"Printer Problems Revisited, Resolved"

I thought I had better point out, in brevity, a few truths about deskjets, bubble-jets, and laserjets (all trademarks) first, before I progress to discussing a singular case.

1. A printer does not function the way the user thinks or expects it to function. It functions the way its designers conceived it to. This is the first truth. Refer Truth#2 for more clarity and confidence to perform your printing tasks
2. Print a test sheet–> Cut off power during the print-job–> If you’ve done this right, the sheet is now lodged in almost all of the rollers within the printer–>Bring in the electric chain saw and perform a vertical section–>By inspection, you are now enlightened and no longer handicapped by Truth#1
3. Truth#2 is uneconomical but fun.
4. Fun is frowned upon by superiors

Singular cases come in handy now. A colleague walked up to me with a printed sheet, mostly text and wished to print on the reverse. His problem being that the reverse was a continuation of the front and it needed to be uhm…well…right side up. A back-to-back job in printer jargon. I could quite understand his predicament. I took the sheet from him and held it against my face, printed side up and asked him which way he wanted to shove it in and why. I followed his line of logic and it seemed right. I would have done the same thing. I then instructed him to load the rack in the exact opposite way as opposed to what he rationally proposed. It worked.

Analysis:

Awareness of Truth#1 is critical because it forces one to reconsider the entire line of reasoning that preceded actual execution. What however, is worrying is that it took a meeting of two people to get a print-job done. A task that should need minimal or no thought at all and definitely no more than one person. The case also shows that inductive and deductive streams of logic can be twisted on the head and make anyone look like a fool. It brings to light a stream of rarely used logic – The Hunch. In fact, it isn’t a stream at all. It is a droplet, that one bit of crystal that initiates the process of crystallization of super-saturated solutions. The hunch is applicable in many situations – sports, stock-markets, shopping decisions, finding directions, intelligence and espionage, and even war.

While singular cases cannot altogether condemn traditional inductive-deductive reasoning and glorify hunch-ing, it certainly is something to build on and take notice of. Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink is on the same lines. He (Gladwell) makes you take notice of hunch-ing through cases and experiences. A mere print job is full of insights.

“Be yourself. Everyone else’s taken.”

ANON.

Contributed by: Raghav Ramji

 The contributor is a PGCIM-2012  student at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research

 

Life@SPJIMR

As I walked in to the SPJIMR campus, I was filled with a sense of excitement.  I saw some familiar faces from the interactions on facebook, and smiles were in abundance. There was a great deal of warmth and openness right from the administrators to the faculty. It has been an eventful few weeks at SP Jain since then and I am amazed by the diversity and talent in the batch. SPJIMR has a unique selection process and when one looks at the numerous skills and talents the batch possesses, it is hard not to give credit to the college for sticking to a different admission criteria in a country where we are obsessed with marks and ranks. It is really cool that there are national level basketball players, people with patents and books to their credit, dancers and singers of great calibre and several others sailing in the same boat!  In the words of the very wise, Captain Jack Sparrow, 

“I think we’ve all arrived at a very special place. 
  Spiritually ecumenically, grammatically”

Life in any b-school, especially during the first year is hectic. You have deadlines to adhere to, competitions to participate in, class work to keep up with. But, you also get to meet some interesting people and make some genuine friendships. When you are thrown into a cut throat environment like a b-school, it is easy to lose perspective and get caught up in all the madness. But what I like about SP Jain is that, by virtue of some unique programs in its curriculum, it has managed to give us the students, a broader view of things and taken the learning beyond the classroom. Be it the PG [Personal Growth] lab where the entire batch gets an opportunity to travel to Khandala, indulge in adventure sports, participate in group activities, build ‘connections’ and learn some important lessons of life; or Abhyudaya which takes you out from your comfort zone and into the slums of Mumbai to be mentors to some very bright children. There is an effort to humanize a course which is not traditionally associated with having that element. This is what makes SP Jain different from other b-schools.

SP Jain gives its students’ great amount of responsibility in terms of dealing with several aspects of the MBA life. We have committees that cater to a plethora of issues ranging from infrastructure to organizing guest lectures, from running an academic conclave to organizing the college sports and cultural festivals. The faculty trusts in the ability of the students and under the faculty’s capable guidance the college has managed to go from strength to strength. All these activities foster a great sense of camaraderie in the batch. Being located in Mumbai makes the whole experience even more vibrant. The local train experience, the walks and talks at Marine Drive, the endless discussions about new places to eat on Wednesday nights, the excitement at spotting a celebrity, the trips to Carter Road and the shopping adventures in Lokhandwala are just a few in a long list of things that Life@SPJIMR offers.

In sum, through all the ups and downs of academic rigour, the excitements and disappointments of competitions, the successes and failures of events, you learn a lot and you live a lot at SP Jain!!

      

Contributed by: Namrata Suri

 The contributor is a PGDM(2012-2014)  student at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research

"The Light"

Ever since I started

sauntering thru the undulated trails

I have wondered,

when would I unearth the light I was delving for?

Deep inside me into my soul

here there and everywhere.

Oblivious of the verity,

I kept looking around,

Until one day I saw it

shimmering between abysses

So deep, staggering and mesmerizing

the beauty; untouched, innocent and absolute

swooning over the espy,

time ceasing up and breath freezing

A tender caress and warm pant

aroused the senses, so numb and dead

it remarked the end of the journey

tiring and timid but terminated.

Contributed by : Abhinav Barnwal

 The contributor is a PGCIM-2012 student at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research

 

"Colors - They Unite Us"

It all started in my mother's womb,

only BLOOD all around I had.

That's how the colors entered my life,

to begin with, first was RED.

As I learnt to walk on the grass,

The mother NATURE stayed so calm and serene.

I fell and she never let me get hurt,

from her I learnt the color GREEN.

I always dared to look at the SUN,

Alas,I could never do so. 

And so I decided to paint it,

that's when I learnt the color YELLOW.

The sky and ocean were a lesson to learn,

that what appears to be is not always true

The color they don't own still added beauty,                           

It's from them that I learnt the color BLUE.

From nature I learnt many more colors,

for every occasion, for every emotion.

They add to life love and compassion,

they belong to all and make no separation.

Alas, I learnt a few colors from Man too,                                    

and it is sad to see the plight.

When nature makes no distinction,

He labelled man as Black or White.

I urge Man to walk the nature's path,

A Black or a White, is a nature's gift.

Fill your life with all the colors,

stay together and never drift.

Contributed by: Gaurav Madan

The contributor is a PGCIM-2012 student at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research