Day 328 - 12th November 2011

Had our first session on behaviour architecture (BA) today. The course is introduces the concept of neural marketing and how consumer behaviour can be influenced by marketers. Today's session was more about how the human brain functions. How much of our conscious and unconscious mind is used in making decisions was illustrated through a Sachin Tendulkar interview in which he explains even he doesnt know how he reacts and plays an incoming leather ball at 150 kmph. A good session overall.

Post lunch Kore, Kalkar, Apar and I went to the old city to meet a vendor for sweatshirts. The nights are becoming cooler now and sweatshirts will be required soon. Got back to campus by 5. Played a little cricket in the evening. Post dinner have been reading articles on the net about the prevailing airline crisis. Have also started watching Futurama. Will watch a couple of episodes before calling it a day. 

Day 302 - 28th August 2011

Had the FIF1 Speed Nights screening at MICA and IIM-A today. I was handling MICA while Rajat and Manu were at IIM. Spent the morning putting up one last set of posters around campus and tent cards on all tables in the mess. Was supposed to go to IIM to check out the branding but couldnt do that since the people from the event management agency missed their flight from Bombay in the morning and were taking a later flight. Because of that had to stay back in MICA to ensure that the branding was done on time.

In every event that I have been a part of nothing has ever gone smoothly or according to plan no matter how much you prepare in advance. The races are screened on Star Sports and the previous day we had checked the TV connection in the audi, Star Sports was tuned and everything was working fine. With the screening scheduled to begin at 5 we decided to check the connection at 230 only to realise that Star Sports wasnt available! The cable guy had very conveniently decided to remove all ESPN Star channels on this very day! Sir, Tarang and Apar came in to help and see what could be done. Various options were worked out - the community centre had a Tata Sky connection on which Star Sports was coming, we could pull a cable from there (about 150 metres in length) to the audi and screen it in the audi. Another option was to connect a laptop to the TV at the community center and using VPN share the screen with another laptop which would be connected to the projector in the audi! In the meanwhile we also called the cable guy from Shela village to check what he could do. As all of this transpired, it started pouring and I got a call from IIM saying that the dish connection was not able to receive any transmission because of the weather. At the same time there was a power failure at the cable guy's place as well, which meant there was no transmission at MICA! All the activations and build up and imagine no TV transmission!! Those couple of hours were quite crazy. Things started to brighten up - both literally and figuratively at around 445, with 15 minutes left for the race to start. The cable guy figured out a way to get Star Sports at MICA and the weather Gods were kind enough not to interfere with the dish TV transmission. The screenings at both places were pretty decent, though the fact that there were exams scheduled tomorrow at both places meant the turnout didnt exactly live up to what I had expected. Overall though it was a decent response compared to what was done earlier. After that eventful evening, it was time to start getting ready to leave for Bombay. Have to leave campus at 6 in the morning. Will be back on Friday, until then adios!

Day 282 - 1st August 2011

Today's MMB class was about a streamlined process through which media businesses can be formed/analysed. The prof. took a reverse approach towards it by starting with the last step in the process and then ending with the first step. We discussed how channels decide which shows to air at what time of the day - whether it is driven by competition or some other reasons. Post lunch was again group assignment time when we had to present to him about a media business in the framework that was taught earlier. Our group chose People magazine and like all other groups were grilled by the Prof. His logic is simple, there is much more to learn when people are put in such situations than reading a textbook. Today was also the last day of MMB, there were definitely some good takeaways from this course.

Went to Bopal in the evening with Geeko, her phone got damaged and had to be taken to a service center. Came back to campus by 8 and didnt even realise when I dozed off for an hour. Had some MCSA work with Apar and Jhamb which took about half an hour. Dinner was at Chota, have discovered that the butter chicken + paratha combination is a really good one when hunger pangs take over :P Back in the room now, have a rest day tomorrow, will read a bit of Pundits from Pakistan before calling it a day.

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 269 - 19th July 2011

Spent the first half of the day giving finishing touches to the markstrat assignment. We also had all the committee presentations for pgp-1 in the night for which preparatory work had to be done. Over the past couple of days there were a lot of issues and concerns regarding the system for credits in the second year. The MCSA and ARC had discussions with faculty members over the past 2 days and today some of those issues got resolved. We have a bouquet system for courses in the second year where we can choose which subjects we want to pick in both the core and elective area. Apart from that we also have certain compulsory courses from the general management and communication studies area. Have until 5 p.m. day after tomorrow to select the subjects for this year. In the evening had to go through the committee budgets with Apar and Jhamb which took about an hour or so. Also had some FIF1 work which needed to be done.

The committee presentations happened in the audi from 1030 onwards. Each committee had to make a pitch to pgp-1 as to why they should apply for their junior committee. Some of the presentations were really good, the challenge being to hold the attention of 164 people for 5 hours. SCAM went a step further with the committee members presenting in sports gear and also entering to music from jo jeeta wohi sikander :D The presentations went on till 315 in the morning. PGP-1 now needs to decide which committees they have to apply to. MCSA work kept me up until 530 in the morning, last couple of 'rest' days ahead before classes begin.

Days 263 & 264 - 13th and 14th July 2011

Pulled off my first all nighter of the second year! 13th was a rest day to woke up at noon (in hindsight it turned out to be a good thing since I didn't know what was lying in store for me :P). MCSA work consumed most of the day. Started off by meeting the chairperson of the dissertation committee to finalise the timelines of the dissertation submissions. Post that had to meet the associate director and registrar to have the first round of discussions regarding the committee budgets. Also had to discuss the status of the internship report that had to be submitted, finally came to a mutual agreement that no report had to be submitted! :D In the evening had to sit with Apar and Jhamb to discuss the way forward wrt to the Junior MCSA elections which were to be held in the night. This year we tried something new by going online for elections, saves a lot of paper and time as well! The Junior MCSA elections started a t 1030 in the night. Candidates had to make a speech followed by Q&A from their batch. This was followed by elections from where the top 3 girls and guys would proceed for interviews which were to be conducted by the MCSA. We had to interview 13 people after the elections. The interviews started at 230 and went on till 8 in the morning! At the end of it we've found a Junior MCSA that we are very happy with and from whom we expect a lot. Also have to say that the junior batch also seems to have a lot of talented people, a heartening sign for MICA :-)

Had the first day of the crafting dissertation workshop on the 14th which started at 930 in the morning - which effectively meant no sleep at all on the 13th! Managed to pay attention for the first hour and a half after which the lack of sleep started taking its toll on me. Pushed myself to stay awake in class until the post lunch session. At around 330 excused myself from the class and came back to my room. Slept until 7 in the evening. Had JPC speeches and elections in the night, the online voting system was tried there as well. It worked quite well for both elections, due credited to be given to our chief election commissioner - SIR alongwith with Kore and Kore for devising a foolproof system. After a long time had dinner at Chota since the mess food was quite boring. JPC speeches went on till about 230 after which I came back to the room and crashed!