Jobs. He shared a lot of insights into how one should prepare well beforehand on the typical interview questions. He also emphasised that interpersonal skills is one area one should really work on because it really matters at the work place. Last but not the least he made us think on the feet about some brands that we believe are under marketed and asked us to quickly frame up the Marketing plan for it. All in all a superb learning day. Thank you SOIL for providing me yet another day of immense learning and thank you Mr. Prabhakar Tiwari for coming to SOIL and sharing such interesting insights to build a successful career.

Patankar Pramod_BLP041_Ethical Behavior and Human Mind

We as a human have a temptation of making wrong ethical decisions. And the consequences of unethical behavior is faulty thinking.This is an innate behavior of us to surrender to our weakness for ethical compromise.We should stop sacrificing our character for convenience.As we rationalize our reflex responses, we numb ourselves to ethical objections.We make small compromise that became a precedent leads to another and so on. As human we are so practised of deception that, as with lying, we have a whole vocabulary to express the nuances.Its a common observation of mine that Human, Human mind and Human
Psychology is very deceptive. Many years back i promised myself that i will discover the best in me and it was not a mere behest.I realized that ethics comes from more awareness and knowing more about yourself.
One needs to reflect about what matters most to them and then seek guidance from within.The inner voice is not the mind but the source within and is revealed only when we practice silence.One voice came from within:
"let me get up, let me get out, let me find something"

Let me get up: I will not rest until i reach my goal
Let me get out:I need to be out of my comfort zone.
Let me find something: Let me discover myself.

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_ZNMDa

Hey! I am no movie buff! But I completely agree with Garima and I really liked the movie. The concept was touching. It’s about friends, who after many hiccups finally put together a trip to Spain. Hritik, Abhay and Farhan have played roles of three friends who were very close friends once but because of some issues, were not seeing each other of late. Farhan Akhtar has done an awesome job. And so have Hritik and Abhay. The friendship has been portrayed beautifully and the way it comes through in the end brings emotional quotient into play.
Farhan has done great justice to the character he has played. He was too good with subtle comedy at some times while connecting to emotional quotient at other times. Overall the movie was engaging except at a few places I felt Zoya Akhtar could have done better!
The collections have been really good despite the bomb blasts. Katrina too has acted decently. The film can be said as a family entertainer. And yes, many youngsters are excited as Hritik & Karina have teamed up for the first time. The movie is definitely a once watch-kind. Hritik as usual has looked good. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is definitely a gentle kind of film with a fresh touch to it.
For those of my friends who haven't watched it yet,go and do watch! Who knows you might want to watch it Dobara!

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_Interviewingisanart

Wow! We turned Interviewers today! I picked up some interesting points on the art of interviewing and how to gauge the subtle sensory movements of interviewees. I just could not believe, doing a signature and subtle movement of eyes can tell so much about the interviewee. It was a wonderful experience to see Francis Rebello sir give demonstrations. In the post lunch session we witnessed some very interactive sessions by Bhattacharya sir. The simple but conceptual assignment that he gave us to do in class really helped us understand the crux of the matter. We implemented how it all starts with basic needs, we search around and look for options and then evaluate our options, take decisions and buy products, consume them and derive satisfaction from them. The first class on Marketing in term 2 was indeed full of energy. Now I am gearing up for the CF day tomorrow! All the best to all my friends!

Garima Singh_HRLP031_Movie (ZMND)

What an amazing movie !

We all have different perceptions about a movie. But what I have learnt from Zindagi milegi na dobara was incredibly fantastic (Please don’t go on words J understand the “emotions” underneath).

I am not going to reveal the story but would like to share the experience.

Simple dialogues:

·         Don’t say things until you feel it from heart. Everyone understands the emotions behind the talks but what matters “Have you hit the chords right?”.

·         Judge the person with his intentions and not his euphemistic behaviour.

·         Life is not in our hands living is

Identify the purpose or say “focus” of your life (Copyright Snehal Ma’am). Are you enjoying what you are doing or sacrificing few things right now and just trying to meet the expectations of others?

If yes, then it’s high time to wake up for yourself. Your “life” should not “command” rather “command” your “life”.

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_Good Day

The day started on a very positive note, as always, all thanks to the Powerful Morning Circle! Dear friend Vikram shared how Yoga has changed the way he lives now. I couldn’t have agreed more. For I too have risen from the ashes, with this powerful Yoga. I practice it for 10 minutes daily even if it means I have to sacrifice on any other thing. On a different note, Finance Management is something which I have started generated interest in! Probably because, its practical applications are huge. Neetika mam also discussed the insights about Chinese exposure to bad debt world over. Post lunch session was pretty interesting in Human Resource Management. The little bits that I picked into what actually Human Resource Management is all about and what it is not. It is all about managing knowledge, skills and abilities. I also picked up how Job Descriptions are defined and how actually roles, responsibilities and accountability are defined according to the Hay Group standards. Nice day all in all! Looking forward to a great day tomorrow!!

Manu Malhotra_BLP036_SIP Session

Yeah! It was an interesting day! I am joining hands with Adharshila Trust along with my team. My team has some interesting members in Raman Girdhar, Prasoon Malviya and Sahiba Sanan. I am all charged up to work with them. We as a team believe it will be a life changing experience. And yes, we have a lot of commitments to live up to, for we have made promises. Yesterday, day started and ended with SIP session. We also learnt the power of YES AND. Thanks Kanu!

The biggest take-away is that, this Social Innovation Program has already started creating positive vibes in me. I was a CONSUMER till today, I believe I have already started on my journey to become a CONTRIBUTOR to society now.

Anand B Mishra_BLP027_learning review 19 July 11

We started our day with Financial Management headed by Prof Neetika Batra, learnt about present value, future value, PVIF, FVIF. We solved numerical based on above and annuity.

After the lunch break, we had session for social innovation project, this was headed by Kanupriya, Ipsita and Parul, today the participating NGO were Care India, Khoj Foundation, Sulabh International, Gene Campaign. It was interesting to know that there are so many NGOs working for women empowerment and children education, but its so unfortunate, most of the Indian are still living below poverty line and literacy rate is not upto the mark.After having the conversations with NGO partners, most of us are in dilemma in opting an NGO, because all are doing well and sounds interesting to work for, since SIP is graded program so we can not opt more than one. But the fact is, most of us have been sensitize enough to give back to the society in some way. i hope this will remain in our soul and will surely put in all our efforts to make it a success.

Finally, we heard inspiration story of Mr Anshu Gupta, a social entrepreneur, who is the founder of "Goonj", he has done tremendous job to help poors, he took initiative and started collecting discarded clothes from society, got them altered and distributed among poor people, he also helped tsunami victims in year 2006. Apart from this, Mr Gupta made people aware how they can help themselves to become independent.

Garima Singh_HRLP031_CF Day

Its only up to me! 

I was hoping to play some games in the first session at SOIL, but surprisingly landed in an insightful example.

Snehal Ma’am shared a story about a young man who wanted to get his Ph.D. in two and half years from Carnegie Mellon, US which undoubtedly looked impossible for many. His original idea and focus was on successful completion of his research programme within stipulated time, but within a year he started losing interest and thought to quit. One day he realised that before quitting this research let him “actually” give his final and complete shot. So, he noted down a date which was one and half years later.

Thereafter, he allowed himself to do things that homologize with his passion for finance management. This change in his mindset and passionate thinking from that very day allowed him to shift his focus to live and enjoy every moment. And this resulted in acquiring his degree 10 days before the planned date. 

Highs: Thanks to Prashant Agarwal for sending some beautiful and implementable quotes. One of them that goes along is “We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.” 

Lows:  None

Sumit Kamra_BLP009_First Day After Term 1

It is first day after first term. Two books are already in hand for next term's subjects but haven't touched yet. This day was dedicated for rest only. Now planning for the next day how to utilize it for something useful and better. Everyone is looking forward to improve their performance in the next term so am I. One way in my mind is to be regular with studies and have a look of the subject before class. New ideas are welcome from all game changers.

          But study is not the only thing for which we all are here so looking for something different by which we can learn many new things. Already everyone is trying to do something different to give all a new way of learning. Still many paths are undiscovered. Lets find the undiscovered ways and make our own path to success.

Souravi Paul_HRLP016_Learning Review

Dear friends,

As was expected from the mail and the huge case study that our learning review session will be as evocative as possible. The day started with the same note. We were given 8questions to answer integrating all the understanding of economics, accounts, project management, organizational behaviour and marketing in a  huge 34page case study. Though it was an interesting task but as like normal ordinary students who wanted to study when rest of the Soilites were in gay mood. And followed by this was a Viva with Snehal Mam where all my learning skill was tested and again another Individual Learning Plan was made for second term!!! Gosh!! 

    Though every day I did make plans for introspecting my Leanings and formulating a Learning Plan but now I am made to work upon it for the next 3days.

    Hoping to enjoy this two days thoroughly before the second term starts!!

Sithartha Gowtham_BLP003_Learning Review

I strongly believe that looking back and introspecting about what you have learnt and what you could have learnt is as important as learning itself. It is not at all a surprise that a great learning institution like SOIL has a Learning Review day at the end of each term. Today was my first learning review day at SOIL, and it was a great personal experience for me. We made an oath in the beginning that we will turn kids today who do not have fear or inhibitions. We participated in many formats during the course of the day like Open spaces, listening to other's stories and experiences, creative drawing and some fun activities like dancing and singing. Each one of them was enjoyable and enlightening at the same time. It was not a normal day where you don't even have time to think about yourself. Today, we had time to introspect about ourselves and to contemplate where we can improve in the future.

Looking forward for the next term..!!

-Sithartha Gowtham

Raman Girdhar_BLP048_FirstBlog

This is the last day of the 1st term. I am not much into writing blogs and similar stuff. This is first time I am writing a blog and getting a good feel out of writing it. It has been a great learning experience at SOIL especially because we got to know that how much work load can we carry at a time. Earlier I had anxiety often i.e. even for small things. Since, I have faced even more simultaneous work and hectic schedule, it has helped me in lowering down my anxiety.

Gaurav Shahare-BLP035-My Learnings...

Hello Friends...

Its been close to two months here in soil... I have really enjoyed this period & learnt so many things...
Biggest learning would be to empty your mind.. fell relax.. and open up yourself... and sure this is going to help improve your understanding... had really great time..

Looking forward to more of such kind of learnings.. :)

Sansad Panigrahi_BLP006_Learning Review

Dear All,
                We had a great learning review with shrikanr sir. First we made groups of three  and started
discussing about ouerselves in open spaces which lead us to know more about others.Also we discussed about the things that we have laerned in last one and half month and areas of improvement . It was a great session and i am also looking forward to have more of these sessions.

Raj Shekhar_2012BLP032_TODAY-A New Experience

Hi Friends,

We have just completed our term - 1 and had a learning review today. It was sort of feedback session and after that we divided our batch in 4 groups and made a report on the given topic. All the topics were relevant and exciting. the topics were
1) Sub-Prime Crisis - US during and post recession
2)Euro Crisis
3)China - Impact on Exports & Imports because of China's fixed currency Yuan &
4) Listing Laws & criterias for listing on Hong Kong Exchange & Singapore Exchange.

Our group worked on the HKX & SKX Listing rules & criterias. It was a good learning experience within the short span of time and we learned about the insights & know-how of these exchanges. Working on HKX was a relatively good as it is one of the biggest exchange for new IPO & most of the company want their company to be listed on HKX.

Enjoy, Have fun n recharge ur battery once again in Term Brk for the next term.

SiddharthaAnand_BLP025_FirstPost

Hi Friends,

Hope you had a wonderful first term!!!

All the best for the second term!!

GouravPalit_BLP050

Learning , Sharing , Enjoying.... & Feed backs/Reviews were all about term 1 .


Now let us welcome term 2 !! All the Best SOILites!!

Abhishek Saxena`s Learning Review -- BLP012

It`s the end of first term and the BLP batch has gathered for the first Learning review .
The batch has been  divided into 2 groups ,the first group is with Shrikant Sir and the other with Neetika Mam
I am in the group with Shrikant sir which is indulged in various exercises and  participating in review process through a fun filled way. We have had a wonderful time sharing whatever we have learned and putting fourth our perception of the events happened in first term .We also discussed our Calipers profile and ILP and decided on to read at least one book related to a great person or great company or a great idea.

Abhinav Kumar_BLP021_LearningReview

Dear friends,
It was a great learning experience today in the Learning Review session with Shrikant Sir. We started with small circles and sharing our past experiences. It made us know about different aspects of the personalities of my batchmates. The 'Open Space' session was also a great platform to come up with different ideas. The session also went ahead with the joy in singing and dancing by the students as well as Shrikant Sir. We all have promised to read at least one book before the next Learning Review session in October. At the end of the day it was a really fulfilling experience of the session.

Sumit Kamra_BLP009_Last day of Term 1

Another wonderful day... pleasant and calm weather.... discussing the journey of first term with soil friends and learning new things... analyzing what we learned and what mistakes committed... looking forward to have a lot of new learning......

Anand B Mishra_BLP027_First Post

My dear friends,
It was a nice learning so far in SOIL, it has been a month now and 1st term is over. So today we decided to have some learning with fun and organized a learning review session headed by Prof Shri Kant Gupta