iBulletin 12

A monthly Newsletter initiative by the students of EPGP batch 12

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The iBulletin-XII editorial team!

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Open Mic sessions

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Hardening of "values" into dogma is leading to the failures of Big Companies

The fresh thinking that led to a company’s initial success is often replaced by a rigid devotion to the status quo which leads to hardening of their values into dogma - a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative.

Most leading businesses owe their prosperity to a fresh competitive formula—a distinctive combination of strategies, processes, relationships, and values that sets them apart from the crowd. As the formula succeeds, customers multiply, talented workers flock to apply, investors bid up the stock, and competitors respond with the sincerest form of flattery—imitation. All this positive feedback reinforces managers’ confidence that they have found the one best way, and it emboldens them to focus their energies on refining and extending their winning system. This becomes the “Core Values”/ “culture codes” of the companies and acts as a more digestible way of pushing corporate dogma and rules down employees’ throats. Oftentimes these core values are aspirational in nature, or based on the leadership teams’ views of how they wish their company to operate. All good in theory – except, more often than not, these values are created and administered top down and employees are forced to “get on board, or get out” or not even come on in the first place. “This is just how things are done,” dogma whispers, every second of every day, to every decision-maker in every boardroom.

A company’s values are the set of deeply held beliefs that unify and inspire its people. Values define how employees see both themselves and their employers which provide the centripetal force that holds together a company’s far-flung operations. As companies mature, however, their values often harden into rigid rules and regulations that have legitimacy simply because they’re enshrined in precedent. Like a petrifying tree, the once-living values are slowly replaced by the cold stone of dogma. As this happens, the values no longer inspire, and their unifying power degenerates into a reactionary tendency to circle the wagons in the face of threats. The flag bearers of the companies start to carry the same traditional values year on year which helped then create a strong brand identity in the past.

Even in cases when they are employee generated, there will always be individuals in the company who will think or believe differently. Is that a bad thing? What about “innovation” or “disruption”?

Leaving it open ended with the intention to hear your opinions? Food for thought, guys!

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Hobbies

Art and Craft

by Ipshita Biswas

More on Art..

by Pallavi Porwal

Some of us picked up some exciting hobbies

Vivek Dev - Meditation

Himanshu Kumar - Cooking

Nimesh Kumar Gupta - Photography

Pratyush Anand - Weight Lifting

Prasanth Purushothaman - Lockdown Baking

It has been no different for me as it has been for the rest of you guys being at home during this COVID lockdown. Spending time with your family members for most of the day than the usual without entering into a fight could have been a tough choice for many in these turbulent times! I do know of the constrained situation of my friends who were living in the metros have had no other choice but to stay in their limited space in their apartments and were restricting themselves to step out, except for getting their essentials or for disposing of their garbage. In a way I can say, I was quite fortunate in that aspect as I was away in my countryside home, in Mala, a small town in Thrissur district in Kerala on the outskirts from the city amidst green surroundings having paddy fields and cows to bemused with along with our limited family members and the two neighboring state homeworkers. We had that liberty at least to move around a little bit more!

Out of nowhere, I had the lavish time in the world, to wake up a little later than usual and engage myself in the morning jog in the farmyard, found myself plucking cashew fruits from jack trees along with my wife and mom. All the members of the family had fun by spending our time together by playing monopoly, poker, and Scrabble without having any work pressure just the way it was in my childhood. Other times were spent trying to abridge with our knowledge by attending the free webinars that had popped up now and then, and meeting friends and extended family members on the ‘zoom’ portal and the regular IIMK online sessions to keep us busy. I had also tried my leg in Latin dance on an online dance session that came up- it was a disaster!

Ironically put, it can also be interesting to note how we, the EPGP participants, attending classes for our second term, happened to get a real-life experience of the dynamics of the macroeconomic during the pandemic, very well relatable to the economic classes we attend. It has helped us get a paradigm shift in our views on how the monetary and fiscal policies of governments work in an economy, and so on during these tough times of recession. Baking or cooking new recipes was no new wonder either, as it was one among the trending things in social media, doing many rounds. And it looks like the lockdown is not going to end until each one of us has baked at least one cake in this quarantine! And here I am, to share with you a piece of joy that I had in making one such recipe.  

-The No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake!  Tadaaaa….!

Well, it’s never too late to try something new!! And here is my attempt at cooking this gorgeous Blueberry Cheesecake at home during this lockdown for the first time, which surprisingly turned out pretty well!! I had a great day baking this with my wife, who is an architect turned pastry chef in the making. And it’s a lot of fun learning how to make one!  

Here’s the recipe! - it’s super easy and delicious. Enjoy!

No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake

For the Crust

Ingredients:

Digestive Biscuits (preferably Mcvities): 100gms Butter: Enough to bind the biscuit crumbs.

Preparation:

Crumble the digestive biscuits and mix with warm melted butter until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press into the bottom of an 8” or 9” pan. Refrigerate the crust while you prepare the rest of the Cheesecake. This will chill the butter and help firm up the crust.

For the Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Egg yolk: 5 Nos.

Sugar: 90g

Mascarpone Cheese: 180g

Gelatin: 15g

Whipping Cream: 350g

Blueberry Filling: 200g

Preparation:

Beat the egg yolks and sugar lightly. Place in a boiling water bath with constant stirring until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Add dissolved melted gelatin. Allow cooling.

Now add the mascarpone cheese and blend the mixture well. Add the blueberry filling to the mixture and mix.

Whip the cream to soft peak consistency and fold into the cheesecake mixture. Pour over the biscuit crumb layer and keep it in the freezer to set.

Once set, cover the top with blueberry filling and cool in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before slicing. Top with whipped cream and fresh blueberries(optional) and serve chilled!!

Serves 8, 6, or 4 depending upon your helpings! :D

Bon Appetit! ☺

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade…!

Adjusting to the new normal…

by Ipshita Biswas

The last few weeks made me realize how much I love staying indoors and not having to meet people every day. Well, I do miss the parties, frequent café visits, road trips. But, hadn’t we already made peace with sacrificing most of these luxuries when we decided to sign up for EPGP? 😊

Since November end, all of us are going through a roller-coaster ride, juggling between office, studies, and home. So, this lockdown is probably the only time since then that we got a breather.

The current situation unfolded so unexpectedly; it felt initially kind of surreal. Especially by mid-march when the situation started impacting us with the spreading awareness of using sanitizers and maintaining distance from people. But since then, within just two months (which might feel like

Two years to some people), most of us have passed the phases of denial, acceptance and finally of adjusting our lives around it.

As for me, hobbies have always been an essential part of my life, and I have always tried to stay in touch with them. But this lockdown helped me invest a bit more time in them than usual. Since the start of our course, I haven’t been able to spend any time reading books. But lockdown helped me finish one and start two others. I finished reading the book ‘CEO Factory’ and have begun reading ‘Good Economics for hard times’ by Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo | ‘Black Swan’ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

I am currently working on writing a review of the book ‘CEO Factory,’ which is going to take some more time. Probably, I can finish it by the time the next newsletter is published. Till then, I can only recommend it. It’s a fantastic book, especially for people pursuing an MBA or thinking of doing the same in the future. In just around 250 pages, the book would take you into an enlightening journey of the business strategies behind pricing products, profit maximization, product positioning, ways of reaching the customers, and much more.

On a typical day (in a COVID free world), CrossFit classes used to form a very significant part of my daily schedule. After the office, I used to have something to look forward to every day. But lockdown changed that, and I had to resort to home workouts. It was a little demotivating and dull in the beginning. I missed the energetic ambiance of the class, the small competitions we used to have to motivate each other, and of course, the weights ☹️ . But, along with every adjustment that we are doing right now in getting used to the new normal, getting used to online workout sessions is another part of it. All thanks to the CureFit masterclasses and the packs meant for enticing even the layabouts to work out every day 😊.

Then, I could finally find some time to create 3 short dance videos as opposed to my previous record of creating one dance video in every 3 months. Since the start of our course, my frequency of finishing an artwork had reached reach a record low. I had to keep myself happy with miniature paintings and quick sketches. I had almost given up on creating portraits or A3 sized paintings that needed nearly 6-7 hours. But lockdown enabled me to create a few portraits and some time-intensive paintings too. I was always too lazy to take pictures while creating artworks. But this time I gathered some patience and created a few art tutorials videos too.

Links to dance videos:

Dance Video - 1

Dance Video - 2

Dance Video - 3

I always had a terrible sleep cycle which received good support from my flexible office timings :p. I slept after the sun-rise :p . But, by some grace of God, for the last few weeks, I am sleeping and waking up like a normal person! I sleep by 12-1 AM and wake up by 6-7 AM. People who know me are having a hard time accepting this recent development :p

Similar to the above-mentioned unthinkable incident, another unusual activity that the lockdown prompted me to do are the household chores. Cooking is something I have always been terrible at and all the experimentations mostly resulted in some disasters, leaving me with the plight of having either a half-cooked food or a burnt one. But lockdown changed that too. Finally, I could prepare edible food, especially my favorite dishes.

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Sneak Peak

Sneak peek in everyone’s life. How did they feel about the unprecedented pandemic and what have they been up to during the lockdown. Some emotions and feelings we would like to share

Bharathy Sivan

Our husbands’ being soldiers, they do not have the option of Work from Home. When they come back home, they are quarantined in a room. But then this is how we, ladies supported each other and quarantined our families as a community with our own volunteered group efforts.

The families of Raksha Nagar decided NOT to step out for at least 45 days. But luckily, we got used to the system and its been continued successfully for the past 3 months.

Even before the lockdown 1.0 was announced our volunteers for main and sub teams were ready. We divided the families into groups (approximately 30-40 members each) according to the location and one member administrate each group through WhatsApp.

We tied up with an agricultural farm and two vegetable vendors.

We convinced and trained the two grocery shops outside the camp and liaisoned with a FMCG dealer & a medical shop owner.

We have ties with Godrej chicken company of Pune who can deliver our order at Nashik.

We started supporting a cold press oil business started recently.

To simplify the process, we ladies discussed the approximate grocery requirement to be stocked up for 45 days for a 4-member family. And created template lists with 4 options.  And the grocery shop packed them for all after their rush hours. We appointed 4 guys as delivery boys. After They door delivered them through the small electric vehicle available in the camp.

The choices for vegetables, non veg and other perishables are forwarded by the individuals to the WhatsApp administrator, 2 days in advance and she compiles and forwards to the chief coordinator (me). And I Forward it to the farms and shops. We staggered distribution by groups in different days to avoid cluttering and confusions.

The bill copies are sent on WhatsApp and the amount is compiled as an excel sheet and posted in groups. The families are paying it through digital means and send the screen shot on WhatsApp. End of the day the payment from the families are verified and order closed.

It appeared like a chaotic task in first week. There were raised eyebrows that is it going to work? But once the templates are ready and the system of payment got regularised it became a simple and smoother operation.

In fact with group communication, digital  transaction  and door delivery administration in place, we could actually do wonders. We adapted an orphanage which was in struggle without support. The migrant walkers had food collected from our homes group wise. Women turned entrepreneurs by baking cakes and crafting gifts for birthdays as shops were closed. Few prepare food material for long storage with traditional methods and supply everyone on payment.

We share, care and remain happy and safe as a community with just little more efforts on our day today life. It’s is not tough. It just requires an attitude.

Household chaos, cooking for kids, and I have some social responsibilities here as a military wife. I’m in charge of arranging essentials for 300 families, plus my business.

Literally tongues out…!

Saravanan Subramanian

As it all happened so suddenly, we happened to work from home. I chose to stay in my village, away from the city chaos in pursuit of peace and calm. I moved away from Chennai, went to my small remote village, where I was born. Here no shops, no cars, no bikes, even no small shops available. Entirely agriculture-based village.

After moving away from Chennai, settling in a small village, and continuing to WFH was a massive challenge for me for one month due to inferior internet quality... Later I managed to get a fiber net connection, which was very surprising for me even to find it here.

Due to COVID 19, My Company, Ford India,  planned a massive purchase pipeline, so I am managing my team sitting from this village...

Significant reasons why I moved away from city life-

1)  No worry about social distancing in my village. A very remote place with limited population

2)  In Chennai, after a few days, we need to depend on supermarkets for groceries and vegetables. Here everything is available in the house for the next year or forever.

3)  I am happy that I am spending more days with my parents after my schooling in my village. I was reminiscing all my childhood memories like sleeping on the terrace under the sky, cooking dinner with fresh homegrown vegetables, taking a walk with my kids in the village roads breathing clean air.

Fortunately, I got an opportunity to relive the life I always missed, and that is so close to my heart.

Divya Kulkarni

MY INSPIRATION ABYSS

There she stood - with a beaming and powerful smile on her face - honoring our country with that prestigious tiara!

As I watched a recording of this historical moment, my jaw dropped!

The first-ever Indian woman to be crowned Miss Universe (1994); that’s right, the gorgeous Sushmita Sen for you :)

Soon after, Sen adopted not one, but two daughters eventually, and won my (& million others’) respect once again!

And she wouldn’t stop -- a few years later, I joined social media only to learn she is a Yogini. Inspired by her dedication and progress, I took to Yoga in 2018 and became an Internationally Accredited Yoga Instructor and also recognized by the Ayush Ministry, the Government of India.

P.S. I had lost touch with Yoga for a long time, but 2020 and this lady have given me a chance to bounce back and upgrade myself through such beautiful balance poses🙏🏽

You may find more of me and #everydaystories on a yoga-full life at @​divyoham_om​ on Instagram. Because Yoga is for everyone! XOXO

Dipan Kumar Rout

*During the Lockdown*

Well, the lockdown started with numerous things and my effort to inculcate things that I saw on social media. While some people started the so-called 30 Day challenges and posting their workout routines, I was struggling with the basic push-ups. The good part of this is, once you start doing it and do it regularly, you will begin to realize the amount of strength you had in you.

Oh, that new coding language, I was yearning to learn but could never find the time. I finally started and completed the entire learning too. Crazy how a unified and focused effort can bring change in two months. I got into this habit of jotting down things I learned and made sure that I learned at least five new things a day. You will be amazed by the end of the year how to have 2000 new things in your head that you never knew. Good that I started.

This lockdown made me way nearer to myself than I ever was. The path to self-discovery might be different to different people. For me, it was more of accepting myself for who I’m—that feeling of being comfortable in your skin. Sometimes acceptance got me over these body complexes I had, being the skinny guy I’m.

I began to develop habits, specifically, the ones that can be life-changing or something as simple as taking a daily walk in the evening or washing the dishes as soon as you’re done with eating. I began to develop new tastes. Suddenly Jazz felt like never before. I started listening to a lot of Indie music. I came across this band, “That Boy Roby.” The track name was “Lost in Shimla,” and damn, you just can’t help yourself feeling lost in the melody of the guitar. As the name suggests, the track takes you on those untrodden, meandering, mountain tracks of snow-laden Shimla.

Self-discovery took me through a path I had never considered before—the path of getting connected to people you love and care about. I started talking to dad about things we never discussed. I asked him about his memoirs of his old man and how he felt about him, how he felt when mom passed away and what he went through when I was a rebellious teen and started getting into bad habits. He spoke about his youth days and gave me advice about things that I should do in life. Damn, I realized how less I knew about him and how much he loved me.

I went through all my love letters and began pondering about the ups and downs, my wife and I have gone through the last ten years of our relationship. Let me tell you something that I realized, and most men wouldn’t admit. No, not the fact that we are all trash ;) but we put so much effort into winning over someone and return to our own(lazy) selves after we have them in life. Sometimes this awareness is necessary, and it makes you realize that relationships are not a one-time thing, rather a continuous effort to keep things kindled. I learned that sometimes saying “I Love You” in person means much more than writing essays about your never-ending love on social media (funny how we live life and behave everything as if it were a recording to be put in social media and forget about actually living the moment). I began to have more and more of those 2 am conversations. I understood the fact that our lives need not be a long narrative, and it’s best when it’s filled with small random bursts of happiness. To summarize, I started living life again.

Ravi Kollipara

I planned to visit my hometown before the lockdown started as I could never have gotten this opportunity to spend so much time with my family and wfh parallelly. I coincidently happened to meet my childhood friends. We were sitting and chatting, and it was appeasing to know how they were contributing to help the small business in Machilipatnam during a difficult time. I immediately joined them in this cause. Five of us found that it was logistically impossible for a  retail business to keep running due to zero movement during the lockdown. It was difficult to generate demand and move stock from one place to another. We created a Facebook business group for a targeted set of audience, mostly local retail businesses. The critical aspect is to have genuine people joining the group for which we allowed only those who had proof of running a retail shop. We added 300 people in the last 15 days. It covered mostly all retail businesses like cement, hotel (food), groceries, professional services, etc. Our place was constantly fluctuating from the RedZone to the orange zone and back to RedZone. The administration was changing rules dynamically. Our Facebook group happened to be one information source for these retailers to know the regulations and amendments announced by the government now and then.  

Help is two-folded. it served as a  

Channel to provide latest updates on rules and traffic adjustments to the retailers

It is attracting even the customers to the group that would help us to generate demand for the businesses. What was required from the businesses is to publish product rates that have demand.

Once the order is confirmed, we were also helping them to get appropriate permission from the government for the transportations for the goods.

We instantly had 300 businesses registered to this group and saw decent demands coming in too. It is still a small initiative but makes a lot of difference to those small businesses who would die if they do not get some direction during this time. It gives us immense pleasure to become a helping hand to the local businesses that are the strength of our country at this time. Cheers!

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In search of the “Happily, ever after…”

If you recalled all the stories that you read during your childhood, they all had something in common. There is a significant difficulty, or a villain like a monster or a giant, tormenting the people, or perhaps kidnapping the princess. This villain is defeated, or some event happens to alleviate the difficulty. “And then they lived happily ever after.”

I wonder if it is perhaps this that has caused people the greatest misery. Ah, I hear you think – “How could a happy ending in stories cause people misery, surely you must sound preposterous to yourself?” Maybe it does appear so. But I have a feeling that growing up hearing such stories gives us a view that life consists of one problem that we need to overcome to live happily ever after. When we are in school, perhaps once we finished education, we can live happily ever after. After we get our dream job, after we get to marry our beloved, after we make a certain amount of money, after..., after…, after…, we can live happily ever after. But does that happily ever after ever come?

Isn’t life nothing but a series of ‘problems’ we face (or should I say need to face)? Have these stories seeded the belief in us that happiness comes only after the problem is solved? Doesn’t that develop a culture where we do NOT want problems? And at each such point in time, are we not waiting to live life when “this” is over or when “that” happens so we can live happily…?

Perhaps we should stop telling children such stories and tell them stories where they understand that living is in facing and overcoming these series of problems that life is—and being happy just because you decide to be happy. For is happiness anything but a state of mind and a choice you can make? I recall reading somewhere – “Pain is real; suffering is in mind.” So, isn’t happiness or misery a choice that we make, at every moment?

Yes. There were a lot of such thoughts to chew on. Over the next few months, the covid19 scare was over, and the power it wielded over the people across the world came to an end. And then, they lived happily ever after…

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Embracing Chaos to Discover Calm

by Aparajita Biala

These are extraordinary times. Times we will remember all our lives. The world has never stood still as it did. And that was one thing we knew was certain, no matter what there will be the rush to office in the morning, traffic snarls, the routine and the hustle of the consumerist world. But the uncertainty of this time proves otherwise to us. While the battle against the virus is just an external battle, there is an equally consequential battle inside our minds. Most of us are and have been going through a roller coaster of emotions that are scary, alarming, and most certainly different. We don’t quite know what to make of it, and there has been no historical experience that we can tap into to understand what this is making us feel. On the one hand, we feel a wave of absolute anger and frustration; on the other hand, this is the time to connect, to build bonds with the community, family, loved ones, and our selves. It requires empathy and resilience to be aware of both these facets in these times and be compassionate to accept all that we are experiencing.

There has been a prevalent narrative in our society about being happy and positive. On the face of it, it seems like the right thing to keep motivating and encouraging people. We often hear people say things like, “don’t be angry, be positive, and be happy.” “Don’t be sad, be brave.” By doing so, we create a notion that happiness and joy are the most important emotional experiences one can have. The opposite of which are the negative, bad or weak emotions – frustration, anxiety, grief, loss, fear, sadness. Over time, we become comfortable with happiness, uncomfortable with difficult emotions, and we push them aside. We are creating a subconscious pressure to be “happy,” “content,” “brave,” etc. When that begins to happen, we establish and create anchor points to happiness. “If I meet my friends, I’m happy,” “if my boss appreciates me, I’m happy,” and “if I can buy a holiday, I’m happy”... hence, focusing more on happiness as a goal. This is the paradox of it, the more we chase something, the more elusive it becomes – the more we chase happiness as a goal, the less happy we become. We are seeking something versus living life in acceptance and compassion. Rather than trying to find happiness, this is the time for us to come into ourselves, come into our emotions.

It is with the same discomfort we treat the single most unquestionable reality we are faced with - death. We aren’t at ease talking about it, thinking about losing loved ones or facing our mortality. Take, for example, the discourse between children and parents on death. Most times, parents try to brush it aside, not knowing how to explain this to their young one’s curious minds—rubbing off their discomfort to their offspring. On the contrary, being courageous with difficult emotions and addressing it with the young ones also enables them to practice acceptance of these – it’snormal to feel scared, it’s okay. This is how life functions; we will all die. Perhaps this is also the most persuasive message for these times –to not weigh in on our fear but rather reach inside of ourselves and find our courage.

Handling difficult emotions: When we are faced with difficult emotions, we either judge them or push them aside. This could take the form of either bottling them up or brooding and getting stuck in them. We need to develop the ability to be with ourselves, to allow ourselves to experience our emotions entirely in ways that are compassionate because these times are tough, and our emotions are real. We need to be curious- what is my frustration telling me about me? What is this event triggering in me, and why? What is my guilt telling me when I’m interacting with my children? What does my anger tell me about what I most value? If we can move past the place where instead of pushing aside these signposts, we can be compassionate with these emotions when we can start asking ourselves - even in the midst of fear, how can this emotion help me – be aware of it, and also not get stuck in it. What are some courageous steps I can take even in the midst of a reality that I didn’t choose, and isn’t of my asking? This is emotional agility – to recognize your inner experiences and approach them in a mindful, productive, and values-driven way. (Emotional Agility by Susan David )

Practicing emotional agility during these times - The principles of emotional wellness remain the same, regardless of the context changing. Perhaps the need for emotional agility is more profound and clearer now than before. Viktor Frankl said this, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space and in that space is our power to choose and it’s in that choice that lies our growth and freedom.” This is extremely relevant to what we are going through - we didn’t choose these circumstances. This stimulus has been served to us, and this is the time we have to choose how we respond to this. This time is our power; it is our freedom.

Loneliness. Emotions are our signposts of things we most deeply care out. If we are feeling lonely, it’s telling you that you value presence and connectedness, and you don’t have enough of that right now. Maybe you don’t have enough of what you value, so bring this into your life, or move in this direction. Start by asking yourself- what are some small changes I can make that are important to me, what are ways in which I can come to my experience.

Fear. When we feel fearful, or the situation is ambiguous, our mind tries to fill in the blanks of what we don’t know. We might catastrophize things or develop anxiety. In the endeavor to find answers, we reach out to our social media feeds that provokes more anxiety, more fear, and more emotional contagion when we subtly pick up the emotions of other people. Hence, we become mindlessly stuck in our experiences. Instead, we should ask ourselves – is this helping me, is there an alternative way I can be engaging? What are those things I’ve meant to do – creating a garden, reading the books that have been on that list for long, spoken to a long lost friend, do my relationships need tending – are my actions serving me, the loving being that I want to be. Yet, don’t carry the burden of productivity, belittling yourself if you find it hard to meet your ambitious expectations.

Simple strategies to be compassionate with yourself

- Being granular with our emotions: We often use this language – I am lonely, I am sad, I am angry. This is the default way in which we describe how we are feeling. But effectively we are saying- 100% of me is that one single emotion. By language and therefore, by our understanding, we begin to define ourselves by our emotions. But we are not our emotions; we own our emotions; they don’t define us. We want to treat our emotions with compassion and curiosity, but we also don’t want to get stuck in them. Hence, label your thoughts, emotions for what they are. Instead of saying “I am sad,” consider saying – “I’m noticing that I’m feeling sad, I’m noticing the urge to shut down this conversation, I’m noticing the urge to keep going on my social media.” By labeling your thoughts and emotions, you are creating a space between stimulus and response. Often we use very big language to describe our emotions; for example, I’m stressed a commonly used phrase. There is a big difference between stress and disappointment. Or stress and feeling overwhelmed, or stress and fear. What we do internally, when we label our emotions in a more granular way, is to move away from “I’m stressed” to “what is this emotion really.” It helps us to understand the cause of the emotion and what’s the pathway forward. From a macro “I’m stressed” to maybe I’m overwhelmed. You can do something overwhelming. You can bring in some bits of control.

- Little things go a long way: We think that to do something, to make a contribution we have to do big things. But think of the need to belong, every one of us feels that and we can half someone’s pain just by being that person’s person today. That might just be a phone call, but if we can reach beyond ourselves, it is healing for ourselves as well as others.

- Find your focus and establish pockets of control: First, find those things you are doing, which are sucking the life out of your day- constantly checking the COVID numbers, scrolling through social media? As far as you can try to establish pockets of control in your life. There are lots that are out of our control. But we control how we respond; we can control how we connect, we control how we use our time off to the best of our abilities. That could mean making a list of things you want to do in a day or putting your phone on silent for an hour a day, or shutting off something that is all-pervasive like music playing all through the day. Maybe some silence would be your form of exerting your control. Find for yourself those 2-3 things that create some kind of routine and bring back pockets of control in your life.

And so while we have internal battles we are also dealing with and look for sanity amidst the chaos, there is real suffering – people who don’t have food, are stuck with a violent perpetrator in the house. Ask yourself, amidst my challenges, how can we as social support such people, that’s our capability as a community. Many of us would be doing this already, connecting and forging bonds within the community. On the other hand, there is another prevalent narrative of divisiveness. That, too, is natural. When human beings are faced with mortality salience, anything that threatens existence, we tend to become more us and them. These are predictable responses when faced with these situations. It is not a surprise, therefore, that we hear nations on a blame game and communities against each other.

We will need to rise beyond these discourses into compassion for ourselves and the community. We’ve tried to solve the world’s problems through our minds, but perhaps it’s time that we moved from there into our hearts, into our compassion and our wisdom. Beyond right and wrong, judgments and understanding why someone might be doing what they are, that is giving in to the openness of who we can be as human beings.

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Youth into politics

Do you know we have a Lok Sabha Candidate amongst our EPGP-12 batch! The diversity of this group does not seem to stop amazing us!

Sivaneshwaran of EPGP-12 batch had contested 2019 General Elections for the Lok Sabha.

Let us read more about what he has to say about his commitment to politics.

Nowadays, all graduates, after completing their course, mostly focus on high paying salaries or starting a new own business/startup. Especially, graduates from tier 1 institutions. No one shows interest in politics. Political interest among youth nowadays gradually decreasing.

At the same time, when many candidates are contesting the elections, those who lose the election are not looking after the constituency they ran for. Just because they lose in the election, I think they should work for at-least those people who voted for them.

To change this situation and highlight this ideology, I think the contribution of youth is especially significant. I wanted to be the role model, and hence, I contested in last Lok Sabha election 2019 at Thoothukudi constituency from Tamil Nadu against leaders with a strong political background like Mrs. Kanimozhi, daughter of Ex-CM Karunanidhi and another senior politician, Dr. Tamilasai Soundararajan (then BJP State President and currently Hon’ble Governor of the state of Telangana).

I nominated myself as an independent candidate without any political support and grabbed 5,252 votes and took 7th position among all 37 candidates.

Although I lost, I am collecting problems of my constituency via my website and doing whatever I can to fulfill the need of the society. Recently, I crowdfunded Rs.80,000 from my friends and well-wishers and provided corona relief fund Rs.500 grocery kit to economically weak people.

You need not be an elected representative to help your constituency. It is my wish that more youth come into politics and set an example to work for society.  

For more info www.sivaneswaran.in

[ibulletin12]

Thoughts: Flashbulb Memory vs. Inception

We all associate any event with emotion or thing, and thus it remains in our memory. Depending upon the person’s capability, they recall them. Some remember vaguely, and for others, it is vividly graphic. It makes people vulnerable to their memories, or rather what they “think” the mind is, and it is obvious to believe the recollection as to the exact depiction of the event.

The concept of Inception is to utilize this loophole and implant an idea in our subconscious mind so that we start believing its real. I often wonder why I do not have negativity towards certain “things,” which always took me back to my childhood days. It is when a so-called “lower caste” Bengali family helped us in our thick and thin, where a Muslim gentleman stood by our side when we needed someone the most, where a Christian Family was the first one to stand between us and our issues. It is Where a South Indian Family cooked food for us when we were unable to cook. Where a Hindu Family always enquired about our well-being. It was also when a Bihari friend stood by my family when I was miles away from them.

I think I should consider myself fortunate that my mind is full of such beautiful memories. Similarly, if we start saying we could do a difficult task, we end up doing it. However, the flip side to this is also right; if we criticize someone constantly, the person could never imagine that he is good for something.

As a country, society, or at least as a human being, we should reflect and think. Do we want to be remembered in someone’s happy memory, or harm them because of the loophole of my consciousness? I am sure we all want to be the Protagonist in our story.

My 2 Cents

[ibulletin12]

Pisaach

by Dipan Kumar Rout

When most of us are reading books written by other authors, we have someone in our batch who is taking a stab on writing his book.

Here are the preface and the gist of the WIP book that I am eagerly waiting for. Are you?

Catch hold of the finished book in our next newsletters! Cheers!

Preface

Not all monsters are in the closet or under the bed. Few live in the tamarind trees, in the paddy fields, on that lonely road to the cremation ground, in the copper urns that the newlyweds use and some in those scary tales that my grandma used to tell.

If you take a deep dive into the rural mythology, you will find a vast array of demons, witches, and evil powers. These rural folktales may not be found in books and are often passed down by word of mouth.

When I was young, I would often visit my village, which was devoid of electricity and other amenities for a more significant part of the time. Dusk would ascertain that it was time to be inside houses, and people would generally refrain from treading outside in the darkness. My house was at the edge of the village, and there was always a ghoulish aura (at least that is what I can think of) after the evening would set in. Family members generally slept by 7-8 pm, and I would be lucky enough to sneak a place beside my grandmother. She was a storehouse of stories, the ones that always had a monster and the long narratives that would never end. Although I was terrified at first, gradually, I developed a fascination with the devilish creatures she used in those tales. What fascinated me even more was the fact that the narratives were always the same when you inquired about them from any elders of the village.

Gradually as I grew up, I began to think of these similarities as not just coincidences but something deeply embedded into the culture itself. As an example, everyone in their stories used the long-tailed monster that sat on the coconut trees and abducted children or the burnt face female that sat on the tamarind trees or the soul that takes over you when you pick up and eat stray fruits.

Hinduism speaks volumes about negative energies also. This book is a humble attempt to cover some of the folktales, including the monster, the characters, and their origin and significance in my culture. Pisaach is a take on articulating my thoughts, which years ago, my younger self conceived of and could never express.

These stories are entirely relatable, and I guess every one of us has heard ghostly stories from our grandpa and grandma. Naming a few interesting Chapters/stories from the book

The Ghost that lived in the Temple

From the Cremation Ground and Back

Mangrove Swamps

Devi Saadhna

One who never stopped whispering

Alone by the River Biluakhai

Dhumketu

Salamander in the Clothes

Don’t look back

Lemon, Chilli, and Vermillion

[ibulletin12]

Informal insights – Macro Economics

Continuing the passion for learning, and cashing-in on the enthusiasm of the excellent faculty members of the institute, the EPGP batch 12 students had another session of Informal insights. The topic this time was “Covid-19, economic policies and future outlook”, by Dr. Rudra Sensarma, Professor of Economics IIM-K and Dean - Research, Innovation & Internationalization.

A marathon session started with the macro-economic situation prevailing due to the pandemic, followed by the impact on aggregate demand and supply and the economic policies of India. It followed with its comparison with other countries and the conclusion that focused around his personal views of what more the government and RBI do in regards to Fiscal and monetary policy.

The session helped the participants to understand deeply about the ways the government policies are precisely going to pan out or at-least thought to pan out in the future. Also, it helped to understand the textbook theories and relate it with the actual world, in a real-life scenario.

With a few personal interests of the professor- Bollywood and Goa scenes chipped in to lighten the overall mood of the session and to break the ice between the students and the prof informally. The session was well moderated by Bharani, Ipshita, Divya, and others.

On behalf of EPGP-12, we thank Dr. Rudra Sensarma to have agreed to take this session out of his capacity. A special thanks go out to technology partner Times TSW, to have provided the platform for the session, again, on the goodwill and supporting us in these difficult times.

The entire batch looks forward to more such sessions.

[ibulletin12]

Informal Insights with Dean

On the 30th of April 2020, the EPGP-12 students had an informal interaction online with Prof. C Raju, Dean, Executive Education at IIM-K. The topic of the interaction was to get Insights into macro-economic growth across various countries, industries, and companies how India would absorb the environmental and economic pressure, post-pandemic. It also touched the questions of What effect can it have on Individuals, Industries, Sectors, Jobs, and prospective opportunities?

The previous regular interactions of Faculty were either to address issues or to provide outstanding students with aid, with the middle being missed. The interaction aims to bridge that gap and create awareness and responsiveness.

Brief insights from the interaction:

Prof. Raju believes that sectors like Automobile, Hospitality, Tourism, Travel Industries are deeply impacted by their revenues going down to minimal. He sees potential opportunities for the self-employed and start-ups. The outbreak has disturbed the Global Economic structure; Europe and Australia that are dependent on imports would face a more profound crisis with the supply chain disruption. Covid-19 is harming the global economy because the world has been experiencing the most challenging economic situation since World War-II. Responding to a query raised on the impact on agriculture and real estate, he was of the view that the Agricultural Industries could gain immensely if this disruption can be utilized for setting up of countrywide cold storages and creating a coordinated supply chain removing the middlemen and transferring the benefits directly to the farmer. The Real estate sector he believes would have a strategy shift from building residential houses to setting up manufacturing infrastructure, which is a result of growing “Exit-China” warble.

The interaction saw widespread participation from the EPGP-12 student community. It created a positive atmosphere at the backdrop of the gloomy economic and social climate. The online interaction has paved the way for having many informal sessions with the faculty members in the future.

[ibulletin12]

How to use IIMK e-Library

by Manickavasagam Sivaparam

Did you know as EPGP students, we can access our IIMK e-Library? Sounds impressive, right? Let us get familiar with IIMK e-Library and see how to:

Sign-in with RemoteXS

Access research papers

Subscribe to News, Information & Data resources

Getting familiar with the IIMK eLibrary:

The IIMK e-Library is an excellent space to access a wealth of resources and activate many subscriptions that the institution has subscribed to for its staff and students.

The first step is to visit the e-Library portal—the IIMK hosted its e-Library portal on its intranet. To gain access to the intranet from external internet networks, the institution provides us with an account with RemoteXS. Imagine that this is something sort of a VPN to access a closed network.

Sign-in with RemoteXS:

Visit the URL: http://iimk.remotexs.in

You will be redirected to a screen as shown:

The login credentials were sent by the institute, somewhere after the In-campus session. However, if you cannot remember or find the email, click the forgot password. A new mail with login details would be sent. (Use your iimk email ID)

Accessing research papers

Once logged in, the below page appears. The IIMK e-Library houses the research papers and articles within it and can be searched directly using the search bar on this page.

Below is a sample search result.

Subscription to News, Information & Data resources:

The IIMK eLibrary provides access to several resources to explore.

Below are a few:

The comprehensive resources list and description for each of them can be found here.

http://libintra.iimk.ac.in.iimk.remotexs.in/atozlist.php

We suppose more insightful assignments will be a new norm in the future!

[ibulletin12]

Death and it’s inevitability

by Shreyas MR

What makes some doctors so lucid with pen on matters of death? What makes them so comfortable about the ultimate truth in life –  Death?

Atul Gawande, considered one of the leading surgeons and most exceptional contemporary writers in America, begins his book, ‘Being Mortal,’ with a confession - “I learned a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn’t one of them.” The surgeon discusses how the doctor in him feels omnipotent – he has answers to a long list of ailments that can inflict human beings. But, how far should he persist with a patient, while causing immense discomfort and humiliation? Should the aim of medicine be the extension of life alone? Does the quality of life matter? Will the profession ever come to grips with the truth, and the inevitability, of death? When does the realization happen that he is defeated – when should he give up?

Equally, unsettling is ‘When Breath Becomes Air,’ by Paul Kalanithi. This memoir chronicles the journey of a young doctor to a patient faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, trying to answer the question of what makes a life worth living. Paul died in March 2015, with the book unfinished. The epilogue written by his wife is a perfect complement to the book. She discusses the final moments of Paul’s life and his death with the utmost sensitivity and in a language, dares as I say, deadpan.

Here, one cannot help but recall Dr. Manu Kothari, the proponent of alternative therapy. Along with Dr. Lopa Mehta, he was the one to prick the bubble of deceit that surrounded cancer and its treatment. For decades, cancer causes and cures had developed into some industry. The renowned doctors’ iconoclastic thoughts, initially published in 1973, lets the reader re-evaluate long-held notions about cancer and offer hope to those who wish to avoid the deadly toll that conventional chemo/radiotherapies exact. The authors insisted that often the best treatment for a cancerous condition maybe not to treat it at all. Dr. Kothari passed away in October 2014, leaving us with the puzzle of what makes a life worth living.

[ibulletin12]

3G: The Japanese practice

You may be wondering in the era of 4G and 5G, why am I talking about 3G! This 3G practice is a Japanese manufacturing practice of analyzing any situation and taking appropriate responses. It is a part of the “Kaizen” approach, which means “small improvements.”

3G is an acronym used for 3 Japanese words, and in turn, the three steps used in this approach.

Let us see what those steps are:

Gemba / Genba: Meaning go to the “actual workplace.”

This step means that one should physically go to the actual place where the problem has occurred or reported. In manufacturing, this usually means the shop floor/ area where any issue published.

Gembutsu: Meaning “real product/actual problem.”

In this step, one observes the actual problem. It may be the actual product with a defect or any other issue, as reported. Here, observation is the key. No solutions recommended in this step, and the only thing required is to note down and observe all the relevant information around the problem. One may take a “3G walk” of the relevant area of the production line adjoining the concerned domain to have a complete picture.

Genjitsu: Meaning “Discuss and Analyse”

In this step, Managers analyze the observations collected at Gemba and Gembutsu and try to find the root cause and propose the solution. The whole team usually performs this step, including process owners and other stakeholders.

This 3G approach has a crucial advantage that the team doesn’t take decisions in meeting rooms, without physically observing the problem or concern, which sometimes holds the key.

This approach can be implemented not only in manufacturing but in other areas as well. Do write to us in case you want to share something you use in your industry.