Life @ SJCBA Bangalore

[jobin231]

Hello Everybody,

With each passing day, I am getting more and more involved with Pagalguy. In fact I had to go and request the network administrator in the organization I work to unblock pagalguy as we are not allowed to browse forum based sites.

After being increasing drawn-in by the magic of pagalguy, I thought of starting this new thread on Life @ SJCBA, Bangalore which would chronicle the next two years of the time that I would be spending at St. Joseph's College of Business Administration, Bangalore.

I hope the below quote would sum it all:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost "

[jobin231]

Intending to go to Residency Road where SJCBA is located for the GD & PI process, I caught hold of a auto. After giving the auto driver the destination address, I dosed off. The reason being I was feeling tired after the Jet lag and above it, I had a little hangover from the party given by my friend on my arrival in Bangalore, the previous night.


The auto driver awoke me up at the gate of SJCBA. This is where I had the first glimpse of SJCBA. The first thaught that came to my mind after seeing the SJCBA building was that it looked like some colonial era structure. A group of around 25 candidates had come, some along with their parents. About 360 candidates were supposed to attend the GD & PI process that day. As time passed by their number had swelled to around 200. I had carried along with me a brown leather bag which held my precious certificates that I had garnered as a student and then as a working professional. I became a bit self conscious after I overheard some candidates remark that the person with the leather bag looked like a medical representative.



Exactly at 8:30 am, the registration process had begun. The GD process was to take place first. The GDs were held in different rooms of the college.
I was put into a group of 12 and ushered into a room. We had some time before the moderator of the GD came. So, we started to interact with each other. There was a lecturer,a journalist, a medical doctor, a university topper & a TCS employee in our group. Even before the actual GD started, we had started a discussion on the prevailing political situation in Goa. This discussion ensued because two out of the 12 were from Goa.

[jobin231]

[quote=jobin231;1090271]

Intending to go to Residency Road where SJCBA is located for the GD & PI process, I caught hold of a auto. After giving the auto driver the destination address, I dosed off. The reason being I was feeling tired after the Jet lag and above it, I had a little hangover from the party given by my friend on my arrival in Bangalore, the previous night.


The auto driver awoke me up at the gate of SJCBA. This is where I had the first glimpse of SJCBA. The first thaught that came to my mind after seeing the SJCBA building was that it looked like some colonial era structure. A group of around 25 candidates had come, some along with their parents. About 360 candidates were supposed to attend the GD & PI process that day. As time passed by their number had swelled to around 200. I had carried along with me a brown leather bag which held my precious certificates that I had garnered as a student and then as a working professional. I became a bit self conscious after I overheard some candidates remark that the person with the leather bag looked like a medical representative.



Exactly at 8:30 am, the registration process had begun. The GD process was to take place first. The GDs were held in different rooms of the college.
I was put into a group of 12 and ushered into a room. We had some time before the moderator of the GD came. So, we started to interact with each other. There was a lecturer,a journalist, a medical doctor, a university topper & a TCS employee in our group. Even before the actual GD started, we had started a discussion on the prevailing political situation in Goa. This discussion ensued because two out of the 12 were from Goa.

[Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling.- Anonymous ]

[jobin231]

Ok, Here I am sitting with 12 others discussing on the prevailing political situation in Goa in one of the rooms were the GD process of SJCBA is about to take place.

And just then walks in a very senior professor of SJCBA. He introduces himself: He did his PGDM from IIM A, spent several years in United States, worked with world renowned consultancy comapanies....



After the introduction, he asked us to sit as per the roll nos. alloted to him. He then goes on to explain the GD & Essay writing process. First comes Essay Writing. We were given two essays from which we had to choose one and write an essay in 15 minutes time. We were given 5 minutes time to think on the structure of the essay.

The essays given were:
1. Your Favourite Writer
2. India & China, Who would ultimately win the race.



I thought of writing an essay on my favourite writer. But then I realised that I have been so out of touch with books lately that even the name of some of the books that I read were not immediately accessible to my mind. I settled for the easier one i.e., the second topic: India & China, Who would ultimately win the race.

My mind goes racing. I consider myself as a bit of a storyteller, so I decided to structure the essay like a story.



I begin by stating that many people think India Vs. China race is a new phenomenon that began in the early 90s after India jumped into the globalization bandwagon. But the modern race between the two began just after the two countries broke away from their colonial shackles.

Lap 1 of the race: China invades India, predominantly to undermine Nehru's leadership at the world stage. And to teach a lesson on supporting the Tibet's cause. China wins.



Lap 2: Present times, China produces more engineers, doctors, researchers. Has more Internet users, mobile users, Builds world class infrastructure in terms of airports, railway lines, Olympic Stadiums....,. China ahead of India in the race.



Final Lap: Year 2030: India wins, China suffers from an ageing population because of their strict one child policy. India has the largest concentration of youth in the world. India touches the red ribbon first. End of the race.



Next Part- The Interview.

[jobin231]

"India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border!"

Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA

[jobin231]

I wait with bated breath for the moderator to announce the GD topic. He finally announces it: 'Is unemployment, the root cause of terrorism'. I am delighted because any topic on terrorism is my forte area. We are given a few minutes to note down our thoughts on the topic. Then the GD starts, first with opening remarks from all the twelve candidates. Actually it is more like a debate with six candidates speaking for the topic and the rest speaking against the topic. I am in the 'for' group. When it comes to my turn to speak, I go dead for a few seconds as if like a car which refuses to turn on, on a wintry night. Fortunately, I overcome the initial hiccup and soon find myself cruising at 100kms/hr. The GD centered heavily on my Doctor friend and myself. We did not give the others enough opportunities to speak out. After fifteen minutes the GD ends. By then we had discussed the Al Queda, ULFA, JKLF and NSCN and their role in exploiting the unemployed people in their respective regions. I gave a sign of relief, the day was certainly mine.

[jobin231]

The day started with us hostellers setting out for the college. We were around 11 of us with 09 yet to join the hostel. The college is at a walk of 25 minutes away from the Victoria layout area where the SJCBA men’s hostel is located. After reaching the college we met a lot of our friends who had joined the social networking site Orkut where our batch had a community. By the end of the day we had almost met everybody who had joined the community except for a handful of guys and gals who still remains to be traced out.
The day started with the inauguration of the SJCBA batch 2008-10. After seeing the hoardings hanging in the hall welcoming the batch the feeling finally dawned on me that the past several years of dreams was a step away from being fulfilled. The inauguration ceremony of the batch started with a good song played out by Josephites from the city. The chief guest for the inaugural function was Mr. Immanuel David (XLRI 1983 batch), head of HR, GMR group. The other dignitaries present on the dais was Rev. Dr. Terrence Farias, (Rector of St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore), Rev. Dr. Aveline R D’ Souza, (Director, SJCBA), Dr. Mohan Gopinath, (newly appointed Dean) and Prof. V. J. Lawrence.
Rev. Dr. Aveline R D’ Souza began the inauguration ceremony of the batch by welcoming the fresher’s and hoped that the present batch would be a step ahead of the previous batches in all the activities including the mischief part though he went on to add that the mischief part would not be tolerated. He then introduced the Faulty members of the institute, many of them having with them tons of industrial experience before stepping into the academic world. While introducing the faculty words like United States and Industrial experience were heard more frequently. In short he concluded that the greatest pride of SJCBA is its faculty which is one of the best in Bangalore city.
Rev. Dr. Terrence Farias spoke on the eagerness and expectations of the batch that came out when three of the students of the batch were asked to come forward and speak a few words. Mr. Immanuel David gave us some glimpse of what the industry expects from b school students and gave the students and faculty some vital hints on going forward with the teaching process.
The second session of the day was chaired by Dr. Mohan Gopinath the Dean of the Institute who gave us a wider look into the life at SJCBA. The second session was followed by a Mass for the Catholic/Christian students. After the Mass, Prof Edwin Castelino exhorted the Christian students to be more prolific in their coursework and expected that at the end of the course the institute would produce a gold medalist from the Christian community which has not yet happened so far. He also went on to add that whatever reservations followed by the college which made 50% of seats available to the Christian students on its being a minority institute ended the very same day and now on the competition was open for one and for all and the fight to the top would be on equal grounds.
The third session saw us visiting the Library and the Computer Lab where the respective ln-Charges explained about the various rules and regulations to be followed while using the respective centers and familiarized us with the procedures of each centre.

[Neilsd]

hi there Jobin,

G8 work dude.. Keep it up!!!


I'm from ya super senior batch i.e. PGDM 2006-08..

All the best!!!

Hope to meet you at the convocation...

Till den...