Tada Waterfalls Trek : Trip Log

Members: 13 Great Lakers - Ankur, Awhan, Karn, Akhil, Varun, Mukul, Sushil, Hitesh Jain, Arvind Sasikumar, Abhishek Srivasatv, Dhiraj, Neha

Start time: 4:30 AM, Friday, 18^th Dec, 2009

End time: 9:30 PM, Friday, 18^th Dec, 2009 

Total travel: 370 Kms

Total expense:

      Taxi (Tempo traveler – 14 seater) – 8,000 INR

      Others – 2000 INR

      Total = 10,0000 INR approx

What went well:

- Awesome adventure. Among few of the best trek.

- Reached till the main waterfall by exploring ourselves

- Drinks and food

- Best time management in all trips done till now

- Complete Green Trek. Infact collected few more bottles :)

- Great trek team

What went wrong:

- Money collection and members’ participation till last minute

Total duration: 1 day

Going: Manamai - Chennai – Tada

Coming: Tada – Chennai – Mahabalipuram - Manamai

Weather Conditions: Very Pleasant

Vehicle: Mini-Bus

Photographers: Ankur, Hitesh, Varun, Sushil, Abhishek 

Special Thanks to:  Hitesh for organizing the bus and talking to travel agents. Sushil and Mukul for support and help.

18^th Dec 09

Great Lakes, Manamai

05:00 hrs – Departure from Manamai

06:30 hrs – Tea at Chennai

08:00 hrs – Shopping of food items + Daroo shopping + Breakfast on the way. Menu: Omlette, Dosa, Idly. 

9:30 hrs – Reached Tada. Trek started.

Hitesh on the Run

  On the Iron Bridge    The Victory

On the wayWater playThe human chainSome more The 3 idiotsThe Trek                                           Fun time: Sushil and Varun      Chips khaati C'IpsaAwhan and Varun: Gum ka saathi RumNeha: Miss Tada                  Tada waterfallsThe fight with TadaDrinks time

 

After winning

Inside water

Sushil: Nice pic

The team work

On the trek

The ultimate swinging tree

Neha: Fun time

Mukul: The Chudail pic

FRIENDS Temple

Awesome experience. 10 out of 10

Great Lakes Term 4

Very tiring term. Truly, LIP course was the major reason of it but even then this was all worth it. :)

Great Lakes Term 4 (5th Oct to 22nd Nov)
Course Name	Facilitator	Positives	Delta (No negatives)	Any Comments
Business Analytics	Dr Purba Rao	Very sweet and nice prof.  Good documents so that you can always refer later. A good knowledge of her course.	Sometime she starts interacts on one to one basis with students while whole classes of around 130 students are gossiping.	Nice experience to be taught by the Prof.
Consumer Behavior	Dr. Siva K. Balasubramanian Harold L. Stuart Professor of Marketing and Associate Dean Stuart School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology	Good course. The book which was given is great.	Unable to relate the course material other than book with the course.	The course could be made more vibrant and interesting.
CRM	Prof  Xavier, Great Lakes	Great facilitator. Enjoyed his witty comments.  Good classes and great method of mixing students’ presentation with lectures.	Sometime classes got boring.	Good facilitator with a great sense of humor.
Distribution and Sales Mgmt	Prof VK Murthy	Best lecturer in marketing we ever got. The prof is the best in class. No gyaan, no bakwaas, only practical aspects and realities of sales job. No big assignment and case studies. Case studies and writeup were small but intelligently crafted.  Very professional too.	No delta	Would love to sit for his class anytime.
Investment Banking	Prof Ramanujam	Gives a lot of time to students to interact and resolve their problem.	Could not understand even a single bit about investment banking. Case studies were too large and made no sense to me. Moreover case studies were more about strategy rather than IB. Moreover, the sessions were meant for finance experts not for amateur like us.	Keep less case study and more basics.
Leadership, Influence and Power	Prof Venkat R. Krishnan	Aah…here comes the subject and the Prof I almost rever. The Prof has an amazing method of teaching. Moreover he is best prepared for his lecture. The course is just not about business but about our overall life of us, organization and society. Few concepts were enthralling that you will just keep on thinking for many days about the same.	NONE except that there is a lot of compulsory reading which make you burn mid-night oil whole of the term. But it’s worth it. J	The subject is the best you may get at great lakes. I will recommend this subject to all MBA students. You understand nuances of working into the organization and day to day politics.
Quintessentials of Doing Business in the 'Middle Kingdom	Prof G Venkataraman	Nice Prof. Some stories about china were quiet good.	Was not interested much to learn more about China.	Such subjects could be great if students here have time. We have no time left to enjoy such arts/culture oriented subjects.

Great Lakes Controversies

Every place has its own history and share of controversies. Writing few of the controversies happened at Great Lakes. Howsoever harsh or bad it looks right now but I am sure these controversies will be cherished by us whenever we will memorize them later or cross our roads after this 1 year meet @Great Lakes.

1. May, 09; Campus going haywire: New campus however many basic things not proper, bad internet speed, no water, AC not working, spamming, conundrums.

Actions: Lot of work happened at majot scale after all this drama. Gradually Patriots got settled at no man's land and made it the home. 

2. 27 May, 09; Scorpion at my room: Mail fragment will suffice thewords:

" Tonight I found a 3-4 inch long scorpion in my hostel room. It was curled up in my laptop bag. To say that I am shaken would be an understatement. At the moment, all I can think is that I am lucky to be alive. I am thinking my stars that I noticed it because I was studying till late.

The only way it could have entered my room is through the gap below the doors. Please get some sort of fitting done in the doors so that dangerous insects and snakes cannot crawl into our rooms. I personally do not feel safe at the moment after this incident.

Patriots: Always make sure you check your shoes/sandals, bags and other stuff lying on the floor before you pick them up.

Hoping for a quick response."
Result: Sprays in campusto avoid snakes, rats etc

3. 28 May 09; Updates and Rules by Stuco: There was lot of spamming happening due to new campus going haywire. Another bomb flashed soon by Stuco. the mail snippet by Stuco:

"There have been lots of unnecessary mails floating around to the class ID and the solution to that is a fine (of Rs 100/-) that will be levied on any person who sends a mail which isn’t of any value to the whole class. The fines that will be collected from this initiative will be held by the Student Council till the Honour Code Committee is formed and thereafter they will be the custodians of the money collected."

The mail got fire instantly and soon there were more spams than ever. The meeting with Stuco after this has been the most heated discussion happened till now. 

Result: Rule overruled

4. Specialization drama: Student not knowing about which specialization to take. 

Result: Spamming and unnecessary meeting with Profs

5. 13 Jul 09; Safety and Medi-claim issue: Raised by me to Stuco

Result: Fire extinguishers kept, Railing were put, mediclim happened after 3 months.

Wait for more as it happens...;)

HBR on Managing Your Career : A Review

Recently finished this awesome HBR-Managing Your Career. The book contains classic article on how to personally manage your career. The wisdom talks from the career managment experts ask for changing our hard wired mind-set. The book takes completely practical outlook while narrating the real life examples. The books says that individuals themselves should take sole responsibilty to build and manage their career, life and success in them.  T

The topics in the book are:

1. Reawakening Your Passion for Work by Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee, and Daniel Goleman;

2. Goodbye Career, Hello Success" by Randy Komisar;

3. The Right Way to Be Fired by Laurence J. Stybel and Marianne Peabody;

4. Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker;

5. A Second Career: The Possible Dream by Harry Levinson;

6. Five Strategies of Successful Part-Time Work by Vivien Corwin, Thomas Lawrence, and Peter Frost;

7. Managing Your Boss by John Gabarro and John Kotter; and

8. Managing Yourself: A Survival Guide for Leaders by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky.

This collection of articles talks gamut of topic ranging from career challenges, effective time management to part-time arrangements to launching a new career.The book not just preached but also tell you the complete strategy of how to follow them what is said.

Few topic were just a treat to read and will definitley make you to think of changing yourself in the way you see your career. Few topics from the chapter which I loved and influenced my thoughts are:

"Reawakening your passion for work" make you think and reflect that why and what you should be working for.

"Goodbye Career, Hello Success" tells about pursuing passion driven career which is the only way of being successful in life.

"The Right Way to Be Fire" is yet another practical approach which says that you should always be prepared for the turbulent times. So, always remain on toes, be vigilant and keep yourself most sought after.

"Managing Oneself" talks about introspection and finding about yourself before making your moves to the outside world.

"A Second Career" prescribes for keeping alternatives career mainly in your areas on interest and passion, as this could become your primary job after retirement or a feeling of achievement after doing mundane things in your primary job. I loved the concept of realising and writing your Ego-Ideal.

"Managing Your Boss" talks about shining your boss to shine yourself.

The book has something to learn for every professional. A must read for all MBA and other professionals too.

Malaysia-Singapore Trip Log

Members: 36 Great Lakers and Allen (the guide)

Start time: 6:00 PM, Monday, 28th Sept, 2009

End time: 11:30 PM Monday, 05th Oct, 2009

Total travel: 7000 KMs

Total expense: 50,000 INR (package + personal)

What went right:

- Awesome experience as expected.

- Covered almost all tourist destination and theme parks

- Party all nights

What went wrong:

- Less of a study tour

- Lack of planning by management

Total duration: 7+ days

Going: Manamai - Chennai – Kuala Lumpur - Singapore

Coming: Singapore – Kuala Lumpur – Chennai - Manamai

Weather Conditions: Humid/Pleasant/Cold

Vehicle: Plane, Train, Bus, Taxi, Mono-rail, Metro, Luge, Cable Car

28^th Sep 09

Manamai - Chennai

18:00 hrs – Departure from Manamai

20:00 hrs - Reached Chennai Airport

23:45 hrs – Departure from Chennai

29^th Sep

Kuala Lumpur: Putrajaya - Gentings - Hotel Manadarin court

6:00 hrs – reached Kuala Lumpur


7:15 hrs - reached Putrajaya – palace of Malaysian King

8:30 hrs – Batu caves sri subramaniam temple

10:45 hrs – Reached Genting Entrance for Cable Car Travel

The 20 minutes Cable Car was an awesome ride and an unforgettable experience. We were sailing through clouds all round the travel.

11:20 hrs – Reached Genting http://www.rwgenting.com/

The Genting Theme Park is located 51 kilometers away from Kuala Lumpur. This entertainment park is constructed in the lap of Ulu kali Mountains. The soothing scenic beauty adds to the glamour and glitz of the amusement park. Innocence and spontaneity is heart felt in this part of Malaysia. This park is sub-divided into indoor and out-door compartments. This park treasures skilled games which are highly technical and computer based. The mysteries of Genting Theme Park of Kuala Lumpur will take you in the uncharted terrains of Harry Potter and Hogwart’s whomping willow.

20:30 hrs Reached back to Hotel

30^th Sep

Kuala Lumpur City Shopping: UNITAR – City Tour – Beach Café

 9:45 hrs – Reached UNITAR, got some dose of Guest Lectures.

13:30 – Petronas Twin Power Photo Shoot

13:50 – City Shopping and Strolling

19:00 – Window shopping

22:00 – Beach Café

1^st Oct

Kuala Lumpur City Shopping: City Tour – Minara Tower – Petronas Twin Tower

11:00 hrs – Check out of Hotel and started City Tour

13:00 – Lunch at an Indian Restaurant – The Olive Tree – Great Indian Food

14:00 - @Minara for a 360 degree of Kuala Lumpur.

15:30 – @Chocolate Outlet

16:30 - @Petronas Twin Towers

17:45 - @Reached at Twin Tower Bridge at 185^th floor

19:00 – Sight seeing

21:30 – Departure from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore via Train

2^nd Oct

Singapore: Merlion – Night Safari and Halloween

8:00 hrs – Reached Singapore

9:00 hrs - Sight-seeing

13:30 – Hotel Check-in + Rest

18:00 – @Night-Safari with Halloween theme

with Vodoo Queen...piercing my heart :)

 

Hitesh and I met Fairies too!!

Joker (above) and Gladiator (below)

3^rd Oct

Singapore: Shopping

12:00 Chinatown

 16:00 Orchard road 

4^th Oct

Singapore: City Tour – Sentossa

9:00 hrs – Breakfast @ our Citihub hotel

9:30 hrs – @Merlion

@Merlion

 

Got Chinese Kudiyaan too

10:30 – @Chinese Temple 

11:30 - @Gem Factory

14:00 hrs - @Sentossa Island Beach walk

15:30 – @Sentossa’s Dolphin Show

16:30 – @Sentossa’s Grand Aquarium

17:30 – Luge ride @Sentosa

19:30 - @Sentossa’s Songs of the Sea – An awesome experience

5^th Oct

Singapore: Visit to Singapore Indian Ministry of Commerce – Singapore Airport

10:00 – Visit to Singapore Indian Ministry of Commerce, Guest Lecture and Lunch

14:30 – Aravind and me Rushed to Sim Lim Square to buy camera

16:00 – Out of hotel

17:00 – Singapore Airport

Singapore Changi Airport or simply Changi Airport is a major aviation hub in Asia, particularly in the Southeast Asian region, and is the main airport in Singapore. Located in Changi on a site of 13 square kilometres (5.0 sq mi), it is about 17.2 kilometres (10.7 mi) north-east from the commercial centre.

 19:30 Depart from Singapore (Singapore Timing)

23:45 Welcome back to home – India (Indian timing)