From all these we cannot forget our beloved faculty, who would scream at the top of their voice to fill our empty upper chambers and help us fill that white sheet of paper that we get after every 3 months. I admire your efforts to guide us, chide us and to love us and our naughty pranks. We are thankful to you for all efforts taken for making us a better and brighter student moreover a better human beign.

These are moments that can make emotions flow at any time in life. I will never forget my college years, they have been the best 2 years in my life till now. I have seen, learnt and experienced so much.  I have found friends; some of who didn’t care and drifted apart. Some other who remained friends for life.  I will always remember my favorite place in college, my hostel pranks, my faculty, all my friends, those innocent and decent faces of people who turned out to be devils in disguise. All these experiences I got from college have helped me mature. I will cherish them forever. A good job, maybe a great pay and loads of independence that I craved for all these years is awaiting me and yet there is a part of me that is happy to be stuck in college because I know that these joyful carefree days will never come back.

So enjoy your last few months of college life because these moments will never come again. At the same time don’t forget that it is not your own but your parents’ dream too. We owe a lot to them but we don’t realise it. Don’t be the cause of embarrassment, shame and disgrace to them. At least make an effort to stand-up somewhere close to their expectations. College surely is a time of self-discovery, learning, planning for the future, boundless energy and most definitely having fun.  I wish DCians 10 the very best for  your future and your personal endeavors.

  Keep Smiling

^_^

 By Neetu (PGDM10-12)

Well, all of us or at least most of us familiar with the name of Mr Julian Barnes and Jennifer Egan; aren’t we? For those who aren’t aware, they are respective winners of Man Booker prize and Pulitzer award in the year 2011. Let’s peep into these books and see what was so special about them or are they worth their claim?

The sense of an ending by Mr Julian Barnes is a book that tells a story of a man trying to come in terms with his capricious past. Barnes has maintained his typical sense of lucidity, trademark precision, dexterity and insight in this book. The book is very precise in its telling with not a word washed out on its 150 pages. It is thought aggravating, beautifully pragmatic with just enough mystery to keep you turning the pages to find out what happened. By the time we finish it, it is not only the novel but the title also inspires us. It is a new learning on how a story is told!

The story revolves around Tony Webster and his school friends, who found their circle divided by a newcomer Adrian Finn; cleverer, more measured description of their ostentatious selves. The group submersed in the glower of this bright star. Finn brought a glimmer to their middle-class, suburban edition of the Sixties, when the sexual revolution had yet to explode. “Most people didn’t experience ‘the Sixties’ until the Seventies,” notes Tony. “Which meant, logically, that most people in the Sixties were still experiencing the Fifties.”

It is Tony’s mystified narration of the chronicles throughout, but he proves to be an undependable narrator. Later Tony leaves for university and his first relation – with an undergraduate Veronica begins. Tony faces sexual dissatisfaction, class divergence and youth anxiety, especially when Veronica shifts her interest to Adrian. Tony’s consequent years are relayed in shrill-stop fashion, and take the form of a dull tick-list: monotonous administrative job, boring wife, even a tedious divorce. Four decades next his story does get a jerk when a legacy casts a new glow on the past.

As a final note the writer tries to point out those memories, individual rather than collection accounts for who we were and what we are. An early memory is more precious, though it can be misconstrued. Its pressure can persevere throughout our life.

The second novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan is a collection of linked short stories. It is a book of a different genre, the sort that despite its sporadic stretching of limitations and definitions of what imaginary tale is and can be is finally satisfying only for Egan’s absolute good storytelling. It is filled of gaps, spaces joining stories go uncharted until almost 100 pages later, and various parts of characters’ lives are never explained or are only implicitly veiled at. It’s a powerful work for the ways Egan involves the booklover in the content; fine points that would in other works be major turning points are here only hinted at, pushing the reader to imagine the lives of the characters that Egan has scripted for us.

The stories revolve around a few protagonists who reappear a bit more often than others, and broadly around the American music scene: Lou, a coke-huffing, teenage-girl who seduces music producer in the 1970s, who becomes the counselor of an amateurish young bass player, Bennie, who becomes a music producer himself in later years, who hires a young woman, Sasha, who has a predicament with kleptomania, who sleeps with a youngster, Alex, who ends up hired by Bennie to coax the return of Bennie’s high-school friend Scott, and the story continues with lot many inter related characters who get jumbled up with their life’s goals.

Each chapter has its discrete voice and mood, varying from satire to farce, from melancholy to tragedy. She has been gifted with comic skills by which she has even turned a cruel rape scene into a hilarious affair. Egan has succeeded to create a humorous and creative book that is good and contains some stories that are truly great. It is an outstanding work of literature.

So readers what’s your say in this? Now that you are aware of the contents of both the award winning books…which among them do you think is actually worth the …or are they both? HAPPY reading!

By Poulomi, PGDM10 Vagamon Campus

For more than 20 years the Hay festival has brought writers, thinkers, musicians, film-makers, and scientists together around the world to cross cultural and genre barriers and foster the exchange of ideas.

So, once again the much awaited 3-day feast of stories, poetry, ideas and debates was celebrated at the cultural abode Kanakakunnu Palace in the capital city of God’s Own Country.

With DC books being the official bookseller of the Hay festival how can DCSMAT step aside from being a part of it.

Jam-packed with bliss and passion, two teams of DCians undertook some tasks of the festival. One team was from the Media cell (Trivandrum campus) for the coverage of the festival, in order to come out with a newsletter which was released on the 3rd day and a documentary too.

Other team was a blend of juniors and seniors (Vagamon campus), who were part of the volunteers taking care of each area flawlessly, you name it and they are there.

It was all in all an amazing experience of social gathering where we could meet numerous prominent faces, discover more about them, or we could name it as networking.

Ultimately we could say that DCSMAT shined along with DC books in the occasion.

- Monisha of PGDM Senior Batch , TVM campus

This was the first management fest for some of my team members. The two day management fest gave us good amount of exposure and experience into both theoretical as well as pragmatic knowledge of management. On November 3 and 4, we the budding managers from DCIAN family worked together as a team ,fought till last and made our counterparts jealous about us.    

This event helped most of us to unleash our potential and realize the fact that how lucky we are by being a DCian. Moreover, we gained the respect from other teams, because the brand “DCSMAT” had already created some impact on them in the past.

 The life at DCSMAT helped us to a great extend to show others that we are different management thourough breeds. We were able to differentiate us from others in various aspects.

At last we won two major events, the marketing game (last year we were the runner up) and the best manager (first best manager champion from DC 10 batch).

For team

Nishad V.N. , PGDM 10

Placement fever has caught DCians 2010 and with the fever reaching the peak, DCians 2010 are undergoing rigorous placement training under skilled trainers. It is true that a few minutes decide our future with our dream company. The Placement Team is on the right track by bringing in eminent corporate to conduct mock interview training for the students.

 Dcians `10 assembled in the C-Block at 9:45am eagerly waiting for their names to be called.  Even though a mock interview, students gave utmost importance to it as if attending a genuine interview. Some of the students were relaxed, chit-chatting with their friends, some pale faced, some confident about their performance to be given and some expressionless. Students went through a forty five minutes interview session with Mr Lijit and Mr Renjith, both of whom are from IDBI with years of experience. The interviewers made the students at ease and instilled confidence in them by giving suggestions and opinions about their resume and their answering skills. The interviewers appreciated the management for crafting well mannered and groomed corporate – to – be. Lot of appreciation for the DCians, however, we know getting through the placements is not a cake walk hence lot of hard work and constant development is undertaken by everyone here.

Neethu

PGDM’10

Course by GIGS

Mr. Kiran Kishore from GIGS had triggered thoughts in our minds. Now, the word ‘mind’ is no more just a word for us. We clearly understood that MIND is about conscious, sub conscious and unconscious part of us. His training revolved around thoughts, mind, physical and mental games. The session which started at 9 in the morning concluded at 8 in the evening. We still felt fresh and the session was like meditation. Our minds were healthy and active after the sessions as he had put us to deep sleep through meditation and everyone felt very light and relaxed.

Meenu PGDM10

The next day we were working on tools like pivot table, goal seek, solver, plotting graph, Vlook up and Hlook up. The quiz which was taken on the 1^st days was taken on the 1^st days was again conducted and after every answer the class applauded for each other as well as themselves. I could hear everyone talking about the session and asking each other was the session helpful and everyone unanimously said a big YES.

Meenu

PGDM10

The learning for the students from this activity was to read news paper every day, keep updated about the current affairs, listening skills, being smart and have the competitive edge. This is one activity that everyone enjoyed and this was being talked about during dinner time as well. No one hesitated to be a part of this event and everyone enjoyed it to the core.

–   Meenu Pillai PGDM10

Every event in a person’s life brings a new dimension to the thought process. I was fortunate enough to be a part of such an event. I just got back after a mega event… A big opening in my life and career. It was an extremely competitive event and I am exuberant that my team mate and I got the special jury award. The event was V- Guard Big Idea Business Plan Contest which was held at Renai, Cochin on the 21st and 22nd of October.

The hard work that went into the preparation for the B- Plan was immense. It was a matter of pride and existence. I would like to state it that way. The event came to our notice in the 1st week of August and the decision to participate was taken in a jiffy. However, the plan was not decided. I believe everything fell in place once we decided to go for it. The sailing was not smooth. We had to encounter lots of trouble both in terms of the synergy between the team members and the content for the B- Plan. I guess, when something is initiated there will be trouble unless there is a defined path to move on. We did not have a defined path to move on. The path became visible once we slated down what must be included in the B-Plan. After a few days of friction between the team members, everything fell in place and we started A Dream for Generations to Come.

We had sleepless nights working on the project. The classes would get over at around 7.30 in the evening and then we had half an hour break which was specific for dinner and then continued with our dream by 8. The work would extend until break of dawn. Then again we used to wake up by 6.30 in order to attend sessions at 8.30. Our minds used to wander from the lectures to our dream project. The mega event always made me jittery and super nervous. Every entry from various colleges across the nation was scrutinized by the V-Guard management and 20 were shortlisted from the lot of 95. We were fortunate enough to be one of the 20 teams from across the nation competing against the mighty IIM’s. This gave us a boost and we started working with extra vigour and enthusiasm. Later, it was time to send a 5000 word PDF file which was not an easy task. The better word to be used to describe it would be- herculean task. The sleepless nights had continued and we had got used to sleeping very less and being extremely productive. The night after submitting the 5000 word PDF file, we slept peacefully. We enjoyed 6 hours of sleep and that was all we could ask as we had sessions next morning. After submitting the PDF, we had very few days to prepare for our oral presentation. Without a day off, we started working on it. We became jittery as the date for the presentation neared. We were extremely nervous because we were competing at the national level with almost 6 IIM’s and 3 NIT’s. It was not a small thing to compete with them. The learning we got was immense and we understood or realized how capable we were. I was surprised at the way I stretched myself to make our work the best. Without my team mate’s support and guidance nothing would have been possible. I had to be constantly motivated initially and eventually it was a routine to start working on the project as soon as our sessions were over. I have learned to a great extend what exactly is this PGDM all about. As a matter of fact, we were strategising and I realized it only when my friend told me. It is interesting to note that I have realized my calibre and potential. This is a new opening for me. A new opening in the sense, this event has changed my thought process and has given me new horizons to think… Waiting for another opportunity… Before ending, I would like to thank my team mate for extending his support… Thank you

Faaiqu MP

PGDM10

Mr. Nagappan Nair was instrumental in giving details about the banking industry. The pre – placement discussion extended from the history of banking to the compensation levels and the position that the management graduate will occupy in a bank.

On the 16^th Oct the inaugural session of Specialised Practical Oriented program for HR students by V – Guard Industries started off. The guest facilitator is Mr. John Mathew Sebastian who represents the HR department of V – Guard Industries.

The students were divided into two batches. The orientation gave insights about various practices held in the corporate world. Students were inquiring about various other practices and equipping themselves with the information – activity oriented session. The activities held made the students enthusiastic. Training by Angloscape on etiquette, soft skills and communication is giving an edge for the students. The training starts at 6.30 in the morning and extends to 8 in the evening giving the students the heat of the corporate world.

The training provided for the students are equipping them to take a big leap into the corporate world.

Wishing everyone a pleasant placement season …