Second day at Anna University – MBA (HRM) CEG Contact Classes – May 3rd 2009

Second day at Anna University – MBA (HRM) CEG Contact Classes – May 3^rd 2009

 

Hi Guys/Gals

 

I am back with the second installment of contact session conducted on 3^rd May 2009.  Apologize for a week’s delay in coming up with this update.

 

This time around, I kept to the Indian traditions and was late by 20 minutes.  My alarm worked fine but still I was late.  The reasons are largely academic and so I just conclude that I was late because I was bloody lazy. C’mon people, it was Sunday morning and what else were you expecting. On reaching the Anna University building, I checked up to see if there was a change in room. There was no change and I had to parry two buildings and trudge up a couple floors to reach our class.  Even at 9 in the morning, the sun was burning skin at 35 degrees. 

 

Just before entering the class, I had this silly expectation that seating arrangements would have changed but my expectations turned out to be that… silly.  It might mean that  (1) Nobody bothered to check the first message in the Yahoo group’s site or (2) They were just too casual to take such suggestions seriously or (3) They frankly care two hoods about unsolicited suggestions.  (For those who are a bit confused about the reference to an earlier message, please go back to Yahoo groups site and check the first message by yours truly.) With just a tinge of disappointment, I entered the class. My apologies to the faculty that I disturbed and the students I woke up due to my belated entry.

 

Economics on the fly

 

On entering the class, I got a breezy feeling as if I was boarding a train picking up speed. The tutor was the one who was absent last week and she was trying quite hard to make up for the lost time.  The couple hours just zoomed away in a hurry.  At the end of the session, I had a feeling that I had traveled on the footboard of a speeding train and saw lots of faces with frazzled hair having very dizzy looks. Forget about 2 hours being a marathon; this was like a full-fledged sprint for 2 hours.  Thank god, nobody fainted in the class not being able to cope up with the pace.  Anyway, she kept us awake for those two hours. I remember her breezing through 2 sector, 3 sector and 4 sector models with corresponding diagrams.

 

She did make a confident mistake of pronouncing that US dollars has never cross 45 Indian Rupees. The latest quote that she gave was 42 rupees and advised us to keep ourselves updated about the latest.  Prabu promptly checked the net and found the rate was hovering at around 50 rupees. For the IT guys like us who depend on the conversion rate of US dollars, her advice sounded like a joke.  Maybe, she was joking and maybe, we missed the humor.

 

Communication for the disabled or is it Disabled communication?

 

Our communication expert came back for another session.  After her last session, I didn’t keep my expectations too high. Lower the better, I suppose.  There was theory; theory and more theory about ABCs and barriers of communication. There was a short communication exercise… Short because it lasted all of one and a half minutes.  The fun was over in 1 and a half minutes; a round of laughter and we were back to theories and apparently having understood the importance of communication in those couple of minutes of practice.  Am I being cynical?  Maybe, I am.

 

Picking on those parts that I spared some attention, she spoke about 6 ‘C’s and ABC of communication.  She also touched upon “Body Language” and generalized gestures and their interpretation.  I must warn my fellow classmates that Body language should be interpreted in a contextual basis and cannot be generalized as advised in the class.  If we go by the instructions given, half the class was untrustworthy because it was told that those who shake legs were untrustworthy.  Maybe, half the class thought that shaking legs was way more interesting than what was being taught. Maybe, they were trying hard to keep themselves awake… Or, were they practicing a fitness regimen. I don’t know. From my understanding, body language can be an indicator of somebody’s personality or character but it is not definitive.  So, use your intelligence and common sense.  For those who are interested in reading more, check out “The Definitive Book of Body Language” by Allan and Barbara Pease.

 

The grueling communication session did give some time for me to think about the communication within our class.  During the first session, it was taught “Communication becomes a failed exercise if there is no feedback”. I applied that principle to the interaction between our group members. I wrote something about last session as the first message.  Even if it were nonsense, some time was spent on putting the thoughts together. The reactions that I expected after reading that message were –

 

“Hey Pras, that message was a load of crap, mate!!!” - Fine with me

“That was a great recap, man.  We can refer back to it at a later stage of our lives and see what we did everyday” - Fine, too

“That message was too long for me to read.” - Fair enough

“I don’t have time for this shit” - Absolutely fine

“What do you think about yourself, commenting about our faculty?” - A fair viewpoint

“You have a drab style of writing... Can you make it more racy?” – A valid point, of course

 

With this broad array of possible questions, answers, compliments or criticism, not a single soul turned up to me to pass any of these. Also, the writer in me thought some appreciation or criticism would be good for future improvements. Am sure they might have found me at the same place mentioned in the message and with the same long nose!  So, it was not a question of tracing me to give feedback. It was something else, wasn’t it?

 

Is it representative of the ineffective communication within the group?  Or, is it a lack of seriousness? Or, is it something to do with a lackadaisical attitude. I am not sure and neither do I feel qualified to comment on it.  It is up to each of us to check the pulse and decide what we want to do.

 

In conclusion, the communication was as good as our communication skills sessions – TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE.

 

An ordinary Lunch

 

Antony, the brave soul who tried the food at Anna University canteen last time, could not sustain that courage and chose to join us instead.  So, he and Guldeep (A laidback character who had come to the class for the first time) joined Prabu and me. We went down to Adyar junction and found a worn-down hotel. Guldeep stepped inside the hotel but retreated outside immediately. He was a vegetarian and did not feel confident enough to try vegetarian food at that non-vegetarian outlet. We let him go to “Adyar Bhavan” on the opposite side of the road. I was wondering what will happen if some insect had fallen while preparing the Vegetarian dish at Adyar Bhavan.  After all, Chennai has no shortage of insects.  Would that food be considered as Veg or Non-veg?  Anyway, it was up to Guldeep to take that call I was happy that it wasn’t mine.

 

Prabu stuck into a plate of Biryani while me and Antony got our meals. Nothing great so no point in wasting further ink on elaborating about the food.  The point is - I am not going there again. “Hot chips” was way better for the same bill amount. In the meanwhile, Guldeep was calculating the minimum number of classes he needs to attend in order to appear for examination.  Ingenious indeed, were his calculations.

 

Accounting, at last

 

We came back to the class and the faculty was already there. I had to disturb the faculty again and slumber of a few classmates to gain entry into the class. This turned out to be the best class of the day.  I feared he might start a new session but he was kind enough to work on some sample problems to gain a better understanding of what he taught in the last class. Although I had not revised his last session, I could understand his concepts while he worked out various problems.  In fact, he had given some handouts in the earlier class, which I promptly filed in my home and never bothered to refer.  Our captain had uploaded the pages to our Yahoo group (which I hope was checked by my compatriots). Prabu brought some additional copies of the handouts and played the Good Samaritan by sharing those with some unfortunate ones who didn’t bring it or those careless ones who didn’t bother.

 

Overall, we gained better insights into accounting.  I liked the advise that the faculty had – First one being we would be better off preparing before entering the class and the second one that we shouldn’t buy books for the sake of adding to our showcase.  Very valid advice, indeed.  More I am in this class, more I like this fella.  Good work, Sir… Keep it up and please make sure you pass all of us.

 

Break the Ice

 

Another break passed with another queue at the watering hole. The girls’ representative was conspicuous by her absence and looks like we need to elect back-up representatives to cover when the original ones decide to take a break. Vijay spent the break asking every individual whether he or she had received the mail that he sent.  It was a bit weird because with all the technology at his disposal, emails and SMS, he had to go to each person and find out if they had received his messages.  God save him, if has to do that same every time he sends an email or SMS.  I was wondering if it wouldn’t be easier if it were the other way around. Why can’t those who don’t receive messages reach out to Vijay instead of him doing so? Anyway, Vijay turned out to be the only one who had broken ice with the ladies.  He was single-handedly handling all the ladies, of course.  Not that he had any competition anyway because nobody on either side made a move to break ice.

 

Our group, or should I say Gang, stayed out to talk about more useful things than studies… Things like actress that we like or the latest move and IPL.  Everything that didn’t fall under the academic category was a subject to our discussion.  After six hours of studies, who would want to discuss about it again.

 

Legally Short

 

The session following the break was about legal aspects of business.  The tutor has an uncanny likeness to Reese Witherspoon in “Legally Blonde”.  Both were lawyers, both are closer to ground than others, both colorful and both live in their own worlds. We had to write a lot.  She read out her notes and we noted it down.  Nothing more interesting in that class. I counted four students sleeping through the class and I was not one of them.

 

A piece of advise to the girls sitting at the last row of the right most column.  You are not really as quite as you thought while talking to each other.  Right through the class, your voice was much louder than the lecturer’s. You were so loud that some of the guys took down your conversation thinking that it was the lecturer giving notes. You’ll be doing us a great favor if you could try to keep it down next session. THANK YOU.

 

Just as she finished taking attendance and left the class, Vijay went running up asking for people’s attention. I continued to move out, as I was never known to be an obedient student even in college. If no professor could hold me back at class, no representative has an iota of chance. No lack of respect but home was calling. Prabu joined me… Looks like there are more birds of my feather.  On my way out, I saw some expectant faces with a large smile looking at Vijay.  Happy that he has broken ice or did it just melt in the searing summer heat of Chennai?  Either way, good for him. We left him to his fate and moved on. I dropped Antony on the way back home.

 

Another thing is that Prabu identified somebody from HCL in the list of names.  So, whoever is working at HCL please spare a moment and introduce yourself to Prabu in the next session.

 

Overall, another productive day at school. We don’t have another one until end of the month owing to General elections.  Whatever you do on Election Day, Guys… Don’t forget to Vote!!! You never know what difference your single vote can make.

 

 

About the Author

 

Hasn’t changed much to the description given last time – Same place in class; Length of the nose hasn’t changed as he hasn’t lied much in the recent past. Might have put on some weight because he has recently turned gluttonous and last seen sinfully pigging out a fantastic chicken shawarma and Kabab grilled chicken at “Arabian Delights”