In the “groove” of B school

Groove, the official ‘welcome’ by the final year students to the freshmen, started on the 17th of June, 2010. It aimed to break the ice and establish a sense of camaraderie among the students. It was meant to offer them their first glimpse into the life that NITIE had to offer: sleepless nights, enthralling tasks and a lot of fun!
The first day started with an orientation session by the Dean (Academics) and a number of other faculty members. As soon as that was over, a plethora of events that included introductions, impromptu performances, games gauging team work and leadership, set the tone for the next 3 days. Work on a case study on finance, prepared by $treet, the finance forum, extended late into the night (and for some even early in the morning) for the freshmen. This is when most of them got a chance to have their first night snack at campus outlet of Nescafe.
The second day started with a morning walk around the campus. After having slept as late as 6 am, having spent the entire night deciphering the cryptic finance case, the serene environs of the campus were a little difficult to appreciate. But curiosity got the better of a few students. Questions ranged from favourite hang outs in the campus to leopards visiting the place! However the panoramic view of the college, flanked by the Powai and Vihar Lakes and the view of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park from the MDP Hostel rooftop aptly compensated the stress of the students.
The second day was packed once again. The marketing case studies saw some creative ideas being put forth, making judges hard to pick the winner. In the group skits, the performance of Dinesh as ‘Aag’ was an absolute show stealer, so much so that his team is often requested, to this date, for an encore of that act. The second night was reserved for an SCM case study. With hopes of garnering Pre Placement Interviews from C2X (the SCM forum), the freshmen spent another sleepless night engrossed in concepts such as supply-demand constraints and performance improvements.
The third day witnessed the introduction of the now infamous and highly addictive game called ‘Mafia’. The evening saw the campus being enthralled by two illustrious alumni from HSBC and E&Y. They shared their memories of the campus, their experiences in campus and the transition into corporate life, among others. The third day also had a lot of activities that aimed at getting the freshmen to know each other better and make new friends.
Being a student at NITIE, life somehow doesn’t seem to stop. As someone said, “I have been a part of NITIE for only a few weeks now, yet I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t living here, when I didn’t have coffee and Maggi at Nescafe at 2am or when I didn’t know the people who have become such an integral part of my life. You get surprised by the humongous talent of people around you and at the same time humbled by their docility.”