Holi Celebrations at NUS MBA

My oldest memory of Holi dates back almost 19 years ago. The Delhi mornings had just started becoming warmer and I woke up without a reminder from my mother. I remember I used to long for this Indian festival of colors. As a child, my only objective was to be the most “colored” person at the end of our play. But somehow, after moving cities, this craze of mine died down and so did my excitement to play with colors. Barring a few years, I have hardly played Holi in the real sense over the past few years.

So when an invitation of a Holi Celebration in school popped in my Inbox, it got me really excited. So again, on 21^st March, I woke up most excited at the prospect of celebrating this festival in school. I knew I would have a great time that day (like every other celebration here at NUS MBA). And am I happy to say, it more than lived up to my expectations! :)

As I was walking towards the MBA Lounge, I could see that most of friends had already reached there. And I could not recognize any one of them! They were all covered in color. The moment they laid their eyes on my friends and me from a distance, their eyes lit up. They could see a fresh new prey walking towards them. And before I could even realize it, they came charging towards us and in matter of seconds, we were unrecognizable too :)! And then of course, I repeated the same act when I sighted a prey.

It was great fun to see the first year and the second year students greeting one another and running behind each other with powdered colors. It was specially a new experience for our classmates, who are not from India, enjoying the eccentricities of this day. I could see some of my friends explaining the significance to the festival to them. Some of the alumni were present too and I am sure they were getting nostalgic about their years at NUS MBA.

The real fun started when the water jet came on and then NO ONE was saved. Some of the guys took it upon themselves to ensure that no one left the venue without being drenched in water. The popular Indian songs added to the festivities and got everyone dancing and singing out loud. This was accompanied by some fun games organized by Shilpa. All this excitement and activity sure built up everyone’s appetite for the awesomely delicious Indian lunch that followed.

As the celebrations came to an end and people started leaving for home, there was one thing that the colors could not hide. It was the look of happiness and contentment on each persons face. The colors, the water jets, the music, the dancing and the creative games (played in an even more creative manner) made this one eventful celebration. I had the most amazing time that day and I am sure it will be one which I will remember for years to come. And as Isha put it aptly, “I celebrated my best Holi outside India…isn’t it ironic”.

- Rohini Srivastava

MBA Class of 2009

Career Connexions Feb 2008

The MBA Career Connexion 2008 , February edition, was organized at Suntec City Convention Centre on 20^th February 2008. With the recruitment process for this academic calendar in most of the companies reaching final stage, Connexion provided one last chance for the students to get to know their prospective recruiters.

In this edition of MBA Career Connexion companies like Merril Lynch, ANZ, Microsoft, Gallup, Watson, HP, Unilever were the main attractions among the students. For the first time, recruiters from Middle East participated in the Connexion event reflecting the growing presence of NUS MBA brand across the globe. Alghanim industries from Kuwait had come for campus recruitment and provided insight to the students about the businesses in which Alghanim has spread its wings. Connexions provide student the platform to explore career opportunities within the company and know the company better. The companies return get to gauge the talent pool available and try to synergize their business operations accordingly.

As far as personal experience goes it was great to interact with Mike Bowden, MD Equity Sales from Merril Lynch. Besides talking about opportunities at ML, Mike was upfront in terms of expectations that company has from the graduate students. He was emphatic in his suggestions about identifying key area of interest and building on expertise in the field. He talked through his career phases and emphasized to the students visiting ML counters about the need of business awareness.

HR executives from Microsoft, which had come for its supply chain operations talked about how Microsoft is expanding its repertoire in supply chain solutions and logistics. ANZ talked about diverse opportunities for prospective interns in Singapore and Australia. Among non traditional names Watson and Gallup had come for its consulting practices in Strategy and Human Resource Development.

The next edition of Connexion will be held in mid September when the recruitment cycle for most companies will begin. For the current 1^st year students it would be a great fillip after having tested the waters during internship.

-Adarsh Abhineet
MBA Batch of 2009.