scuzzy dec 2009

Vinod Gupta

School of

Management,

IIT Kharagpur

Volume 1, Issue 13, December 2009 Newsletter of Vinod Gupta School of Management

From the desk of Team Scuzzy:

Welcome to the winter edition of Scuzzy, the bi-

annual newsletter of VGSOM.

This year has been quite an eventful one. The all

important placement season, Vantage 2009, not

only weathered the challenging economic

environment, but transpired into a huge success,

with highest salary being Rs. 14.7 Lpa and

average being Rs 8.93 Lpa. The number of first

time recruiters was 32, a significant achievement

and manifesting the trend of acceptance of

VGSOM brand and quality of students by diverse

range of employers.

The school also witnessed joining of new Dean,

Dr. Arabinda Tripathy, who brings with him a

diverse experience in the industrial (12 years)

and academic (25 years) fields. He is an IIT-

Kharagpur alumnus and specializes in the areas

of operations management and research,

quantitative techniques and project management.

He was founding Director of Institute of

Petroleum Management, Gandhinagar and L&T

Institute of Project Management. VGSOM is

looking forward towards having a long term and

fruitful relationship with him. There were three

more new additions to the faculty pool, taking

the total count to 20. The new professors are Prof.

Ashutosh Sarkar for Operations, Prof. Sujoy

Bhattacharya for Marketing and Prof. Prithwis

Mukerjee for Business Information Systems.

(contd. on Page 2)

Alumni Committee:

Kanika Puri

Rajit Nair

Saptarshi Basak

Soumya Ghosh

Faculty in-charge:

Dr. Prabina Rajib,

VGSOM Batch of

‘94

Akashdeep Prasad

Amey Kolhatkar

Archit Mehrotra

Divya Goel

P.Uday Kumar

Yash Vardhan

In this issue...

Final Placements

New Professors at VGSOM

Batch of 2011

Shraddha @ VGSOM

Mr. Vinod Gupta Visits VGSOM

Alumni Meet 2009

Students’ Corner

Awards and Achievements

Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 13, December 2009

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From the desk of Team Scuzzy (contd. from Page 1)

Mr. Vinod Gupta, IIT Kharagpur batch of 1967, and Founder and Chairman of InfoUSA, Inc., interacted

with the students on 13th August, 2009. He shared his vision of starting of business school, the first in the

history of IITs, along with sharing of insights regarding the field of management, technology and

entrepreneurship. When asked about his mantra for success, he urged students to not think about a particular

field or subject but to spread their wings, understand what they like and are passionate about and pursue the

same. "Do what you like and are passionate about and the rest will follow" was his answer.

The month of July saw the joining of the MBA batch of 2009-11. The batch presented a good mix of people

from diverse academic backgrounds, with almost 80% of the batch possessed prior work experience. The

dual degree students, a unique program started by VGSOM, saw 14% representation.

Joyfest’09 – The Joy of Giving Week (27th Sep – 3rd Oct), a part of Shraddha (a social responsibility

initiative by students of VGSOM) was celebrated with unprivileged children in the backward region of

Salua, a town 3 Km from IIT Kharagpur in West Bengal. And there were Diwali celebrations at Disha

Seema, a charitable residential school for poor children in IIT Kharagpur campus. It involved decorating

their hostels with diyas and candles and having light moments by conducting racing, singing, dancing events

for the kids. It was followed by distribution of gifts, crackers and sweet packets. The happiness on the faces

of those kids gave us the reward we all were looking for. The satisfaction of feeling one with the society and

being able to contribute was invaluable for each one of us present there.

Alumni network contributes significantly towards the brand of a B-school. The year witnessed two

successful VGSOM alumni meets at Mumbai (29th

August „09) and Kolkata (5th September „09). They were

thronged by more than hundred ex-VGSOMites and naturally, the environment turned nostalgic. Everybody

shared their personal experiences about college, campus life, professional life and learning after once

stepping in corporate world. People talked about how much they miss the fun they had in IIT Campus,

mixed hostels they stayed in, how they just managed to pass in exams after either sleeping whole night or

burning the midnight oil on the last day before exam. Conversations spanned varied topics from the current

market scenario to the on campus romances. Drinks started flowing in and acted as the catalyst for more

discussions. In due course of time, dinner was served but no one was keen on eating. They needed more time

with their friends, with their past. Prof. Gautam Sinha and Prof. C.S. Mishra interacted with the alumni in

Mumbai while Prof. A. Sadhu was his usual brilliant in Kolkata.

The issue also contains articles and poems by students. Also, there are students‟ achievements, which details

the wins accomplished by VGSOM students at various events organized by B-schools across India.

Happy Reading!


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Final Placements at VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur

The final placement season of the Vinod Gupta

School of Management (VGSOM), IIT Kharagpur for the

batch of 2007-2009, Vantage 2009, ended on a successful

note, reaffirming the faith of the corporate world in the

quality of the students and education offered by the institute.

The mission of the institute has always been to develop

outstanding management professionals and future CEOs,

who will lead organisations especially in technology driven

and knowledge based industries in the service of the nation

and community.

There could not have been a better way to summarize the entire placement process than

the mission of the institute. The jobs on offer were across industry verticals like banking, telecom, steel,

textiles, consumer goods, IT, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, insurance, media and general management.

Some of the leading roles across sectors that were offered to VGSOM students included Corporate Finance,

Treasury, Project Finance, Management and IT Consulting, Strategy and Execution, EA to CXO‟s, SAP

consulting, Carbon Trading Advisory, Government reforms and infrastructure advisory and many more. This

season saw a shift in the profile-mix offered by the participating companies. The average compensation was

Rs. 8.93 lakhs per annum. The companies recruiting for first time from VGSOM jumped up from 14 in the

last placement season to 32 this year. Although the ripples of the global meltdown were felt in VGSOM, the

variety of profiles offered more than made up for the decrease in the average salary. This was achieved by

inviting a larger number of companies for final placements and through the help of illustrious alumni

working in various organisations.

Almost all students could get a profile of their choice owing to the growing recognition of the MBA

programme of VGSOM. Around 20% of students finally accepted PPOs out of the total PPOs which were

received from the companies in which the students had done their internships. This goes to the show that the

projects done by the students of VGSOM were of the highest quality and were really appreciated by the

industry which ultimately resulted in these students getting PPOs.

This year again saw the participation of the Big 4 consulting firms which have been regular recruiters

at VGSOM, i.e. Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte. This year‟s consulting

presence was even more strengthened by the new consulting companies like Wipro Consulting Services

Number of Companies Participated:

65

Number of Students Opting for Final

Placements: 110

Highest Domestic CTC: Rs 14.7 LPA

Average Domestic CTC: Rs 8.93 LPA

First Time Recruiters: 32

Maximum Number of Offers made by a

single recruiter: 10


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(WCS), Deloitte US (Hyderabad), Emergent Ventures, Renoir Consulting and Frost & Sullivan. These

companies offered profiles ranging from Government Reforms and Infrastructure Advisory, Carbon Trading

Advisory, Process Innovation, Risk Advisory, Enterprise Applications and SAP Consulting. 24% of the

batch chose consulting as their preferred career.

The banking and finance sector companies which participated in the Final Placement Process and

recruited for the various profiles were Citibank, Deutsche Bank, SBI Caps, Irevna, Union Bank of India,

Bank of Baroda, SIDBI, Andhra Bank, Care Ratings and Vistasoft. Union Bank of India was the largest

recruiter on campus. It made 10 offers to students and all these students were offered various grades in

middle management. This year saw the IT sector recruiting with a lot of caution due to the freeze on hiring

by the IT majors. In spite of this VGSOM was a preferred destination for a number of IT companies

including the regular recruiters like IBM, Infosys BPO and the first time recruiters like HP, TCS, Iviz,

Metalogic Systems, Couth IT, Kalinga Soft and Pagalguy. This year saw the top analytics companies like

HSBC Analytics, Market Rx, Genpact, First Source, Latent View Analytics and Decidyn Systems making a

beeline for students. The profiles that were on offer ranged from financial analytics, marketing analytics, IT

analytics and the niche pharmaceutical market analytics. On the whole the IT and the Analytics sector

recruited a sizeable 21% of the batch.

This year also saw the participation by the leading marketing companies like Cadburys, Cavinkare,

Vodafone, Tata Communications, IMRB International, Dabur Pharma and Novartis. The profiles that were

on offer ranged from Sales and Marketing, Market Research, Branding, Marketing & Business Development

and Business Analytics. The students who chose marketing as their preferred choice formed 20% of the

batch.

Despite the slowdown in the manufacturing sector, companies did not hesitate to recruit students for

their Operations profile owing to their long standing association with VGSOM. The companies which

participated and recruited from VGSOM include companies like RPG Group, Maersk Logistics, Vedanta,

Tata Telcon, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Voltas, Schindler India, LMJ Group, M N Dastur and Visa Steel. The

students choosing this sector as their preferred alternative comprised 9% of the batch. Another important

trend that was noted this year was the participation of the Navaratna PSU‟s like BHEL and other major

PSU`s like Andrew Yule. The profiles offered by these PSU`s ranged from Sales and Marketing,

International Marketing, Operations, Business Development and HR. The variety of profiles that were

offered in VGSOM like Corporate Finance, Treasury, Project Finance, Management and IT Consulting,

Strategy and Execution, EA to CXO‟s, SAP consulting, Carbon Trading Advisory, Government reforms and

infrastructure advisory shows the faith that recruiters have been putting in VGSOM since long. The

increasing number of important recruiters goes on to prove that VGSOM has made significant advances in a

relatively short span of time.


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Our New Professors

Prof. Arabinda Tripathy (Dean, VGSOM)

B.Tech. (Hons.) (IIT Kharagpur), PGDBM (XLRI), M.Sc (O.R.) (London School of Economics), Ph.D.

(O.R.) (London School of Economics).

Specialization: Operations Management, Operations Research, Quantitative Techniques and Project

Management.

Prof. Tripathy has moved to academics after working in industry for over 12 years. He has taught at the

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for nearly 25 years. Prof. Tripathy launched a Master level

course and taught at University of Cape Town, South Africa. He was founder Director of Institute of

Petroleum Management, Gandhinagar and L&T Institute of Project Management. Prof. Tripathy has

published several research papers in different national and international referred journals. He has conducted

management development programmes in various countries in South Africa, Far East, Middle East, C.I.S.

Countries and Africa. Prof. Tripathy served as President of ORSI, Editor-in-Chief of OPSEARCH, and

Editor of Developing Countries Newsletter of IFORS. Prof. Tripathy is recipient of Developing Countries

Award of IFORS and EFMD fellowship of London Business School. Prof. Tripathy is on boards of different

public and private sector companies.

Prof. Ashutosh Sarkar

B.E. (Gauhati University), M. Tech, Ph. D. (IIT Kharagpur)

Specialization: Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Applied Optimization, Information

Systems.

Prof. Sarkar has more than six years of teaching experience in the area of Operations Management, Industrial

Management and Mechanical Engineering. Prior to joining VGSOM, he was working as Senior Lecturer in

the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Banaras Hindu University. He has been invited to deliver

lectures on various issues in Operations Management and Supply Chain Management at Anpara Thermal

Power Plant, IIT Kharagpur and FMS, BHU. He has also organized an international conference on Supply


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Chain Management at Varanasi. He has publications in many national and international journals. He has also

served as the reviewer for Computers and Industrial Engineering. Presently his research interests are supply

chain coordination, integrated supply management, supply chain relationship management and supply chain

risk management.

Prof. Sujoy Bhattacharya

B.Sc.(Gurukul), MBA (Gurukul) , PhD (Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management)

Specialization: Marketing Research, Retailing, CRM

Dr. Sujoy Bhattacharya is a PhD from Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management,

Gwalior. He has nine years of Teaching and Research experience. He has taught at Mudra Institute of

Communications, Ahmedabad, Goa Institute of Management, Goa and S P Jain Institute of Management,

Singapore Campus. He has been a trainer for the Border Security Force at the 'Chanakya' tactical training

wing at the senior command level. He has done doctoral workshops at DOMS, IIT Madras and DOMS, IIT

Roorkee and teaches Marketing Research, CRM and Retail Management. His research interests are

Qualitative Methodologies, Mixed Method Research and Panel Data Analysis in Marketing.

Prof. Prithwis Mukerjee

Specialization: Business Information Systems, Web 2.0 Strategy, Quantitative Techniques.

Prithwis Mukerjee is an engineer from IIT, Kharagpur and has done his Masters and PhD in Associative

Information Systems from the University of Texas at Dallas, USA. He has been a footnote in the Great

Indian Software Story and was worked in Tata Steel, Tata IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM doing –

and in the process learning – all that can be done with and around the software business in India and the

world. From in-house software development, through experimenting with new technology, management

consulting and global delivery of software services to corporate training there is little that he has not done in

career spanning 18 years. As an extension of his intense involvement with in-house training programs he

switched careers, entered academia and has joined VGSOM as a Professor.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/18792674/Models-Algorithms-and-Data-Structures-for-Associative-Information-Systems

http://www.scribd.com/doc/18792674/Models-Algorithms-and-Data-Structures-for-Associative-Information-Systems


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MBA Batch of 2009-11

In a relatively short period, VGSOM has been recognized as one of the top business schools in India.

The MBA curriculum has evolved to be among the best in the country combining the traditional strengths of

IIT in technical education with modern management philosophy.

The academic session for the batch of 2009-11 began on 21st July 2009. The batch presented a good

mix of people from diverse academic backgrounds. Almost 80% of the batch possessed prior work

experience.


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Shraddha @ VGSOM

Joyfest- The Joy of Giving Week Celebrations

VGSOM celebrated Joyfest’09 – The Joy of Giving Week (27th

Sep – 3rd

Oct) with kids of Salua, a

town 3 Km. from IIT Kharagpur in West Bengal. The celebrations coincided with the occasion of Gandhi

Jayanti, 2nd

Oct, 2009 thus providing an extra meaning to our endeavor; to spread the ideals of the father of

the nation. These kids hail from a very poor background and parents of most of them are laborers here in

nearby steel plants and factories. The children study for free at Jagriti Vidya Mandir, Salua, a primary school

run by an NGO Gopali Youth Welfare Society (GYWS). This welfare society works hard to facilitate free

education for children of poor and underprivileged villagers. Thus, Shraddha (a social responsibility

initiative of students of VGSOM) on the behalf of VGSOM and IIT Kharagpur, decided to celebrate The Joy

of Giving Week by spending a day with these small kids and sharing the importance of the day and Mahatma

Gandhi‟s virtues in our lives.

We contacted the GYWS Head to arrange a day for us with children at their school. As Durga Pooja

holidays were going on in West Bengal, they provided great support in helping us gathering children at

school on 2nd

Oct, 2009. When we reached Jagriti Vidya Mandir, Salua around 3 PM, some kids were

already waiting for us. Most of them were under 5 years of age and were best dressed for the event, looking

very innocent and cute.

We started our event by playing a short 15 minute documentary film on Mahatma Gandhi. Next, we

conducted a picture quiz in which we showed them images of some of the great Indian Leaders and popular

personalities like Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rani Lakshmi Bai, India Gandhi, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav

Ganguly, Shahrukh Khan, etc, and asked some random questions on their lives. Children took great interest

in the quiz and enjoyed a lot as it was a sort of competition for them besides getting rewards in the form of

candies for every correct answer. By the end of quiz, we already had more than 80 kids participating in the

event. We then screened a 15 minute episode of a Tom and Jerry cartoon film for them, which was again

enjoyed very much by the kids.

Lastly, we had a Talent Demonstration round, where the kids were asked present their talent in front

of the audience and reward was again candies and lollipops. We were surprised with their versatile

performances varying from dance, poetry recital, dialog delivery to mimicry. Every time, their innocent

smiles and feeling of being a winner after receiving lollipop for their performance filled us with joy and

happiness. The event finally winded with the distribution of packets of sweets amongst the children.

And this is how; we had a great time with little kids of Salua, who were our celebrities for the Joyfest‟09 –

The Joy of Giving Week.


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Diwali Celebrations at Disha Seema

We all would have enjoyed the festivals of light to our hearts content in our childhoods. But there are

certain sections of society who never have the privilege to celebrate this festival of happiness and prosperity

the way they wish to.

In order to spread joy in the lives of some underprivileged kids on this auspicious day, the members

of Shraddha celebrated Diwali with the kids at Disha Seema (a charitable residential school for poor children

in IIT Kharagur campus). The celebrations began by educating the kids about the significance of Diwali. We

helped them decorate their hostels with Diyas and candles and had fun by conducting racing, singing,

dancing events for them. All the kids were awarded with gifts for their enthusiastic participation. We all had

a gala time with them. After distributing crackers to children we put up a display of fireworks for the

children and concluded the program with distributing sweets packets to all. The happiness on the faces of

those kids gave us the reward we all were looking for. The satisfaction of feeling one with the society and

being able to contribute was invaluable for each one of us present there.

After celebrations at Disha Seema we as a batch celebrated Diwali at VGSOM along with the faculty

members. The students worked on decorating the department with a beautiful Rangoli and by lighting diyas

and candles. Ganesha-Lakshmi poojan marked the auspicious beginning to the celebrations followed by

some fireworks and a delicious dinner. In the end Sports committee had organised some fun events which

included the game of Tambola. Diwali @ VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur; a home away from home; was one of the

most memorable day of our lives.


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Mr. Vinod Gupta Visits VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur

Mr. Vinod Gupta graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 1967. He is the Founder and Chairman of

InfoUSA, Inc., headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, with more than $300 million in yearly revenue and

2,000 employees.

Mr. Vinod Gupta Sharing his experience with the students of VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur.

The enthusiasm was brewing among the students in anticipation of this rendezvous. Professor

Tripathy, Dean VGSOM introduced Mr. Vinod Gupta to the crowd as a man with great vision and a helping

hand. Mr. Vinod Gupta charmed the students with his typical humility as well as grace. He had come with a

jam packed schedule but found out time to have an interactive session with the students. "So how are you

liking the School, you are our customers, if you need anything that we can do, we'll be sure to help you", this

were his starting statement which set up the tune for the whole interaction.

He insisted students to put forth their queries and offered his insight into the changing global

equation. On being accosted with the question that what prompted him to start a B-School 16 years ago, he

cited the example of the foreign universities where it is common for them to have a B-School.

He went further to add that today the engineers are not restricted to technical domain but increasingly

building their expertise in managerial field and proving their mettle - the only thing that needs improvement

is communication - so it becomes imperative for the premium technical institute like IITs to train the future

managers and business leaders. He stressed on the fact that VGSOM has indeed been a torch bearer to other

IITs in this domain as with the technical education. He was visibly happy with the progress made by

VGSOM in the past decade and entrusted the management and the IIT administration in enhancing the value

to the students.

On being probed that are the students from IITs in general and VGSOM in particular perceived in the

same league as other ivy league colleges, and what difference he sees in a person graduating from foreign


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Universities and the IITs, he jokingly said that these institutes are good as everyone is getting jobs, but

added on a serious note that it is as good as any other top notch college and the companies really look up to

them. The brand „IIT‟, he added, really works and one can reap the returns long after one has graduated from

here. He added that once a student graduates from here, one must indulge in endeavours to benefit the

society and help in improving the lives of the people. In response to a question of the student on the shift in

global power he said that the West is fast recognizing the intellectual power of the India and that the Asian

as well as Indian universities are challenging the Western ones. He envisaged India as an upcoming

powerhouse in global education arena and said that the future belongs to Indian leaders.

When asked about his mantra for success, he urged students to not think about a particular field or

subject but to spread their wings, understand what they like and are passionate about and pursue the same.

"Do what you like and are passionate about and the rest will follow".

The statement provided a befitting conclusion to a very insightful and motivating session and was

greeted with a round of applause by students and faculty alike.


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VGSOM Alumni meet, 2009

VGSOM was successful in organizing two regional alumni meets for this year to stay connected with

its alumni at Mumbai and Kolkata.

Following is a brief dossier describing the evenings. For those who attended the meet, this is a

refreshing recollection, while for those who couldn‟t make it…well...this is what you missed.

Mumbai

It was finally the 29th

of August 2009 urging to be set as a memorable day. The place was Golden

Swan club, a nice little cosy place to have an event like the Alumni meet of VGSOM for this year.

It was six in the evening when our first guest poured in, being welcomed jubilantly by us. As time

trickled away, slowly and steadily the crowd, the VGSOM crowd, started coming in, all with friends of

theirs. “Hey! Has someone from this batch come?” was the usual round of questions that was hailed at us.

That was the registration desk at their service.

Enter the banquet hall and its already filled to its full capacity. Our esteemed Prof. Gautam Sinha was

already spreading his charisma among his past shishyas. It was apt to have him kick-start the event with one

of his mesmerizing and spell binding speech. It was VGSOM revisited for all when GS, as we very fondly

call him, called out to them with his catchy one-liners that he has for one and all whether it be the past pupils

or the present ones. The torch was then handed over to Prof. C.S. Mishra. He being new to the college

supported the notion that teachers have an enriching experience teaching at VGSOM. It was well received by

the proud alumni that their alma mater still holds out that vibrant energy and gusto in it to enlighten

everyone in its umbrella.

The next in line were our very own Alumni. The moment they were handed over the mike to recall

their nostalgic memories, we could hear the far resounding cry: “When I visited BC Roy……..”, “When so

and so became ill we took him to BC Roy……..”

It was only the VGSOM spirit that made us laugh away the pain and sadness in all the memories of

past. Was it the end of sharing the old days? No way. The classrooms stories and escapades with professors

followed in next which got everyone rolling with laughter. Oh! It was an evening full of laughter. Anyone

peeking in could have said: “Are they the same executives managing companies?” But yes they are. It only

showed the present torch bearers of VGSOM, how important it is to have that “fun” part in our lives to lead

the “serious” part of business.

This small write-up will not suffice the many incidents that were shared that evening, but saying this:

“We are still laughing at it in our leisure”, will sum up all.


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It was drinks and music which filled the air to take the place of laughter. The voice was equal to if

not more than a disc. It was the talk between people, or was it the past memories which rendered itself loud:

to be heard to be shared. The intensity of past engulfed all in its fold to finally announce the arrival of the

time where we could satisfy our palette. It was dinner time! But yes no one could hold back the past

memories speaking aloud, not even the lip smacking food served out. The filling up of Graffiti was just a

way to say “Best of Luck”: Safe voyage across the ages.

As the phrase goes, “The light should spread and fade away the darkness”. This was the parting

unsaid message that went across, each one being a part of the promise to spread the light, the light that their

Alma Mater: VGSOM had given them and the Alumni meet had renewed. It was an adieu to come back,

come back to their very own, for light, for guidance, for energy and most of all to give back what they had

received.

Kolkata

The day, 5th

September 2009, started on a very dark note. Lord Indra, at his playful best, had decided

to shower his blessings on the city of Kolkata. It was pouring heavily the whole day and things were going

from bad to worse by evening with no signs of respite. We were scared. Will the meet happen? Will the

alumni turn up in good number? Will Sadhu Sir make it to the meet? These were a few questions that were

haunting us.

Here we learnt our first lesson. No rain can overcome the power of love and connection between the

two inseparables. Did the alumni turn up? Of course, they did and that too in good numbers. Now even Indra

couldn‟t stop us from having a good time.

Meet started at around 6:30 PM. Among the first few to walk in were Mr. Soumitra Poddar, IBM

and Mr. Biswarup Ghosh, Steris both from the first batch of 1995. They were joined by Abhishek Sahay and

Subhashis De from 2000 batch. Among the veterans were Anil Punia from 2006 batch; Hemant Rawat,

Anurag Mohan, Shubhadeep Sarkar and Anand Kumar from 2007 batch. Shubhadeep also holds the

distinction of attending the meet in both cities. Fresh blood was represented by the gang of seniors from

2009 batch apart from 2010 and 2011 batch students.

The day coincided with Teacher‟s Day and what better way to celebrate it than being with our

beloved Sadhu Sir. He was presented a memento by the alumni from the first batch on behalf of all VGSOM

students, present and old.

A couple of videos were shown capturing the life at VGSOM. These were moments of emotions

when everyone got a glimpse of their alma mater, the campus that once used to be their home. Some of them

were rejoiced, on seeing themselves or their batch mates in the old pictures. Suddenly memories were stirred

and everyone had a story to tell of his/her own. The video worked like an ice-breaker. Words started flowing

readily, and there were stories to be told, jokes to be shared, and memories to be re-lived.


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Everybody shared his/her personal experiences about college, campus life, professional life and

learning after once stepping in corporate world. People talked about how much they miss the fun they had in

IIT Campus, mixed hostels they stayed in, how they just managed to pass in exams after either sleeping

whole night or burning the midnight oil on the last day before exam. Conversations spanned varied topics

from the current market scenario to the on campus romances. Drinks started flowing in and acted as the

catalyst for more discussions. Dinner was served during the course of time but it seemed no one was keen to

eat. They needed more time with their friends, with their past. Food can wait.

Finally amidst the moment of nostalgia and the ticking clock, the alumnus departed after cherishing

the experience of meeting after a long time and also leaving us with thoughts to ponder. They changed our

outlook, moulded our thoughts and made us realize how much we are going to miss these days in college.

We realized that we will all go our separate ways, but will never really part.


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Students’ Corner

TEARS

I live in your eyes,

but I hate rolling down your cheeks,

I don’t know whether you created me or god.

But I took birth with you when you cried for the first time,

And since then I have been your indispensible part.

I know you need me to express your emotional pang,

But then i even want to be the part of your bliss.

I was there to express your crave when you where small,

And when you bruised your knee while trying to walk.

It was me who expressed the crush for your girl,

I am often more special than smiles.

For smiles can be given to anyone,

But I am only shed for people you don’t want to lose.

But when you lose people, you try controlling me,

I wish no more to show melancholy of yours.

I don’t want you to cry, I want myself to die,

When you die, I too die with you.

But then I don’t know why people cry and make me alive,

May be because they love to hate me.

I wonder why you always call me with mournful and

excruciating words,

I don’t want myself to get associated with sadness.

Even I want to be loved and want to be happy,

God made me a bad curse, I never wanted to be.

I often cry for that, may I request you to do me a favour?

Stop calling me Tear, because even tears have tears.

By: Sushant Kumar

THE FEMININE TOUCH

Of all the existences in the enigmatic world,

The human form is the most cherishable,

The gateway of which is through her womb,

So painstaking, yet so unforgettable…

The little eyes set open, everything looked unfamiliar,

Till the pupil stuck on gleaming, glowing face.

It was the stunning countenance of my mother,

And never since have had I felt out of place…

Her lap was comforting, her lap so comforting,

Her lullabies so melodious, her love so selfless.

It was not long before ‘MA’ spluttered out,

Happiness grew no bounds, left her speechless…

The journey from an infant to a child was nearing the

end,

When GOD gifted me another jewel,

Her chubby and cherubic face lit up my eyes,

The smile, the innocence made her revel…

Her radiant touch in my arms felt so heavenly,

Her intoxicating expressions so mystical,

Those cupid fights as time flew by,

Where tempers soared, making us hysterical…

Moving on, she was there again,

As my companion, as my friend…

The notes she gave the work she did…

Never said ‘NO’, helping hand always there to lend…

The gossips with her were never ending,

Nor were the problems she discussed and shared

At times, pulling her leg in witty humor,

When those big dark eyes of her, endlessly glared..

Love knocked at my heart’s door,

When the eyes caught sight of HER,

The majestic aura she inhibited,

Or the innocence, flowing like a river…

So caring, so compassionate, so loving

Her touch made me feel so special…

Want to remain in her arms…forever

Feels like heaven, so mine and so personal…

The different facets of a woman,

Makes our life so complete, so worth living,

By : Mohammed Mudasser

NOSTALGIA

Our good old days r no more

when we had each other to adore;

our secrets, we used to roar

our spirits , used to soar

always a smile we wore,

never closed the helping door

and the distance we tore.

Alas,

its time that we pour,

everthing into memories' store.....

By : Pratish Yadava.


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My Speaking Painting

He is Lord Ganesh, a Hindu pantheon.

He created me and I painted him,

To thank him for this talent he gave me,

He asked me to paint him in Black and White

To signify that life is full of joys and Grief

And the outcome is so beautiful if we balance all these.

He asks us to unmask our multifaceted virtuality

And enter the spiritual world of reality

The path is not lucid, rather too difficult to foresee

But his blessing palm assures, he is always there for me.

He says he has the ambrosia for his followers

And the miraculous lotus in return of our worship.

He has a weapon too, to fight evils in our way

To bestow happiness and eradicate dismay

He says he loves me more than anything in this world

And wait patiently for me to talk, pray or give him a nod

Because it’s hard for him to have a one sided conversation

I often wonder how a God’s portrait is so blessing and forgiving

It’s so compassionate, so communicating yet so speechless.

It’s my simple art and his magic of dullness

Well, I am neither Picasso nor Leonardo,

Not because I haven’t painted ‘Three Musicians’ or ‘The Last supper’

But because I can listen to my speaking painting.

By: Sushant Kumar


17

Life @ VGSOM

After a gruelling fight for that coveted MBA seat in the best management institutes in the country, I,

like many other aspirants was in a dilemma, the dilemma to choose. To choose from the self perceived

'equals'. And after a lot of pondering over and mental food for thought, I finally went for VGSOM. And

people were surprised at me having chosen VGSOM over the other better 'ranked' colleges. And three

months into my Master of Business Administration course, I don‟t regret my decision one bit.

So here I was, having decided my voyage for the next two years, packing up my bags and leaving for

a place called Kharagpur. Where else have I heard this name apart for being interwoven with an IIT. Yeah,

Kharagpur had the longest platform in the world!!! But once I was inside the IIT, I realized I wasn't coming

to a city called Kharagpur, I was coming into a little world of its own, a world the outer public generally

refers to as the Indian Institute of Technology. A 1600 acre campus feels imposing on paper, its grandiosity

is much more once you step in.

A bit about the institute, it might sound a cliché, but it‟s hectic. For people like us, having worked in

organizations and then come here, imagining attending a 2-hour lecture is a bit of a pain. And to do that

successively is perhaps an excruciating pain. But thanks to the faculty there is a genuine learning at the

place. The professors are masters at their area of expertise and do filter their oceans of knowledge on us in a

very methodical manner. Most of us have these very rosy dreams of being an MBA and get lost in them

thinking of the after college life. But trust me, it is pain and labour inside the premises and you need to work

hard for the greener pastures you intend to roam about later in life. Even our summer internship process is on

and the best of the organizations have entrusted their faith in VGSOM and are hiring its students. The most

aspired profiles across the most endeavoured organizations are on offer here. We heard something called

recession biting and literally eating colleges up, here it managed just to eat into a little bit of our

remuneration. Also, we have a strong institute-industry interface. Prominent personalities love to visit our

campus and exchange views with us. Organizations Like Tata Inc, TVS, Crisil, JSW etc are represented in

guest lectures and other interactions.

And about the place, it is very tranquil and serene. For people coming from Class A cities in India,

initially it would be a little out of place. But trust me; once you get a feel of the place, you tend to enjoy it

much more than the other places. You don‟t have motorized vehicles allowed inside the premises for

students, but that doesn't mean we don't have jams. We have bicycle jams instead. So it‟s quite an exercise

early morning snaking your way to college. Greenery all around, the air seems to have some extra freshness

imbibed in it. An 'environmentalist' would love such an ambience, but we, in the thick of it, value it much

more. That doesn't mean that there is nothing for the urbane and the cosmopolitan. A world class


18

gymnasium, an Olympic size swimming pool, nice eatery joints to sit and chit-chat and every facility you

anticipate and expect in a world class institution. Also no unnecessary rules n regulations to burden people. I

don‟t think learning is bounded by what you wear and what not. No formals except for some dignitary

coming or some guest lectures happening. Frankly, IIT Kharagpur is not a place to be in, it‟s an experience

to go through and VGSOM is a shining jewel in its crown.

Lastly, many of the readers might be wondering what prompted me in choosing VGSOM over other

B-schools in its league. Firstly, the brand name does count. The CV does become a tad heavier when you

embed those golden letters like an IIT beside your name. I had personally visited the campus and interacted

with a few professors and seniors to get a feel of the place and I got a very frank and genuine advice from

them. No artificiality and no unnecessary bragging. Plain and simple facts which I found convincing and

here I am. The infrastructure and the ambience had sent very positive vibes and i thought "This is where I

want to be!!" And now, it‟s actually a phase of life I love. Getting to learn so much from the institute and the

peers, I am sure in the closing chapters of my life when I look back; I would define the moment of choosing

to be an IITian and a VGSOMite as the turning point in my life.

By: Mohammed Mudasser


19

Students’ Achievements

Team Members Prize Event Festival College

Team Bubbles I Navonmesh –

Business plan

competition

Avenues 2009 SJMSOM, IIT

Bombay

Anchit M, Rohit Bhagat,

Saptarshi Basak

I Marketing

Strategy event

Adhikansh IIT Kanpur

Ritesh Sinha, Varun Bajpai II Colloseum - IT

paper presentation

competition

Paragana 2009 NMIMS

Kaustubh Sule, Sandeep

More.

I Eastern India

Quiz,

Bhuwaneswar

Campus Edition Tata Crucible

Mohsin and Sameer I Biz Bazaar –

Trading Game

Ensemble XLRI

1. Ravi Seth, Pankaj and

Gaurav Singh

I Brand Gaia –

Marketing

Campaign‟09

Kshitij ‟09 IIT Kharagpur

Subhamoy Pati, Vivek

Borah

II Electron Quiz National Finals,

December 2008

NTPC

Sandeep Sahota III National level

case study

competition

Economic Times

Awards 2009

Economic times

& PwC

Anchit Maheshwari, Rohit

Bhagat

III IPO & Stock

trade competition

Megabucks 2009 IIT Kanpur

Anchit Maheshwari, Rohit

Bhagat, Saptarshi Basak

II Spectrum Samanvay „09 IIT Madras

Aditya Mishra, Nitin Singla,

Sandeep Sahota, Rahul

Gupta.

II Atelier Kshitij „09 IIT Kharagpur

Aditya Mishra, Nikhilesh

Tayal, Kalyan Ray Ankit

Arora

III ADDICT,

Marketing Event

Springfest „09 IIT Kharagpur


20

Neerav Gada, Piyush

Kumar, Aditya Sharma,

Prabhat Ranjan

III Exampler Kshitij „09 IIT Kharagpur

Neerav Gada, Tarun

Agarwal

I Systems Quiz Continuum 2009 SJMSOM, IIT

Bombay

VGSOM Rankings amongst Indian B-Schools

The Wall Street Journal and Open Magazine ranked VGSOM amongst top 15 govt. aided B-Schools in India

in its September, 2009 issue.

scuzzy dec 2009

Documents

students of vgsom

vgsom batch

iit kharagpur batch

vgsom brand

field of management

petroleum management

iit kharagpur volume

iitkharagpur alumnus