Friday, October 3, 2008

Press Release - VGSoM IIT Kharagpur celebrates All India Alumni Meet

VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur celebrates its 1st All India Alumni Meet in Style

A picturesque view defined by a lush outfield, a green top, a big grandstand and shining sun. This description is of the Chinaswamy Stadium, Bangalore which was the venue of the First All India Alumni Meet of Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSoM), IIT Kharagpur on the 27th of September 2008. What better place to be when you meet up with old friends and catch up on all those years gone by, reminiscing about the memories of the campus, the rainy days, the sluggish afternoons, beads of sweat before the exam and of course the hectic schedule of a B Schooler.


Organizing Team of the Event
Sitting (L to R) – Swati Garg, Neelima Sahu, Col. Indrabalan, Sonika Verma (all Batch of 2009)Standing (L to R) – Sudhanshu Jain, Manish Sinha, Pradyumna Mahajani, Akshat Mohindra, HR Sampreet, Sachin Mehta, Rohit Sharma, Alok Casekar, Alok (all Batch of 2009)




These are just some of the things that were palpably present throughout the meet. The idea was conceived by Colonel Indrabalan and his handpicked team of twelve would be executives, three ladies and nine gentlemen from the class of 2009. The presence of IIT Kharagpur alumni made the event even more memorable as they acted as the torchbearers to help VGSoM herald into a new beginning. Prof. Parameshwar P Iyer, Principal Research Scientist and Head Placement and Industrial Liaison at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore was the Chief Guest for the meet. The meet was also graced by the presence of Mr. Ramesh Hariharan, who is the founder Director of Deffusion Consulting and Managing Trustee of LeadCap. Mr. Ravichandran Rajamannar also found out time from his busy schedule to apprise the alumni about the initiatives taken by the PAN IIT Alumni Association.

Panel Discussion in full flow
Sitting (L to R) – RVLN Arun Kumar(Batch 2002), Amit Jha(batch 2001), Prof Parameshwar P Iyer (Chief Guest, IIT Kgp alumnus), Mr Ravichandran Rajamannar(IIT kgp alumnus), Nanditha(Batch 2008), Wg Cmdr Vinod (Batch2007), Pankaj (Batch2005), Kesavan (Batch 2004)
The alumni started trickling in and were received by an exceptional performance of the Madras Engineers’ Group Pipe Band which has incidentally been a part of many ‘Beating the Retreat’ at the Republic Day parade. The characteristic and enchanting notes of the Saraswati Vandana laid an auspicious foundation to the official start of the alumni meet followed by a spirited speech by the organizing team. The call for greater accountability of the alumni was made and their feedback along with their resounding spirit to view VGSoM as a B School to reckon with the best in the world was invoked.

As part of the alumni meet, a small video capturing the moments of VGSoM right from its inception was shown to the 80 people strong alumni who became nostalgic about the past memories and found out time from their busy schedules to be a part of this great evening.
An open house discussion about the role of the alumni in strengthening the brand of VGSoM, enthralled the audience. The fulcrum of the discussion was how and what best we as brand ambassadors of VGSoM can do to enhance the effectiveness of the alumni association, increase the alumni connectivity/affinity and sense of pride and build a perception of the philanthropic worthiness of VGSoM by creating a ‘giving’ culture.

The felicitation of the two of the senior-most members, in order of the year they graduated in, stood out as a humorous moment coupled with nostalgia and a moment where the tide reversed, current students felicitating the ex-students. To add glamour to the event was the presence of the major sponsors Canon, Golden Gate along with the beverage partners United Breweries and Red Bull.

As is the norm in alumni meets, a sumptuous dinner along with some fine drinks in tow followed. Tweaking the famous movie title as it aptly defines one of the most cherished days for every VGSoMite “An Evening at Chinaswamy Stadium” celebrating VGSoM turning fifteen this year, a coup of sorts literally.
Please check out the following links:

Akshat Mohindra
Corporate and Media Interaction Cell
Batch of 2009

Thursday, October 2, 2008

The next step....!

Dear Alumnus,

At the outset allow me to thank you on behalf of the batch of 2009 for gracing the alumni meet with your presence and active participation. It was indeed a pleasure to meet all the senior alumni and have such interesting and meaningful discussions. We have made keen note of many of your thoughts and suggestions and eagerly look forward to working with you towards building a very strong alumni network which is very essential for a B-School and empowering for its alumni. The Alumni meet in Bangalore was only the first step towards re-connecting and brainstorming, the larger goal of re-uniting the alumni with the B-School and connecting the alumni amongst each other will require continued efforts and many initiatives.

As committed during our discussion in the meet, the current students will extend full support in building and creating the network in the form of a recognized and formal association. Building and sustaining the network will require equal commitment from the alumni. As proposed during the meet, we are considering formation of the Association that would aim at growing and strengthening itself (and also at integrating with the TAA and the larger IIT alumni network) . For this we propose a working group that would take up initiatives and the responsibilities of founding the formal association. This group could have about 4 members from current students (Students alumni committee at the B-School) and about 5 alumni from the passed out batches. As the founding office bearers of the association this working group will draw up plans for institutionalizing the association by inviting discussion and building consensus and seeking support from alumni and faculty. Together this work group would take on the tasks of formulating the objectives, charter, composition and identify need and modalities of intense relationships with alumnicomm, TAA etc, and also register the Association. In addition it would attempt to create a dedicated website and plan the next formal meet. Such initiatives need to be taken up by this working group till the time the community becomes user driven and sustainable and active.

We invite volenteers forf the work group.

Please feel free to pour in your thoughts either by replying to this mail or preferably by posting on the blog http://www.vgsomalumnimeet.blogspot.com/

I quote a line from Prof Iyer's mail "As a wise academic at a Workshop said recently, "After
all is said and done; so much is said, and so litle done". We are determined to prove this wrong !
Thanks and Regards

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

All-India VGSoM Alumni meet now at Chinnaswamy Stadium Club House, Bangalore

Dear Alumnus,


The number of confirmations for the alumni meet has over exceeded our expectations, with alumnus travelling from far-off places like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and of course Bangalore.
Owing to the overwhelming response of the alumni community, we had to look out for a bigger venue and how bigger can it get than Chinnaswamy Cricket stadium itself.

Request you to please note the change in the venue and time for the alumni meet.

Details:

Venue: Gate No. 1, Hall: P-2-C, Chinnaswamy Stadium - Karnataka State Cricket Association Club House, MG Road, Bangalore.
Date: 27th September, 2008


Time: 5:00 PM onwards
Registration charges (at the venue): Single - Rs 350 .....Couple/ With Family – Rs 200 additional
Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=chinnaswamy+stadium+bangalore&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=65.263254,113.203125&ie=UTF8&ei=0IvYSPe-GKDg2gLR65D-Cg&view=map&attrid=


The itinerary for the evening includes:
· Live performance by a Pipe Band – the finest and one of the oldest bands of the Indian Army – known to play during “RD Parade Beating the Retreat”.
· Talk by Prof Parameshwar P. Iyer, Principal Research Scientist at IISc Bangalore and an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, head of the Technology Alumni Association, Bangalore Chapter. He is also a member of the Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT Kharagpur.

· Open discussion with alumni on “Strengthening alumni network and placing VGSOM on the global map"
· Felicitation of eminent VGSoM alumni

· Cultural program by Mr. Amit Dixit, professional Ghazal singer.
· Free gift vouchers for 3 days - 2 nights at a 5-star resort Golden Waters (http://www.goldenwaters.com/), backwaters of Kerala worth 10,000/-
· Sumptuous dinner and drinks to facilitate networking and merrymaking


With the event having grown SOO BIG, you don’t want to miss it!
With confirmations from alumnus spread throughout the batches, you don’t want to miss it!
With this being the only meet in this academic year, you don’t want to miss it!
With sponsorships from United Spirits amongst others you surely don’t want to miss it! :)

All those who haven’t confirmed as yet, RSVP to vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com or call any of the coordinators below.
Please also take out a few minutes to check our blog, www.vgsomalumnimeet.blogspot.com for the latest trivia.

Waiting to catch up with you all!!

Thanks & Regards,
Batch of 2009.

Contact Details
Mobile numbers:
Sachin Mehta: 09964679806
Sampreet HR: 09880010794
Pradyummna Mahajani: 09740365400
Sonika Verma : 09739841342
Manish Sinha: 09739801002
Neelima Sahu : 09742095526
Rohit Sharma: 09741402970

Email id: vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com Blog:http://www.vgsomalumnimeet.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 5, 2008

Official invite for the Alumni meet, 2008


Come one, Come all !!!

Dear Alumnus,

Greetings from VGSoM!!

Life is an amalgamation of moments that define its course. There are events that are determinants for they lay a lifelong impact and are cherished forever…

And when life stalls from the breakneck speed, a sense of déjà vu overwhelms reality।

Our alma mater turned fifteen this year. It is time to look back at the paths trodden, take a walk down memory lane, celebrate our very existence and blaze a new trail to seek a promising future. VGSoM wants to share this glorious moment with its worthiest treasures, its alumni

It gives us immense pleasure to invite you with family to the All-India VGSoM Alumni Meet on 27th September, 2008, at Kochhar Institute, Bangalore.

Registration: 04:15 PM

Start of event: 04:30 PM

Venue: Kochhar Institute, near Kendriya Vidyhalaya MEG, St. John’s Church road, Frazer town, Bangalore. Landmarks: Thom’s bakery, Lavanya theatre – 1 Km from Commercial Street.

Let’s get together, share memories, honor achievements and forge new opportunities.

The key events of the evening include:

· Open discussion with alumni on “Strengthening alumni network and placing VGSOM on the global map"

· Felicitation of eminent VGSoM alumni

· Live performance by the Pipe Band –the finest and one of the oldest band of the Indian Army – known to play during “RD Parade Beating the Retreat” for an august audience comprising heads of states

· Talks by professors of VGSoM and other eminent personalities

· Free gift vouchers for 3 days-2 nights at a 5-star resort Golden Waters (www.goldenwaters.com), backwaters of Kerala to a lucky few J

· Cultural program by the students of VGSoM

· Sumptuous dinner and music to facilitate networking and merrymaking

As numbers need to be determined in advance, request you to confirm your participation by 20th September 2008 by email to: vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com

You can also confirm via phone at the contact details mentioned below
You can keep the cheerful banter flowing and the mood upbeat by exchanging comments on www.vgsomalumnimeet.blogspot.com
We would be obliged if you could forward this letter to your batch-mates and other alumni of VGSOM. Alternatively, you could provide us with their contact details and we would be happy to spread the word. 
We look forward to your esteemed company at the meet.Please find attached in the mail, an invitation for the event।
With best regards, Batch of 2007 – 09, VGSoM
Contact details:
Sachin Mehta: 9964679806 Pradyummna Mahajani: 9740365400 Sampreet HR: 9880010794 Sonika Verma : 9739841342 Manish Sinha: 9739801002 Neelima Sahu : 9742095526
Email id:vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com Blog:http://www.vgsomalumnimeet.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Tête-à-tête with Dr. Prabina Rajib

MBM - VGSoM, 1994 - 1996
Ph.D. (International Finance) – IIT Kharagpur, Batch of 2000
Faculty, VGSoM, 1997 ~ present

"As long as I feel good and love my students, I will be here."
- Marilyn Mason on completing 60 yrs of being on the faculty, the longest tenure in University history.

Can you describe your days as a student?
My days as a student included lab classes and endless assignments and the funniest part of that was that 18 of us used to sit in an oval table and yawn one after other. There used to be software labs at night. I learnt cycling in IIT. We use to give back to back exams for 5 days or even 2 exams a day and personally visit the companies for dissertation and placements and all that resulted in the Director taking personal interest in VGSoM affairs.

What made you join VGSoM for MBA in its conceptual years?
Actually this was the only thing I could lay my hand on as a married woman whose husband was deeply in love with her and also the euphoria of being a student at a premier institute like IIT Kharagpur

Journey over the years at VGSOM
I have seen the growth of VGSoM (though we could have achieved much more) over these 15 years. There has been increase in the number of students, the number of faculty, better and more organized placement. I have seen the existing building getting constructed and change of deans with absolute contrasting ideas and ways of working.
In addition to all these changes, I have grown a lot personally. As I look back, a sense of pride and joy overcomes me. I could have never imagined a better quality of job and life. I enjoy being a teacher, interacting and learning from bright lot of VGSoMites as well as other department students. The funniest part is that I have started enjoying research work.

Message to the alumni of VGSoM
15 years of presence has built a strong formidable alumni network. Please do visit VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur and share with us the journey of your life. As they say “The roads may be bumpy but with a good companion you don’t see the roads”. We want you all to share your experiences, help students in placements and just spend time at IIT Kharagpur. We now even have a big bazaar ;)

For what Prabina Ma'am has been doing, click here

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

An Ode to Life @ VGSoM

Oh, how cruelly sweet are the echoes that start
When memory plays an old tune on the heart!


For VGSoMites like me, the tune can be an assorted mix of an occasional cycle bell tring, buzzing of little green insects (hell yes! :)), the thought of a movie night marathon, mention of words bakar, assignments, group discussion, group studies, …well err…group chaos, maggi, xerox, committee, coffee, Illu, DC++….. it goes on and on….
As we say there is never a dull moment at VGSoM…except maybe when the LAN is down….
The course begins with a balancing act - on the cycle, in the rain, with a new lappy clung alongside and with/without rain gear (doesn't change things much)...first lesson learned and first skill conquered…multi-tasking...which we all master by the end of the course through activities like concentrating on Bonds and Debentures while munching on the calorie rich egg cheese sandwich at Eggies, reading Dilbert on lappy and pretending to take notes, positioning oneself in a way to avoid the line of sight of professors and catching up on lost sleep….yeah we are a talented bunch ;)
One would truly reminisce these golden moments of leisure and learning specially after entering the big bad corporate world… will miss those formidable archetypal pillars bearing the "Dedicated to the Service of Nation" message, which even after two straight night outs never fails to raise that unusual fervor in you….
Maybe few years down the line in our respective careers, whenever we would look back upon the crazy days spent in our beloved Alma Mater, each one of will know how every moment spent there, in some way has shaped us into what we are today….truly the best of times!!

- A student of batch 2007-09.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Core organizing team

The core organizing team for the first ever VGSoM Alumni meet(2008) and their responsibilities is:

Overall and alumni-meet day coordination, blog managment:
Sachin Mehta (sachinmehta@gmail.com, 9964679806)

Messenger team:
Pradyumna Mahajan (pradytcs@gmail.com, 9740365400)
Manish Sinha (sinhamk@gmail.com, 9739801002)
Rohit Sharma (rohit204@gmail.com, 9741402970)
Neelima Sahu (sahu_neel@yahoo.co.in, 9742095526)
Swati Garg (swatigarg25@gmail.com, 9986929063)
Alok (alok.dce@gmail.com, 9980751711)

Creative team:
Sampreet (hr.sampreet@gmail.com, 9880010794)
Akshat Mohindra (akshatmohindra@gmail.com, 9740365444)
Sonika Verma (verma.sonika@gmail.com, 9739841342)

Logistics and infrastructure: Alok(09980751711)

Cultural events team: Swati Garg, Rohit Sharma, Alok, Akshat Mohindra

Budget & accounts: Manish Sinha

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Myriad hues of a glorious tale

We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us. ~Winston Churchill





For more photographs, feel free to drop in a mail at vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com and we will mail them to you right away!

What's happening at VGSoM? ...keep following..

Ofiicial blog of VGSoM

illu & rangoli...eternally creative at IIT



For more photographs from Diwali-2007, feel free to drop in a mail at vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com and we will mail them to you right away!

Quotable qoutes for B-School grads

..............on nostalgia, MBA, professors and more!!

The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective. ~Warren Buffett

A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep. ~W.H. Auden

College is the best time of your life. When else are your parents going to spend several thousand dollars a year just for you to go to a strange town and get drunk every night? ~David Wood

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense, but the past perfect! ~Owens Lee Pomeroy

I learned three important things in college - to use a library, to memorize quickly and visually, to drop asleep at any time given a horizontal surface and fifteen minutes. ~Agnes DeMille

The MBA trains the wrong people in the wrong ways with the wrong consequences. ~Henry Mintzberg

It is indeed ironic that we spend our school days yearning to graduate and our remaining days waxing nostalgic about our school days. ~Isabel Waxman

I do what I love. You don't need an MBA to be successful. You need a unique concept and guts. ~Deborah Karabin

People seem to get nostalgic about a lot of things they weren't so crazy about the first time around. ~Author Unknown

Thursday, August 21, 2008

VGSoM turns 15….let’s meet !!! :)

Dear VGSoMites,

Greetings from your Alma mater !!
It's quite a co-incidence that a group of us, 2nd year students pursuing our MBA from VGSoM also have similar plans to kick-start an Alumni-meet tradition in a rich way on lines with what happens at other B-Schools. We are glad that seniors like Kesavan and Tushar have shown great enthusiasm and now are confident of making this event a grand success.

From our preliminary brainstorming sessions, we have come up with the following plan:

  • The inaugural edition of this meet will be held at Bangalore (venue thus chosen as the group of us planning this meet are interning in Bangalore and so would be convenient to plan out. Also, Bangalore offers a central location for most of the alumni spread atleast in South-India)
  • We have also been offered/have arranged some good infrastructure support in the heart of Bangalore.
  • The meet is planned on the 27th of September as this will give us enough time to contact the 700-odd alumnus of VGSoM and try to persuade and get maximum participation for an event of this magnitude. This will also give you'll adequate time to plan for this meet in advance and make your travel arrangements.
  • Our Creative team is coming up with a theme for this party and the promotional campaign will be out very soon.
  • Our Messenger team will soon start getting in touch with each all VGSoMites either through mail or telephone...its quite an uphill task as many alumnus contact details are missing and all we have are the names of the passouts from alumnicomm. Nevertheless, with the help of you folks who are reading this mail and with searches from yahoo directory and sites like LinkedIn, we hope to track down and cover each and every alumnus.
  • We will soon be sending out feelers to the alumnus to gauge if it's possible for you'll to pursue small sponsorships from your companies for this event (as is the case in many leading B-Schools)...however, this is not a binding issue. Of course, any savings from the sponsorships would go into philanthropy by means of "Shraddha", the students' initiative for social service at VGSoM.

We have created a blog for the alumni meet purpose and encourage you'll to use this as a platform to keep the cheerful banter flowing and the mood upbeat by exchanging comments. http://www.vgsomalumnimeet.blogspot.com/

In order to collect as many contact details as possible, we request all those reading this mail to reply back to vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com with your contact details and the contact details of other VGSoMites so that we can personally get in touch with everyone. Please consider this as an immediate activity.
We also need atleast one alumnus from each batch to help in touch-basing with the other folks of the batch. Those of you who wish to volunteer for this activity are requested to get in touch with us immediately on the below given phone numbers or by replying back to vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com with your contact details.

Just requesting some co-operation and a little bit of your time to "put the VGSoM back in you" :-)

Cheers, Batch 2007 - 2009

Contact details:
Mobile numbers:
Sachin Mehta: 09964679806
Sampreet HR: 09880010794
Pradyummna Mahajani: 09740365400
Manish Sinha: 09739801002

Email id: vgsom.alumni.meet@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.vgsomalumnimeet.blogspot.com/

*********************** VGSOM Rocks!! *******************