The Chronicles of the Washing Machine @ Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon.
 

This is different. This is new. Probably the least expected thing to surprise me.

Have you every tried to do your own laundry? If not, you are taking the person who does your laundry for you for granted. Trust me, this is the first time I've done this and IT IS NOT EASY.

Like it or not, you have to do your own laundry in The Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon. From buying the right detergent to seeing if the weather is in my favor, it was all new to me. What tops the list is "hoping" that the washing machine is not being used by someone else when you want to wash your stuff.

"My Precious"

Moving on to the real deal, the washing machine. I think flying the space shuttle would be easier. I'm pretty sure that the user manual for automatic washing machines is bigger than an Oxford dictionary. I have gained new respect for people who can operate washing machines with ease. After a mind boggling two and a half hour washing session, making it work made me feel like I need to celebrate the experience. I did.:P

I NOW HAVE BRAGGING RIGHTS!! PEACE \m/

-Yogesh Babu
(www.fb.com/yogesh87)

The Trip - by Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon.

When I was in Bangalore, long before I stepped foot into GLIM, we received an email saying that we're going for a trip to Rishikesh. Considering that its land that I've never been on, I decided to go. Moreover, only the stupid would say no to river rafting and rappelling?

Come 24th May, 2013 (Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad), we were scheduled to leave Gurgaon. We did, in most congested thing that was claimed to be a bus. My Dad was in the travel business, I don't know what that is called but it sure wasn't a bus. A little box which was the only negative of the full trip. Undoubtedly, the guys sitting in front of me weren't comfortable as well.

After a tough night (negative connotations unintended), we reached Camp Alpinestar where we had a tiny trek just to enter the place. Just when we were wondering about the place, we saw the Ganges (Popularly known as Gangaji or Ganga)flow right in front of us with our tents by the riverside. Yes, it was awesome.

We were split into two groups with three teams each. Group one (with me) went for rappelling and Group two went for rafting.

Wow! where do I start about the trek? I'm contemplating on whether to start with how unfit we all were or how super fit the guides were. With temperatures burning your face off, we started climbing from some random point on the way up. a few minuted into it we were like "Dude, this is not a trek. This is easy." Clearly, we spoke too soon. It was like in the video games. It got tougher and tougher and TOUGHER on the way up. Long breaths, frequent breaks, gazillion liters of water later, we reached or destination. Instantly, we jumped into the icy water. "The climb was worth it", we said while the guides were setting up the stuff for rappelling. It took us close to two hours to finish the rappelling. The most difficult part of rappelling was the start. After that, it was a (not so gentle) breeze. I enjoyed every bit of it. Then we headed back to the camp to grab some lunch and prep up to river rafting.

On the way to Rappeling. Rishikesh (25th May, 2013)

Stepping out right after lunch. A difficult choice to be made but that was our only choice. We were off for rafting. As we were closer to the evening, the currents were pretty fast (that would make us go faster \m/). After the safety speech by our very own "fake Brit accent Rishikesh guide", we had the time of our lives. Strong rapids, continuous rowing and a dip in the Ganges. It's something one has to do before they get old and start having joint issues. FACT!

Just before Rafting. Rishikesh (25th May, 2013)

"Bunta", a popular drink in the region was available everywhere. Its basically masala lime soda in Bangalore but had a slight twist to it. A must have if you go to Rishikesh.

Rohit, Yogesh, Abhinav and Bunta stand. Rishikesh (25th May, 2013)

A night that ended with a lot of laughter with our very own guitarist Tiwari who had some fantastic chords to play is a born entertainer. We called it a night where we did not have to switch off lights or switch on the cooling as there was no electricity. You read it right, no electricity. We survived on the full moon and few torches in the darkness.

6 AM, a refreshing meditation session by the Ganga was much needed. If you did'nt get up by then, you surely missed out a great deal. Prof Palhan explained to us the benefits of meditation and I said to myself "Eight minutes a day can give you this much?! Let me do it everyday". We moved on to a few really fun team building exercises. Although "The Phoenix" did not win anything, we sure had spirit."PHOENIX KA TEMPO HIGH HAI!! PHOENIX KA TEMPO HIGH HAI!!"

We left to Gurgaon at 12:30 pm to hit the God of all traffic jams. It took us over twelve hours to travel 300 kms. Go figure!

Reached my room at 1am. YOGESH BABU. OUT!

-Yogesh Babu
(www.fb.com/yogesh87)

Convocation Day for our seniors @ Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon (PGPM-13)

I see mixed emotions, mixed expressions and more. Parents hugging their children, Classmates tearing up as they depart, etc. Wow! Its was a sight to experience. All that we were short of was some really senti music playing in the background. It would've made stones weep. (Slightly exaggerated!)

A year at the Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon can be a life changing experience and I saw a bunch of individuals unanimously say the same thing. Not because they were supposed to or had to but the experience they had for the past 12 months alone made them say it.

The school and its students have received a tonne of criticism for not having a campus and that the experiences in GLIM, Gurgaon is actually a waste of one's time. We, Great Lakes, think otherwise. "Why?", you may ask. So here it is. The mentors, the experiential learning and the want to make an impact. Those are three of the infinite reasons one can say about GLIM, Gurgaon.

As I saw the faces of the previous batch step out, I realized that my day is just a year away. A year that would seem like it went in a flash. Well, who realized that we're almost in June 2013. And what did we do for the past five months? Think about it. "Time goes, it never comes."

Batch of 2014 (Titans) - We let the seniors have the best photograph.

A hearty meal and a billion photographs later, we returned to our rooms thinking about what we saw and what life we have in store for us. An uncomparable feeling of being confused.

Trust me! Its a good thing. Correction. It's a "Great" thing.

Cheers

- Yogesh Babu
(www.fb.com/yogesh87)

Party @ Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon.

It was Day 1 of induction and we had sat through more than 10 hours of lectures. In which we had some fantastic Powertalks from CXOs of 2 companies (Mr. Sandeep Aggarwal. Founder and CEO, Shopclues.com and Mr. Eric Fridolfsson, South Asia Head, IKEA).

All this before the course even started. Looks like its going to be a year to look forward to.

What was initially planned was the lectures to round up by 5:30pm and us to change and go for the Convocation Party at around 8 pm. As expected, we couldn't follow that schedule, the lectures went on till 7:30pm and we had to go to the party directly from College.

Left to Right - Abhinav, Yogesh and Srinivasan.. Club Rhino, Gurgaon.(23rd May, 2013)

One drink, two drink, three drink, four. That's how it went down and Club Rhino in Gurgaon. Teachers and senior batch students were recollecting the time in the past year went by. Realized that we're only a year away from a party like this organized for us (PGPM-14) and marked our calendars.

  

Left to Right - Rithvik, Richa, Ehtisham and Yogesh. Club Rhino, Gurgaon. (23rd May, 2013)

A happy evening came to an end, some people more crazy than the others. We headed back to the rooms in a not so stable state knowing that we're going to have a crazy hangover (Which eventually happened) the next day as we had to get up really early for the convocation of the previous batch from from Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon.

PS - COMPLIMENTARY SNAP!

 

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WHEN THE DRINKS HAVE KICKED IN! Club Rhino, Gurgaon.
(23rd May, 2013)

Good Night!!

-Yogesh Babu
(www.fb.com/yogesh87)

And this is how it started.

D-Day. Also, it was my last day as a Bangalorean. My folks moved to Chennai and I'm here.

In Bangalore Airport with folks (22nd May, 2013)

Landed in the Delhi airport and the first thing I thought was that my face was going to tear off because of the 40 degree heat wave. It makes Chennai heat seem like a breeze. FACT!

Thank God for AC, I made it to college. The receptionist handed over a few documents for me to fill and had to sort of stuff with the fee, accommodation and scorecards. (This was a long wait).

The stuff rounded up around 4pm and we headed back to the Osho's (bearable) hostel which is around 7 kms from the campus. Luckily, they have an option for you to move into an apartment close by where you need to share a 3 bed room apartment which has a gym, a pool, Wifi and a long running track. I obviously chose that. :P

Once that decision was made, had to call it a day. Everyone was excited about the match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad (Lost - YESS!!! They could've atleast given Bangalore a chance. Serves you right ****hes). I however, slept for a good seven hours and head the results over coffee and was happy about it. lol

Thats it for now. In the words of Truman "Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night).

Cheers!

-Yogesh Babu
(www.fb.com/yogesh87)

The Beer was already on the table. To celebrate was inevitable !! \m/

Great Lakes Institute of Management, here I come.

What a way to start!! It was all the more exciting because my student loan got sanctioned on my birthday (15th May). Happy Birthday to me. :)

As happy as I am, the past month and it’s experiences for me in getting a loan has taught me a lot. From how important money and property is to how important a guarantor is (For the loan).

For a while I regretted my past (For being less financially sound, having to ask everyone for help, etc) and wondered should the past have been different, I would not have run from pillar to post like a dog begging for me to study further. More-so because it wasn’t for a car, a house or even something as shallow as jewellery but it was for me to study. And study alone. But I was wrong. And how.

Why? you might ask. Well, if it wasn't for my past and its difficulties, I wouldn't be the person I am today. Today, I feel wealthier more than ever before. I have a family that encourages me, friends who'd pick me up, moments that are worth more than money can buy. For that, I am fortunate.

I have God to thank for that. God and.... a LOT of Alcohol. :P 

"Some people are so poor. All they have is money."

-Yogesh Babu
(www.fb.com/yogesh87)