TEACHERS FOR LIFETIME

-Fatema Raja MBA I Year 

Few call them a teacher, some others guru, while some call them mentors and I call them my life makers. The ‘Teacher’ is not a word its an emotion. Life began with the most merciful teacher, God. God is the only teacher who teaches you without actually teaching you. People say you get a teacher at every step of your life, but I have only three categories of teachers, God the Almighty, My family and my core teachers.  Someone has rightly said “School is the temple and teacher is God”. In this blog, I would like to express about my core teachers. Let’s go back to school days and figure out how teachers, a resemblance of God has made our lives different.

With eyes full of tears and a water bottle around my neck, beautifully dressed with an identity card attached with a handkerchief on the left of the uniform, I was forced to go to school and there I came across my first God like teacher Miss Pasquina Norman. She was the one who held my hand and made me understand the importance of schooling. I still remember reciting, “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, and things wise and wonderful, the good God made them all”. Here I understood the most basic but the most important lesson of life. From there my journey towards learning started.

A good teacher believes in you, when you lack faith in yourself. Being a student from science background, taking up commerce in graduation was a major turnaround in my career. Almost everyone discouraged me, but there was one distinguished personality amongst those people, Dr. Arzoo Rode. She was the one who believed in me. She made me believe that I can do the best and can see a topper in me. Her belief in me made me the Gold medalist of my batch. 

Roll no. 32 was call out. With the miniature of handmade fort/castle, I started walking towards Miss Nancy Thorat, my social studies teacher for evaluation of my project work. Everyone had made giant unique models, my miniature could have easily been ignored. But Miss. Thorat pointed out towards my fort and said “that’s the model I have been looking for, beautiful, Miss Raja”. The nervous low-paced walk transformed to a confident high headed walk, the nervous look on my face was now cheered up. Even now when I feel low, I just have a glance at the fort and my heart cheers up. That’s the beauty of a teacher she boosts up the confidence in you.

A teacher invents the best version of you. Do you know who made you realize that you are good at speaking or good at dancing? Yes, they were your teachers who found the best in you and brought out the best from you. I might not have been writing this blog if my teachers have not showed trust in my writing. You might give up but teacher never gives up on you.

I would like to appreciate and praise all the teachers who helped me in climbing the ladder of life. Setting high standards for me, encouraging me, motivati
ng me are the ways in which they bought a positive change in me. They are the true preachers of our lives. 

It’s sad that we remember our teachers only on the teacher’s day or day of Guru Pournima. They do not expect wishes but have a desire to hear the milestones achieved in your life. Remember the dream begins with a teacher, without teacher life would have no class. 

Blog By

Fatema Raja MBA I Year

Indira Global Business School, Pune

A Year in the life of an MBA

 

- Moneeka Lodha MBA I Year

➤  How does a year in the life of an MBA student look like?

 Since so many aspiring students  want to know what to expect  from a new normal MBA degree, I thought to share with you all, my experience of the first year of my MBA from one of the top B-schools in Pune – Indira Global Business School ( IGBS )

Though, each person's experience will vary based on his or her educational background, work experience, undergraduate degree, graduate school, course selection, and interests. Nevertheless, I am sure that My Learnings will give you a general idea as to the classes, activities, workload and learnings you can expect.

➤ My Learnings

 

●Considering my profile, Being a fresher I was so overwhelmed with the network I had ( my faculties, seniors and peers) also the types and quality of competitions and events which were being conducted throughout the year, though all were virtual, but the energy was more contagious than Covid-19.

● In your MBA, you get very different perspectives of the simplest things, concepts like SWOT analysis and A/B testing make you think like a thinker at the same time as an analyst too. You would never find an MBA in your B-school including faculties, who had not accomplished something extraordinary that you always would feel amazed by getting to know such amazing personalities beside you, who are always there to guide you, support you and motivate you to go beyond your limits.

➤ Our suspicious mindset in the second wave of Covid-19 

  ● In the nutshell, the best thing I loved about my MBA is "Opportunities I got". In the beginning, our Batch was so worried that we would not get any practical experience of an MBA which is supposed to be the most important thing in grooming an MBA, we used to curse our fate, saying when our college would start, when would we get to experience our offline MBA, when would we meet our friends to whom we have seen only on Zoom and teams calls, also sometimes we used to feel agitated and painful to focus continuously on laptop for the prolonged time for better understanding of the important concepts of accounts and microeconomics.

 ➤ We got the results 

 But after our first semester,  we could see the results coming on our way and felt the sense of fulfillment and resentment of our MBA that we are exposed to great opportunities and fruitful results as in :-

 ➤ What I learnt in first year  MBA?

1. Each of us got a couple of live projects which have given us hands on experience for our corporate lives.
2. We all have done at least one internship in our area of interest, like HR, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Operations, Digital marketing etc.
3. 
   Even if the Market situation was worse, most of us  got an internship and very soon we have realised that it's the result of our boosted self-confidence and enhanced skills which we have acquired in the form of brainstorming, interactive lectures, insightful guest lectures and practical certification courses from our experienced faculties and corporate training agencies. 

4.  Each of us have got delivered more than 20 presentations and solved at least 50 case studies, have written number of research reports and dedicated hours for lots of assignments, taken part in group discussions, some worked in placements cells and committees, now getting spoon feeded the concepts of aptitude and domain subject, as well as interview skills, which will be reaping sweet and delicious fruits for our late night hangovers and early morning productive screen times as in our good placements.
   

5. An MBA can enhance your marketability as a professional and increase the quality and quantity of chances of job opportunities.

6. I believe that an MBA degree makes you proficient in handling managerial positions. You can even use your abilities and enhanced skills to create a business from scratch and take the path of an entrepreneur.

➤ A day in the life of an MBA

So long story short, you will find an MBA doing market research in the morning and making ppt in the afternoon, giving presentation on consumer behavior then submitting group project of SEO in the evening, studying personal finance and industries at night, making flow chart of product mix in the dreams and waking up with the anxiety, for the next day's interview, also getting a wholesome smile for the accomplishments, but enjoying the thrill of all with his squad.   

 ➤ Some new normal sentences which I learnt in my MBA first year 

 Mam, attendance link !

Am I audible and visible?

Sir, my Mike is not working :(

Network distortion ;)

You are on mute, please unmute yourself */

Make an another whatsapp group xD

Let's catch up on zoom :)

  

Blog By

 -Moneeka Lodha. 

MBA  I Year
Indira Global Business School, Pune.

The author can be reached by mail 

at moneeka.lodha@indiragbs.edu.in

 

 

 

eRUPI: India's Digital Currency

 

-Vijaykumar Patil MBA I YEAR

On 2^nd August 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched e-RUPI, a prepaid e-voucher scheme. It is developed by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCL). It is a cashless and contactless instrument for digital payment.

It connects the sponsors (the one who pays the money) of the services with the beneficiaries (receiver of the service) and the service providers digitally. It does not need any intermediary for completing the transaction. The beneficiary is not required to have a bank account to avail the service provided by the sponsor. He or she just need to have a mobile phone. The beneficiary will receive an SMS and by showing that SMS, he or she can redeem the e-voucher.

Earlier, money for the welfare schemes used to come through many intermediaries like government officers. There was a great chance of corruption and getting money lesser than the allotted amount. In order to avoid this, the government had brought DBT that is Direct Benefit Transfer. Through DBT the government was able to transfer the money for welfare schemes to directly the beneficiary’s bank accounts. Although the DBT scheme is a good option to transfer the subsidy money, it has some issues like the beneficiary needs to have a bank account, money allotted for the welfare schemes could be misused, money given to one person could be used by another person.

The e-RUPI is a purpose specific e-voucher, that means t

he person can get only that service for which the voucher is issued. This feature also makes the e-RUPI safe and leak proof as there will not be any intermediaries. There will not be any delay for payments from the sponsor as the e voucher is prepaid, the money is already allotted for the service offered.

This new e-RUPI is very useful for the government welfare schemes. Let’s say the government has given fertilizer subsidy to a farmer. When the government gives subsidy for the fertilizer to a farmer, he will get the e-RUPI voucher to buy the fertilizer. This e-RUPI voucher will be in the form of a QR-code or an SMS. The farmer will go to the fertilizer shop, show the shopkeeper the QR-code. The shopkeeper will scan the QR-code, the farmer will then get the OTP on his mobile phone. After entering the OTP, the fertilizer vendor will get the money and the farmer will get the fertilizer.

This e-RUPI voucher can also be used by the private corporations. Let’s say there is a transportation company. It transports some goods by trucks. The company owner gives money to the truck driver to refill the fuel. There is a chance that the truck driver does not use all the money to fill the fuel and keeps some money with himself. In order to avoid this loss, the owner can issue the e-RUPI voucher for refilling the fuel to all the drivers. Drivers can then fill the fuel with those vouchers. This will also be easier for the drivers, as all this process will be contactless, they will not be needed to

carry any cash.

The experts are describing this e-RUPI launch as the first step towards India’s own digital currency. The government will assess the response to this scheme before launching its digital currency. Even without the future prospect of this becoming the digital currency, this standalone voucher scheme is a good move by the government. 

Vijaykumar Hanumant Patil 

MBA 1st Year

INDIRA GLOBAL BUSINESS SCHOOL ,PUNE

The Author Can be reached by mail at Vijaykumar.Patil@indiragbs.edu.in 

 

 

 

 

Healthy Life Style in Corporate Life

 

- Sakshi Tickoo MBA Ist Year

It all started in 2017 when I started my journey as a Java Developer with Fidel IT Services. As a fresher, I was joyful to start this journey. We used to learn technical stuff while working, but most of us were neglecting our own health, which was the root cause of many health issues.

However over a period of time, I gradually realised the importance of taking care of own health. Here are some of the common health issues which I and some of my colleagues were suffering from.

➲ Eye Strain: 

Since today’s work require working in front of a desktop/laptop all day, most employees develop eye strain. Eye strain is commonly associated with dry eyes and a painful sensation. It happens as a result of staring into the computer screen for a long period of time. The 20-20-20 rule has helped me to overcome this.

It is very simple and doable rule in which after every 20 minutes, look away from your screen and stare at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This reduces stress on your eye and can combat the negative effects of digital devices.

Apart from this, we can keep the brightness low and increase the font size which can reduce eye strain.

➲ Keep Hydrated: 

In the mission of completing targets we forget to drink water. Employees always do this at the cost of their health. It can cause dehydration etc. Don’t forget to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Try to avoid sugary beverages like Soda, energy drinks etc.

➲ Obesity:

Obesity in the workplace occurs because of unhealthy eating issues, lack of exercise, stress, sedentary lifestyle etc. PCOS is one of the major effects faced by Women due to sudden weight gain.  A whole day of just sitting in front of a desktop doesn't favour weight loss. To overcome, have meals on time (obviously no junk only healthy food), don’t skip breakfast and lunch, exercise, use office gyms, practice yoga or anything which you think can make sure you won’t gain sudden weight.  

➲ Maintaining work-life balance:

 In most of the Indian organizations, the workday starts somewhere between 9am and 11am and finishes anywhere between 6pm to 10pm. So hardly employers get time for family, hobbies or to maintain personal activities. How we can handle this is:

•        Focus only on wo
rk in working hours but don’t think about your work when you switch off your laptop.

•        Plan a vacation once in a year.

•        Work mostly in the morning and make evening free for your family.

➲ Stress and Mental Health: 

It is a key finding of one of the surveys that 67% employees think about work even when they are not at work. Stress related illness is common- lack of sleep, depression, anxiety and depression.

To get rid of this, meditate at least for 10minutes, spend time with positive people, surround yourself with people who will make you grow, follow your passion, can read spiritual books which brings positivity and helps you know about the ultimate reality.

  I am currently in my first year of MBA course at Indira Global Business School. I quit my job in the corporate sector and became student once again .Being a student once again has given me a new lease of life which has helped me to get rid of many complaints about my health.

There is a saying, if wealth is lost, nothing is lost but if health is lost everything is lost. You cannot enjoy the beauty of life if you are not healthy. So, take good care of yourself, Enjoy this beautiful life. Good luck and Cheers!!

 

Blog By

Sakshi Tickoo

MBA I Year

Indira Global Business School, Pune.

The author can be reached by mail at (sakshi.tickoo@indiragbs.edu.in)

Lessons I Learnt From Stock Market

 

By Vishal Rupwani MBA I Year

It all started in the year  2020, when I opened my  Demat  account . Before that I had  started research in the stock market. I was very fortunate to get my first stock market  mentor in an Institute involved in stock market training  . I started my trading and investing journey ever since then. It felt to me like a roller coaster ride in the markets, where sometimes you feel like a king of analysis and like a sore loser at other times. Each day in the market taught me something new. I  consider myself as  a student of the markets as I know that stock market is very vast   and there is lot to learn from it. There are some learnings which I learnt from stock market and would like to share with all of you.

➤ Be humble: You should be humble and never let you ego escalate to a level, where it controls your actions. As a trader, you need to be humble with the amount you use in the markets. In a trade, you should never involve an amount which causes you to lose control of your emotions. This concept when applied in trading will lead a path to success with lesser setbacks. The same when applied in life will lead you to becoming a better person in life.

➤ Be patient: We have to learn to be patient in life as will go on as it is designated to at its appropriate time. As an investor or trader, patience is the most desired quality you need to build in yourself. Trading is the same as fishing which requires patience. It is not necessary to catch every fish in the sea, just some that bite your bait. It is the same for trading it is not necessary that you take every successful trade just a few that fulfil your target are required. You need to learn to take small steps to the success rather than hoping for a big leap. It very will relates to the quote “Patience is bitter, but the fruit is sweet”.

➤ Maintain Discipline: Discipline is one of the most important aspects which lead to success in life. You might consider how it relates to investing or trading. Even the biggest traders might have a washout of their account if they are not disciplined with their trades. If you are a trader you need to consider and plan every aspect of your trade before you enter it. You need to have a strict discipline over yourself to follow up with your plan be it in a profit or a loss. Discipline is what differentiates a trader from a gambler. Discipline is considered as a success mantra by most of the successful entrepreneurs and managers in a firm.

➤ Have Confidence in yourself:

Be it in our life or in trading or investing there comes a point in our life where we tend to lose confidence in ourselves. It is very important to keep our goals in the mind and continue on work on ourselves. It’s easier said than done to go over such process; you might need a mentor to keep pushing you forward in such cases. Only with consistent work and determination can one achieve small steps toward their goals their goals. These small steps help one build an unbending confidence in oneself.

➤ Never give up attitude:

You might have often heard people saying there are ups and downs in life. Believe me, you will see much more than just up’s and down’s in live market. It is normal as a human being to make mistakes, the same happens with traders or investors. It is not always the case that everything goes as per your analysis; there are chances that you may have made some error in your judgement. It’s very difficult to accept such losses. It is very important that you learn from your mistakes and progress with them as your stepping stones. You must never give up on your goals, because of a few setbacks, learn from them sharpen your skills and continue to work. Only through consistent effort can water breach the rocks, you will definitely achieve success in your goals if you are persistent and consistent with your work towards it.

The stock market boosted my interest in finance and that is why I took an MBA (Finance) course at  Indira Global Business School. I am sure that in the future I will continue to be associated with the stock market and keep learning new things.

Written by Vishal Rupwani 

Indira Global Business School, Pune.

The author can be reached by mail at - vishal.rupwani@indiragbs.edu.in

Work Experience + MBA = Great Combination

Fatema Raja MBA Ist Year

 “Fatema, don’t you think that you are a black hat thinker?” sadly I moved my eyes towards the ground, feeling very downhearted. This title was given to me by my trainer during my Initial Learning Process (ILP) days. My heart melted and I sat upset for the rest of the day. I remember it was our last break for the day at 5’O clock. I sat with a cup of coffee in the pantry. Sir took a seat beside me and said “Do you know the black hat thinkers are most valued persons in the industry?” Nervously I tried to roll up my eyes and look at him. He continued, “these types of people are rare but in a group of managers they are always welcomed. But this growth is very slow from where you have started.”

 

This was the first time after entering TCS I thought to go for an MBA. But deep inside I didn’t wanted to leave this prestigious organization and therefore I decided not to abandon this job. Very soon I was allocated to one of the projects. I started working as a Data Analyst for one of the top auditing firms. Super excitedly the journey began. Entering corporate world pushed me to leave my comfort zone and taught me the importance of work life balance. I got unlimited opportunities to prove my capabilities. I became a trainer in very short duration, a QC (Quality Checker) for the team, a part of onshore calls and meets and sometimes even addressed as the right hand of my TL. But very soon I realized, for the position I wanted and for the critical advancement and growth I need to complete my post-graduation. The hunger for growth and development got deeper and deeper and finally I took a firm decision to leave TCS and landed up taking admission for an MBA program at Indira Global Business School. A little anxious and full of excitement I started this journey.

 

To my wonder the work experience I took prior resulted in not only mere 3 or 4 benefits but a long list to count on. I feel indulged to share some of these benefits with you.

 

1. ➧➤ Understand and relate your curriculum: 

In one of our organizational behavior classes, importance of work culture was being taught. I remembered TCS firing an employee because he copied from work of other peers. You must be wondering we all have completed almost all our assignments from those of others during our college time. But as per TCS this is oppose to integrity. Their work culture strictly follows integrity as an important principle.

See as I was able to easily relate the topics with the prior experience, I was really able to understand the concept behind the topic and it enhanced my long-range learning.

➧➤ Upgrades your skillset: 

When you are in a working environment you start observing the skills which you will need to sustain in a corporate environment and once you enter the MBA world you will start urging for those skills. Like other peers you really don’t need to search for the skills you are good at, you already know it and you will work on building those skills stronger.

By mentioning skills, I didn’t only mean communication skills or presentation skills but very minute skills like keeping record of each task you have done, making of agenda and minutes before and after the meeting respectively, greeting people whenever they cross you and many more. These minute skills will define you in a working environment.                                                

➧➤ Time management: 

A small part of my work also included activities relating to billings and there I thoroughly understood the importance of time. By a mere 2 minutes I lost my batch-run and by the end of the day the record was not created. Can you imagine the date? It was 31^st march when all the accounts are settled. 2 minutes difference and we lost our client forever.

 During MBA with a lot of assignments, projects, case-studies there would definitely be a tight schedule. With other peers experiencing roller coaster ride, an experienced person would be intellectual enough to plan and manage the work as he or she have already learned the lessons of completing work accurately well before deadlines.

 ➧➤ Makes you more innovative and competent: 

As 1 and 1 makes 11, Similarly experience combined with MBA changes ‘You’ to ‘Developed You’. Once our team was assigned a hefty project and as it first time, we missed our TAT. The stress level increased and I became more frustrated. Poorly I didn’t even know how to manage this stress. You all must have found various loopholes during your job, came across various problems and what hits hard is not having a solution to those issues at that time. Once you enroll for an MBA and you start learning those concepts and principles believe me at your back head you have already got a solution or an impression on how you should have overcome those situations. You will start taking prompt decisions and try to overcome complicated affairs in an innovative and competent manner.

➧➤ Stands out from other MBA’s: 

    Having a work experience add-on is like cherry on a cake. It’s a desirable addition and adds bonus to your resume. I remember during our early days we had trainers coming from Bangalore for a period of 2 months. Their travel expenses, Hikes and incentives, accommodation expenses were beard by TCS and it added up to a lump sum amount. If a work experienced person is hired these all cost can be eliminated and therefore organization look for experienced people.

 It’s a high time to first prepare for an MBA and then opt for an MBA. Apart from entrance exams, practical hands-on knowledge should also be a part of preparation for an MBA. To end with “Its always advisable to first sharpen your swords and then jump into a war”.

 

Written by....

Fatema Raja

MBA Ist Year

Indira Global Business School, Pune.

 

The Introvert's Guide to B- School.

 

➤ Bokey Sumiran

 “I am in introvert and this is totally opposite of my comfort zone. Socializing to maintain contact on a daily basis? Group activities? And how do I even choose my domain? I don’t like finance and I don’t want to end among people by choosing marketing”

 

 Dear introverts,

I know, if you’re planning to enroll into a B school or at some point in your B-School journey these questions must’ve popped up in your mind. I know it did.

B schools are the perfect example of a place where people from all the psychological, demographic places are brought in together to train to fit the extroverts of the world. I often see this as an art of pottery where teachers and mentors use their knowledge to mold students so they can fit into the corporate world.

A normal day at a B school consists of tones of social interaction disguised as group activities, group presentations and assignments. To any non introverted person this might sound like a great platform for socializing and learning but, for an introverted person this is nothing less than end of the world. You cannot keep on running from it like you do in any normal social situation. You cannot just pull your mobile from your pocket and walk across your colleague or a senior pretending that you haven’t seen them. This just doesn’t work because I’ve tried this and it is just plain stupid and embarrassing (You are welcome).

You have enrolled yourself into a B school. You must have thought this through. To be fairly good at interaction, you have to form a habit of waving, smiling as a form of greeting to other people. Making this as part of your life style is the key of surviving B school. In a shorter term it will help you interact with people and in longer term it will eliminate your social anxiety.

 

I got to spend a fair amount of time in B school. I have made some points according to my experience that will guide you through your first few days (or entire 2 years) of B school and new people.

 

1.     ➤ Keep your mind open

 Keep an open mind and don’t judge people. As I said earlier, people from different backgrounds, culture are there. Everyone has their own problems or skills where they lack and they are probably trying to figure it out. They might be looking for a friend and you just need to be open and approachable.

 

 ➤  Engage into conversation

 I know. For you, this is more difficult than climbing Mount Everest. But just hear me out, I have something that can help you. Imagine you are enjoying your lunch in the canteen all alone, you have your earphones plugged in and suddenly some of your classmates join you. Well, obviously you can’t ignore them so you have to talk. Just try to ask questions which are about them. People love to talk about themselves. So you just got to ask questions like ‘what assignment are you working on?’ or ‘how was your presentation?’ and voila! There’s your conversation.

 

  ➤ Find your ‘Homies’

 Let’s face it. We all need our homies in our life. Life at a B school can get hectic if you don’t have friends around you. I know they can be annoying sometimes but that’s what friends are for. At the end of the day these people are going to support you and motivate you through your journey and your final placement. So, just find your people and support each other.

➤ Be Vigilant

 Nobody is perfect and everyone lacks somewhere. I’m not trying to demotivate you, all I’m saying is to trust the kind of skill set you have. Everyone has got strengths and weaknesses. Focus on your strengths but also try to overcome your weaknesses.

Be confident and accept your flaws. Work on communication skills, aptitude, GD skills. If you are not good at communication, ask someone with better communication skills to guide you. If you are good at GD, help someone who struggle in the GD. This is how you support each other and grow together.

  ➤ Make time for yourself

 I know, above points sound like a lot of work. Exploring new places, people and new aspect of your personality can be mentally exhausting. That’s why, try to make time for yourself. Don’t give up the things you love. Take out some time for yourself and keep in touch with your hobbies. Look for some space for yourself in the crowd of people to recharge your social battery to get you ready for your next day at B school

 

Unfortunately due to covid-19, I got to spend good 6 months in B school after that everything got virtual and to be honest I missed being in the campus with all the people around me. The introvert on me never thought I will say this but it did happen. It worked well for me and I hope it will work for you too.

All The Best!

 Blog By..

Sumiran Bokey MBA II Year.

Indira Global Business School, Pune.