Day 316 - 13th October 2011

Had the first 930 start to the term. It was a double lecture of semiotics. For a lot of people from coming from  an engineering background this subject is a little difficult to grasp at the first attempt. Today’s sessions gave a brief introduction to Semiotics and went onto languages. Had left my laptop and books in the library last night, post the lecture came back to the library to continue working on the dissertation proposal. Spent the remainder of the day trying to wrap up the proposal since I wont be on campus starting Saturday. Met my dissertation guide in the evening and submitted my first draft of the proposal, she will get back to me tomorrow with feedback (fingers crossed!). Once that was done got down to the pending FIF1 work for the day. Posting this one from the library, will work for another half an hour before hitting the sack.

Day 315 - 12th October 2011

Made it a hatrick of having breakfast in the mess today! Had a lecture at 12, spent some time working on the dissertation proposal before that in the library. Had our first class of Consumer Insight Mining (CIM) today, its one of the more popular courses on campus and is taken by the same prof who taught us consumer behavior. It deals more with qualitative research and looks at finding consumer insights which are derived from research findings.  A brief introduction to the course was given after which the prof discussed a couple of cases in which consumer insights were generated. The brands discussed were Moov and Anacin. For Moov, the insight on which it was launched in the market was discussed and for Anacin the case revolved on how it needed an insight to realize why its competitors were performing better. Post lunch headed back to the library to work on the dissertation proposal. Had a meeting with my dissertation guide in the evening to freeze the topic and discuss the next steps. During the course of the meeting realized that there is a lot of work that needs to be done wrt the literature review. Got back to the library and started working on it though could do that only for half an hour so, was just able to search for research papers through our online database. MCSA duties required us to be present in the audi for a talent hunt organized by Ahmedabad Times. That went on for about an hour and a half post which there was a meeting with the Junior MCSA. Post dinner came back to the library and continued working on the dissertation proposal. Also had the MCL auctions tonight, wasn’t as much fun as last time though. The theme for team names this year is Indian superheroes – Naughty Nagraj, Shikari Shambus, Chatur Chacha’s etc. you get the drift. Yours truly is a Chatur Chacha, if only by brain actually worked faster than a computer I wouldn’t be up until 4 in the library working on the dissertation proposal. As another non Indian superhero would say “That’s all I can stands cos I can stands no more!”

Day 314 - 11th October 2011

For a second day running woke up in time for breakfast at the mess.  Shifted base back to the room today from the library. FIF1 work kept me busy yet again with the Silverstone round of the academy less than a week away. Tried to sneak in a siesta which lasted for about half an hour. In the evening had the excel training workshop. It was a 4 hour workshop in which we were taught the basic functions in excel. For someone with a limited understanding of excel, this was a really good workshop. Got to learn a lot of shortcuts and although had only heard about it until now, today I experienced first hand what a powerful tool excel is! And I must admit that it felt to get back into a classroom after such a long time. The session got done by 10 in the night. Have come back to the room, will call it a day early today.

Day 313 - 10th October 2011

Didn’t have any classes today but had to take care of the registration process for this term. For a change woke up in time for breakfast at the mess. Spent majority of the day in the reading room in the library. Though I wanted to start work on my dissertation proposal all my time was consumed with FIF1 work, the library turned into a virtual office. Never realized how time flew and before I knew it, it was dinner time.  Felt like a full day at work :P Some MCSA work throughout the day also kept me busy. Looks like the dissertation proposal work will have to start tomorrow!

Day 312 - 9th October 2011

Had a pretty eventful day today. As is the norm on a rest day, woke up at 1030 and had breakfast at Chota. Did a little FIF1 work before lunch. Post lunch a few of us went to see Real Steel at PVR. I hadn't heard of the movie before but it turned out to be quite entertaining. It was similar to the storyline of Rocky, just that this time it was Robots who were fighting. Came back to campus by 730 in the evening, just in time for the CLT20 finals between MI and RCB. Dont know after how many years I saw an entire cricket match. MI started off well but then a batting collapse after the 15th over saw them score a below par 139. It was expected that RCB would chase it down quite easily considering the fact that they chased 200+ scores in their previous two games. However the fact that they were playing at Chepauk for the first time in the tournament worked against them and once they lost Dilshan and Gayle it was never going to be very easy for them. This was MI's first tournament victory and it felt good to watch it live on TV. Surfed the net a bit and started with a little groundwork for the dissertation proposal. Hope start making some progress tomorrow onwards! 

Day 311 - 8th October 2011

Woke up at 1030 today (something which I havent been able to do for the past month) and headed to Chota for breakfast. People from PGP-2 have started coming to campus and hopefully by day after tomorrow almost everybody should be back. FIF1 work kept me busy in the morning. Had a meeting with the executive registrar in the afternoon which lasted for about half an hour. Slept off for an hour or so post lunch and had a pretty lazy evening. Played my first game of poker, which is quite popular in Kachnar. Traditionally I have been dyslexic when it comes to cards but at least I understood the rules of the game, hopefully with a little more practice I should be able to win more games :P Post dinner didn't have much to do, need to start working on the dissertation proposal which has to be submitted next week. But right now everyone seems to be in the mood of enjoying this feeling of joblesness that exists at the beginning of every term :P

Day 310 - 7th October 2011

Back to campus after being away for nearly a month! It feels really good to be back. Got back at around 830 in the morning, which is when most of Kachnar is fast asleep. Not too many people from PGP-2 are back on campus since regular classes start only on 10th. Spent the first half of the day meeting  my dissertation guide and completing other formalities with the administration. Had to also unpack and my room back in order. Tried to squeeze in a siesta but couldn't manage to sleep for too long. In the evening Kore, Rana, Sir and I went to Shailby hospital to meet Ishan who was admitted there since he had malaria. The good news is he has recovered well and should be discharged tomorrow. Dinner was at McDonalds en route to college.

Met the Junior MCSA in the night. PGP-1's classes have begun, so most of them are back on campus. Will call  it a day early, will take some time to get back to the MICAn sleep cycle :P

Days 306 to 309 - 7th to 10th September 2011

Am clubbing these days together since this update is coming quite late. As much as I hate not being able to update the blog on a daily basis, the past couple of week have ensured that I havent been able to update the blog. Had the course on luxury branding on 8th and 9th. The day prior to that was spent preparing for the LB presentation that was to be made on the first day in class. Summer placement week was also going to start for PGP-1 from the 11th onwards. One of the girls from PGP-1 wasn't keeping too well so she had to be taken to hospital. The LB course was quite good, initially I had my apprehensions of how it would be, since the entire concept of luxury branding wasn't very appealing. But the visiting faculty who had come down to take the course was really good. He had woked with HUL, General Motors and  American Express before starting his own luxury consulting firm. He had a lot of good examples to share from his experience. He also shared with us the market entry strategies of brands like Mercedes Benz and American Express in India.

The course got over on the 9th. Had to pack since I had an early morning flight on the 10th. I was done with my classes for the term and had to be in Goa for the national finals of the FIF1 Academy finals. College reopnes on the 10th of October, so its quite a long break. Will be back to updating the blog once I am back on campus. Until then, adios!