Summer Training - Is it really required?

It is summer time when people doing MBA are forced to do a 2 months summer internship job at some company. I am pursuing my summers at Ashok Leyland in the beautiful city of Chennai.
Some of the experience I have had with the company:

• The company HR started working on our projects only after we joined the office. No prior thought was given with regards to the project to be allocated.
• The HR just escorted me to some person in the sourcing department and then left everything about my training to the poor guy. He had to talk to his boss and after giving a thought for 2 days, he finally made up a project and assigned me a project called 'Costing of electrical wiring harness'. He then introduced me to some other guy in the department and asked him to explain me the project details. He tried explaining it to me but then he just gave me some excel files and said that I could myself do the project. So, on a whole, I have not been adequately briefed about my project and I have to find a way myself to do costing and fit the collected data in the excel sheet.
• Now I report to no one. The junior guy expects me to report the senior and the senior guy expects me to report to the junior.
• And so on....

I guess this occurs in almost all big companies where the summer internship is just meant for enhancing the company brand value and its ties with B Schools. (No motive of knowledge transfer)
And this attitude of companies is completely justified. I mean why should a big company incur so much cost and invest so much time on a summer intern who is just going to leave the company in 2 months time. Why waste time of an employee who could actually utilize the time for company affairs instead of training the 2 month summer trainee?
Some people believe that summer training projects should be really very thorough and should be live projects. Why should a company go through the pain of creating such projects, explaining it to the trainees and then paying them for work? And why should confidential information be provided to MBA students who will be out in 2 months ready to spill all the data out to the world? Also why should company give them tough and critical projects? I mean how can the company trust on the trainee's ability to solve problems which are critical to the company.
Also, the project may or may not appeal to the trainee.

Due to the above mentioned problems, summer trainees are given some simple jargonised projects which appear to be complex to keep them interested. A lot of jargons like Analysis, Feasibility, Modelling, Strategy, etc are used in the project titles. These projects aren't very critical from the point of view of the organizaiton and most of the projects aren't even read by the mentors. The project reports lie in the HR's cabin and serve no purpose. Summer training becomes just a PR activity nothing else.

This brings me to the point that if neither the company nor a trainee (no value addition) is to gain anything by the exercise of summer training, why should this exercise be made compulsory in a B School? It may actually prove to be counter productive - the company has to assign an employee to the trainee, which it could have utilized for a productive purpose, and the student could have learnt more over the internet and the library.
Some may argue that in a summer training, students are exposed to the corporate culture for the first time in their lives and this may prove to be beneficial when they join their final job. Now this arguement has some merit. But when we look at the demographic profile of the students at a B School, more than 50% students already have worked at some place. So, they have been exposed to the corporate culture and stuff like that.
So, for atleast these 50 % students, I feel that summer training is a redundant exercise. A lot of time is wasted and not much is gained. Why should 200 marks be assigned to such a futile exercise. Instead of the training where a trainee has to wait for the mentors attention, wait for data, wait for internet, etc. a student can read a lot and learn many many useful things in his field of interest in the 2 months.

Consider my case: I have been in the corporate office and have been assigned a very insignificant project which has almost no use. (Verify the cost of the material provided by a vendor). I have not much to learn from this project and at the same time, the company has nothing to gain from the project. It can be done by an experienced person in 2-3 days only. It is better I do not do this project and read.

Hence, I conclude that for a person with a prior work experience, the summer training should be optional and not compulsory.

Caller Tune

I have always disliked the caller tunes and I never prefer to have one for my mobile phone.

• Because the person being called likes the song the caller has to hear it. Ridiculous. The person who likes the song doesn’t listen to it but some other people have to listen to it. Doesn’t serve the purpose. A person pays Rs. 25 per month for others to listen to a song. (Don’t get the logic behind this).
• The song can actually act as detrimental if we are to believe that music affects a person’s thoughts and his mood is affected by music. A person who is cheerful and wants to tell the good news to a person who has put up a sad caller tune might become less cheerful while telling the news. Even bad is the opposite situation. When a bad news is to be communicated and rock music is played as a caller tune, it irritates the caller.
• Some time is wasted on commenting about the song which actually lengthens the call time and consequently we end up paying more to the telecom service provider.

An interesting situation occurred in the Ashok Leyland office.

I have been assigned the Strategic Sourcing Department there. The department comprises members who do purchasing jobs along with scheduling, costing, EOQ and other sourcing and purchasing functions. Here, there are numerous calls made to suppliers for quick and timely supply of the required materials. The purchase function is quite important here because the company works with low levels of inventory and so for the assembly line in their factories to function properly and not halt, the purchase section has to be always on its toes and get the materials as and when required. So, there is a lot of shouting and screaming, pleading over the phone that takes place in order to get materials. For suppliers where Ashok Leyland has a higher bargaining power, supplier is shouted at and made to supply the material at a short notice and when the supplier is big and has a higher bargaining power, the purchase managers request and plead over the phone for faster delivery. This is quite a common scene in most of the purchasing departments. (So much for background)
There is a man in his late 40’s quite frustrated with his job who walks into the cabin where I sit (or pass time playing games and reading books) everyday to make phone calls using a phone in the room. (Don’t know why he calls from the room rather than his desk). One day, he was quite angry at suppliers because a part required on Monday wasn’t shipped till Thursday and a delay of one more day in shipping would make it difficult to Leyland. So, he decided to call up the supplier. Very angry with the suppliers, he was sure going to blast the person who was going to attend his call. Generally, the man calls keeping his phone on loudspeaker mode. (Don’t yet the reason for this behavior). So, I could listen to him calling. As soon as he dialed the number, a caller tune started. The caller tune was not just a song of a movie or a pop album. The caller tune was a religious one - May be a Tamil Aarti or something. The caller knew the song and he started humming it. After hearing the song, the person appeared to be quite calm (compared to what he was before). Because of the song now the person told he supplier in plain words that he wanted the part asap– No bad words used nor there was any shouting. The caller tune changed the whole course of action. It made things go differently. The whole conversation was steered from being a raucous to being a dignified by a caller tune. Such is the power of a caller tune. The reverse may also happen and a conversation could turn from calm to a rowdy one because of the caller tune. Thus, it is better to not have a caller tune.

Chennai Central Station - Some observations

Chennai Central
Date: 11-04-2010.
While I was moving out of the Chennai Central station towards the parking lot with the two people sent by Hanif Bhai (Really thankful to him for arranging for my transport in this new city. Hats off to my father and his friends), I observed the following:
1. The Chennai Central platforms had very few shops where food, magazines, newspapers, etc are sold as compared to Mumbai or Pune stations where on each platform, we come across 1 or 2 such small stores (or khokas)
2. The Chennai Central had quite a lot of people working as a part of South Western Maintenance staff. These people cleaned the train and looked after the maintenance of the coaches from inside. (This isn’t observed in Mumbai Central or CST. Atleast, I haven’t come across such staff)
3. The announcements were made in a lot of languages including English and Hindi. Also, the announcement was loud and clear unlike many other stations in Mumbai and even Sangli where the quality of sound of the announcements isn’t so good.
4. The people in the station were quite disciplined. A waiting area is present at the Chennai Central station for sitting about 200 people. I observed the whole waiting area full of people waiting patiently watching Television (But Local language). There wasn’t any commotion as seen in Mumbai CST station. The waiting area at CST should be revamped and some arrangements like those at Chennai Central should be considered
5. A distinct thing observed at Chennai station was the existence of Dormitories – both for Men and Women and that too at cheap rates of Rs. 80 per person. It makes things easier for a person travelling alone and who has come for a day or two. There were also separate arrangements for AC and other upper classes. CST, Pune stations lack this feature. I feel that commercial places like Pune, Mumbai, etc should have dormitories in place so that people can change, have a bath there and leave for work directly from the station. It can also add to the revenue of the India Railways. They should at least give this concept a try.
6. Entrance/ Exit – I came across 2 exit points and around 2 entrance points to the station (There could be some more). However, they kept open only 1 entrance and 1 exit point for security reasons which I found good. (Other stations can also learn from such a security arrangement)
7. Parking/ Taxi area – The Taxi/ auto areas were clearly demarcated from the private vehicle parking area which prevented any unknown vehicle from coming near the entrance of the station. This arrangement also ensures that the coolies at the Chennai Central station get a good business transporting luggage from station to private parking space. Also, each private vehicle is charged about Rs 10 per hour or so. At CST, the rates are quite less while at Pune, I think it is free. (Valuable revenue lost by IR at these places).
8. Chennai Central station is able to turnaround coaches faster as compared to CST. (Only 1 data point available – still it proves). The train coaches at Chennai are cleaned, water filled and checked right at the stations, whereas at CST such a facility isn’t available. For water filling and other activities, the coaches need to move to a place between Masjid and CST, where such equipment are available. Hence, the train turnaround time is lesser at Chennai Central as compared to Mumbai CST.

Sangli - Chennai journey

After a long time battle of words with parents and relatives and after a lot of convincing (helped by the prohibitively high prices of Mumbai-Chennai Flights), I finally made my journey to Chennai by train and not by flight. The experience was amazing (as expected).
My train booking was such that I had to travel from Miraj junction to Hubli junction by one train and then catch a connecting train from Hubli to Chennai. The difference between the arrival time of the 1st train and the departure of the 2nd train was only 1 hour 15 minutes.
Now it so happened that the first train was running slow and it got delayed continuously. At Belgaum, about halfway, the train was delayed by 45 minutes. It meant that any further delay would have caused me missing my 2nd train. However, after Belgaum, the Dandeli jungles made the train driver press the accelerator and the train gained time. He didn’t allow the train to delay any further. Also, the railway officials ensured that the train isn’t further delayed. Due to presence of only 1 track, railway crossings had to be scheduled to make way for trains running in the opposite direction to pass by. So,one train has to wait at a station until the other opposite running train crosses it). The railway officials ensured that my train got preference at each crossing and the other trains had to wait. After some tension, I finally arrived at Hubli at about 2000 hrs barely 25 minutes left before the departure time of the next train. After crossing the platform (a tiring one due to luggage), I made it to the far away AC compartment at around 2010 hrs.

In the 1st train, there weren’t many people in the AC coach (should have taken the normal sleeper coach – missed the good jungle view in the AC coach). However, the 2nd train was filled with a lot of people. The AC coach didn’t sound much different from ordinary sleeper coaches. Noise was buzzing all around. Interestingly, the AC coach in which I was travelling had more number of Marwaris, Gujaratis (including me) as compared to the number of Tamilians. I, being alone, got a lot of proposals to change my seat. Since there were ladies with children, I also readily accepted the changes. After changing seats, I finally got into an interesting compartment. The compartment had a Tamilian couple sitting in it who also wanted a lower berth. However, I couldn’t help them since I had already exchanged my berth with other Marwari family. Then a girl came, who had a lot of luggage and who had a lower berth which she didn’t exchange with anybody. (Quite rightly) Then a Kannada person, in his late 20’s, joined us, who incidently had also changed seats with the same Marwari family. (Good for him – Saved him from a lot of their Bak Bak).
The Tamalian couple was typical and quite hospitable. They made adjustments for the young girl travelling alone and also chatted freely with the girl. They had their own food prepared in typical south Indian style and talked only in Tamilian. However, because of this girl talking so much, they too started conversing in English and Hindi at times. Now there was something quite peculiar of this girl travelling alone. She was an OKish looking girl. However, her speech was very good. She had good pronunciations and talked to others with a sense of respect. (I liked that). Later on, I got to know that she was married to a Gujarati boy who worked in Chennai for Reliance Industries Limited in their raw material department. In the morning, I had a chat to her and learnt that she was also pregnant. She also chatted very very freely and made talking very easy for people around. (Even I started talking to her and others in the train which happens quite rarely). She called me ‘Uncle’ once a while and also remarked that I look like a typical Engineer who was very serious and she also commented that I don’t have a girl friend (All these things just at the start of the conversation in the morning. Quite amazing) She later pointed out that we were quite opposites – she enjoyed talking, chatting, living aaram se while I was serious type of person. I sometimes wonder – Does my face really tell all these things? Need to change my looks then.
The other person who was travelling alone talked to her girl friend over the phone for most of the time till midnight. I couldn’t interact with him in the night. I could talk to him only in the morning. I learnt that he was quite philosophical in nature and read books related to spirituality, religion, etc. In fact, there was one more person in adjoining compartment reading books on Swami Vivekananda. He toh even asked me to stop reading novel and read such spiritual books from which I could gain something. (Quite a lot of gyan given to me in the morning time)
At night time, a big Marwai gang entered the train (They were about 10 in number – only ladies and their children off to enjoy their vacation at Chennai). Their noise woke up everyone and the way a lady fought over the luggage and her space (non-adjusting types) irritated me very much. Others in the compartment including me had a bitching session (when she was away in the morning) when we pointed out her misbehavior and the general tendencies of Marwaris. It was quite fun (Full marks to that young girl to have moderated the discussion in the presence of others)
After taking directions about how to travel in Chennai and other details like their telephone numbers, to my surprise, I found that we had reached Chennai (Before the correct time – (Indian Railways have improved on punctuality).
I have come to a conclusion that to know different behaviours of people of different castes and ages, a long train journey is just just right. It exposes us to different people and because there is no scope of any disturbance from family and friends, we can draw our own inferences. I feel that if we are to do market research on a new product meant for everybody (Mass marketing required), a train is the prefect place - Journey ka journey - Research ka research.

However, I feel that rather than an AC compartment, the sleeper 2nd class coach provides a better view outside in addition to more people and more diverse behavior. (An observation which Sudha Murthy also made in one of her short stories)
We can also make some new contacts in new places (like I made – I’ve been invited by the Tamilian couple for a lunch at their place)
I also realized (in fact learnt from that girl (Pooja was her name)) that I need to look less serious and be a bit aggressive. Also, realized that Marwari people rarely help others (even people in their own community) while Tamilians, quite selflessly, help people – especially young women.

Root Canal - A big Pain

This post will be a biased view on root canal because of the fact that I am currently undergoing a root canal treatment and am not able to enjoy home food (which I hoped to enjoy in these holidays).

RCT is explained very well in simple language in this link

This is the second or probably third thime, I am undergoing root canal treatment and I've come to a conclusion that the treatment is not long term. The tooth on which I had my previous RCT has been badly damaged despite the RCT. The cap put up has been dislodged and is now causing me even more pains. Now the dentist had come to a conclusion that the tooth on which RCT was done can't survive for long and now must be removed to prevent infections spreading to other nearby teeth.

Even today as I am undergoing the pain of the RCT of a different tooth and the removal of my older tooth, I know that this supposedly RCT reinforced tooth will not last for long and I'll have to again visit the dentist in some years probably 3 or 4 at max.

So, why is RCT being regarded as a long term solution to teeth problems. Why is it always projected as the ultimate treatment for a damaged tooth? Weren't the older methods like silver amalgam filling and the white cement filling
( bisphenol A-glycidyl methacrylate ) good enough? Atleast, they weren't projected as a long term solution and they weren't very expensive either.
The root canal treatment is really expensive Rs.2000 per tooth at Sangli and Rs. 4000 at Pune).
Yet, because the RCT being the ultimate saviour of teeth is taken up by so many people because of the dentist's recommendation.

Actually, I feel that RCT is small part of a cycle which helps a dentist fill his pockets at every stage. The first phase of the cycle is the RCT. Gradually, the crown dislodges and because of the food entering the RC, it infects the bone of the teeth. Now, comes the next stage, the dentist tells that the tooth is badly infected and nothing can be done. The only way to relieve the pain the the uprooting of the tooth. Because, we cannot eat without teeth, we go for dentures or other prosthetic measures - (the next stage of the cycle). These are toh more costly. Again these devices come in various variants like - nickel (for middle class) and ceramic (for upper class). These devices require maintenance and we need to go to the dentist atleast once every 2 years wherein he will always find some or the other defect in the dentures and make some more money. This goes on till the end.

What I feel is that we must ensure that the atleast the 1st stage of the cycle is eliminated. We must ask the dentist to uproot the damaged tooth directly and go for artificial tooth (prosthetic devices). Atleast money to the extent of Rs. 4000 can be saved.

It is said do what you preach. But I myself have not been able to do so - Partly because the dentist is my distant relative and partly because my parents do not reject his recommendation. So, inspite of my refusal to undergo the RCT, I have to go throught the pain.