Day 300 - 26th August 2011

Woke up at 11 in the morning, the AFM end term was 5 in the evening which gave me about 6 hours to go through the slides and whatever little notes I had made during the classes. It was an open book test, but one should also know where to look for an answer in the book! Practiced a few numericals with Sir and got a few doubts cleared from the commerce grads for whom this is a piece of cake.

The exam was pretty decent - a good mix of objectives, short answers and numericals. Again every paper in this field is compared with FA from term 1 which makes even a mediocre paper look like a very easy one. Post the paper,met up with a few juniors who wanted to know about internship opportunities in the sports marketing industry. Told them whatever I knew and shared my internship experience with them. Came back to the room and read a few articles on the net before heading to Chota for dinner (there was egg curry in the mess). Done have classes for the next 9 days but the FIF1 speed nights at MICA and IIM-A will keep me busy for the next couple of days at least. Started reading the book on sports marketing in India which I had bought sometime back before calling it a day.

Day 280 - 30th July 2011

• Last session on AFM - capital markets
• Lunch at Mainland China (bbuurrrrpp)
• Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - one time watch
• Palaash dance practice - we seem to be improving :P
• Birthday celebration in Kachnar - awesome chocolate cake from TGB
• FIF1 work
• Will read a bit of Pundits from Pakistan before calling it a day

Day 279 - 29th July 2011

The AFM sessions today dealt with 2 topics - budgeting and M&As. We had cases on both topics to be read before class. The case on budgets seemed a little difficult, although the company in question was making phenomenal growth its profit margin was quite low and the reasons for that had to be analysed. In M&As we were given a case on the HLL-TOMCO - the first merger to place post the liberalisation. Again a pretty interesting case with a lot of learning. Classes for the day were done by 12 after which had to take care of some MCSA work which took about an hour.

Could squeeze in a siesta today as well, a good hour and a half of it. Had some more MCSA work regarding certain electives for the fifth term which kept me busy in the evening. During the course of the day got to know about a book on cricket and sports marketing that was launched recentlly, used that as an excuse to venture out to Crossword. It started raining after I reached crossword so used that as an excuse to stop by at McDonalds next door and grab a bite while waiting for the rain to subside.

Got back to campus by 930. MICARE had its opening night tonight and they were distributing free coke float and souvenirs. After that we had to practice for the Palaash dance in the audi which was amazing fun. Also had a birthday celebration in Amaltas. Got back to the room by 2 and decided to start working towards clearing the backlog of books that I have to read. Started reading Pundits from Pakistan - a journalist's account of the Indian cricket team's tour of Pakistan in 2004. Read that for a bit before calling it a day.

Day 278 - 28th July 2011

The CC class began at 1030 today which also meant waking up earlier than normal as compared to previous days. Today's class was the concluding session on the module of ideology. The Nazi case study was continued and we were shown how they took complete control of the media - print and radio, to propagate their ideologies. In the second part of the class we were shown a video of Hitler and how carefully it was made to ensure that maximum subliminal communication. After that we were shown a video closer to home in which speeches of leaders like Bal Thackeray were analyzed during the peak of the communal riots in 1993.

Post lunch was able to do something that has been eluding me for the past week - sleep! The joy of a siesta is unparalleled :P Slept for a good hour and a half since the movie screening was at 430. Today's movie was a mexican blockbuster -The Crime of Father Amaro. It took a dig at how the church has also been propagating its ideology. The thing about these screenings is that Prof. Mathew gives a good description about the theme and what to look out for in the movie, the subtleties that would otherwise be missed out. Hope I get the hang of movie appreciation before graduating from here!

Had some FIF1 work in the evening that kept me occupied for about an hour. Dinner in the mess was Gujju food, which always invites extreme reactions. I fall in the group that quite enjoys it, more so because it is a welcome change from the usual stuff.Post dinner started with the pre reads for the AFM class tomorrow, we have 2 cases and related theory to prepare on. Didn't realise when I dozed off, woke up at around midnight which also meant that I had missed practice for the Palaash dance. Continued with the pre reads which went on till 4, have been browsing the net since then, shall call it a day in a bit and just hope that I wake up in time for the 930 class tomorrow.

Day 274 - 24th July 2011

Had 2 AFM lectures in the morning which I attended after 3 hours of sleep from last night. Today's lectures were on the merits and demerits of raising capital through equity and debt alongwith project appraisals. Once again realised the importance of having a good prof! We had two cases as pre reads and these were discussed in class. His approach to the cases seem to be simple and yet one is left wondering how they couldn't come up with the same idea! After class came back to the room and caught up on some sleep with a 2 hour siesta - which I think was the first proper one for the second year :-D In the evening started working a bit on the dissertation workshop assignment which is due for submission tomorrow. Its a group assignment, so we have divided the work amongst ourselves. The prof who has given this assignment doesn't believe in allowing students to form their own groups, he forms random groups and sends it across to the batch. We are supposed to pick a research paper and analyze the literature review, identify knowledge gaps and also come up with a concept note for the paper. Read the paper before dinner and started working on the assignment post dinner in the audi - today is the 4th day of the junior committee selection process. Will head back to the room in a bit, have a 12 o'clock start to lectures tomorrow so can afford to sleep in a little. We have culture and communication (CC) by Prof. Mathew followed by a movie screening in the afternoon.

Day 273 - 23rd July 2011

Had only 2 lectures today which began at 2 in the afternoon, so could take the liberty of waking up at 1 in the afternoon. Surprisingly could understand most of what was being discussed in class. Net Present Value, Future Value, Annuity etc. seemed to have made some sense. The AFM prof. also has this practice of asking people questions at random. Yours truly was asked a question from the case,which I could fortunately answer, phew! The class got extended because of which the case could not discussed. After class played cricket in the evening in front of silver oak, was good fun. There are some good players in PGP1 this year which is a good thing for the MCL.

Today was one of those days where a trip off campus became absolutely necessary. Went to honey9 for dinner for the customary shikari chicken, was well worth the trip! Came back to campus by 10 and have been in the audi since then. Did the AFM pre reads for tomorrow. Slotting for the committee interviews for today have been pretty smooth today as well. Have been having long discussions with SIR about placements and placecomm in general and his experiences in the JPC. Went to Chota for a midnight snack. Its 5 in the morning now, will head back to the room and catch up on some sleep. Have class starting at 930 tomorrow and also have a dissertation assignment due by day after tomorrow. Things are slowly returning to how they were in the first year :P

Day 272 - 22nd July 2011

Had our first couple of sessions of AFM today. Had read a bit of the chapters and the case that was to be discussed as a part of the pre reads. Could understand some of the discussions that went on in class because of that, though when it comes to finance (pardon the Siddhuism) I am as lost as a baby in a topless bar! After the lecture came back to the room and caught up on some sleep. Woke up at 345 in the afternoon which meant that I had missed lunch in the mess. Had lunch with Sir, Kalkar and Rana at Chota. Post that had to go through the committee budgets with Jhamb and Apar and try to figure out how we could fit into the overall budget.

Had the second day of the new junior committee selection process today. Thankfully the internet didn't give way today. Things were relatively smooth today with Sir, Megha and Sania managing all the slotting. Was in the audi since 10 just in case any kind of help was required. Did the AFM pre read for tomorrow as well - have 2 chapters and a case. Got done with all the work by 530 in the morning. Luckily have classes in the afternoon tomorrow, so can catch up on some sleep!

Day 271 - 21st July 2011

Woke up at 1 today, which also happened to be the last of our rest days. Had the placecomm budget meeting with the management at 3 which went on for about an hour. Turned out to be a pretty fruitful meeting. In the evening had a batch meet with pgp-1 to explain the junior committee selection process to them and the reason behind taking their rankings for the committees they had applied to. The process for committee selections started in the night. Five committee interviews started in parallel today and tomorrow eight committee interviews will be running parallely. Post dinner was in the audi where most of the pgp-1 candidates had gathered from where they would be sent for their respective interviews. As our luck would have it, the internet stopped working everywhere on campus! Because of this all communication to committees was sent on handwritten paper. While in the audi also managed to squeeze in the pre read for tomorrow's Advanced Financial Management (AFM) course. This is one of the core courses this term and I only hope that is better than FA from last year. Was in the audi till around 5 in the morning by when most of the work for the day was done. Just hope that I am able to wake up on time for AFM tomorrow!