As the end draws closer

4 years, 8 semesters, 39 subjects, uncountable projects and presentations, late nights in the library, rushing to meet deadlines, rehearsing in the concourse and SESS seminar 5.2.. As foreign as these may seem to you, to me they are reminders of the 4 years I have spent in SMU.

My experience at SMU is coming to an end and as much as I am thrilled to be finally over with my Bachelors, there is a sadness in leaving the university where I amassed a lot of memories. I was filling out my profile page for the yearbook when I came across the question "What is your fondest memory in SMU?". Needless to say I had a hard time pinpointing a single memory, there are too many for me to treasure for the rest of my life.

The times spent with friends simply chatting, having fun, drinking chai, laughing uncontrollably or the times spent frazzled in the library working till wee hours to meet an impossibly close deadline. I remember the 1^st day of FA class when I 1^st met Liz. Both of us were so out of place in an accounting class and were so relieved to find a friendly face in class. I remember we found each other during the class break and stuck together ever since. We literally slaved together for FA and MA, supporting each other through the horrors of the subjects.

I am going to miss each of these memories and much much more. More importantly I will miss all the people who have enriched my time in SMU, It is impossible to think about my university days without my friends and professors. I thank God for blessing me with such wonderful friends who have stood by me the past 4 years. I just hope we can continue to stay in touch and maintain our beautiful friendship.

I had always heard that university is the best time of your life and I totally agree. I loved my university days and am going to miss it a lot!

I think that what makes this rite of passage more bittersweet for me is the fact that I am as yet still unemployed. That means that once my exams end on the 18^th of April, I have an indefinite period of nothingness. I have been working hard on filling this black hole of a period in my life with some meaningful activities. The obvious thing is trying to land a job for which the process is still in process. As would be expected this is no easy feat in the economic times of today. Keeping that in mind I have also applied for Master's studies in the UK. Other than that I have been applying for various short activities like volunteering with the Asian Youth Games and being a Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant for the holidays.

As the end draws closer I look forward to a new beginning while cherishing the many treasured memories I have of university days.

Karna- The Eternal Warrior

Tickets are now available at $15 each.
To purchase, email icskarna@gmail.com or SMS 91998369 or 91810614

**Production is performed in English**

Singapore Management University Indian Cultural Society (SMU ICS) will stage its 3rd annual drama production Karna - The Eternal Warrior on 14 February this year. The production emulates the traditional theatre style prevalent in Ancient India. The drama boasts a SMU student based cast and crew including live vocalists, musicians, actors, creative and technical directors and production manager.

Karna - The Eternal Warrior is an English adaptation of one of the chapters from the Indian epic, The Mahabharata, focusing on the character of Karna. The protagonist, Karna, was the son of the Sun god and due to circumstances was disowned at birth. He faced humiliation at every step in life despite his revered lineage. He was never given the respect he deserved. However despite all odds he rose high and knowingly chose to be on the side of the wrong, but for all the right reasons– gratitude, loyalty, and friendship. Karna went on to use the strength and knowledge he amassed to conquer all who had mocked him in life.

Karna went on to become one of the biggest, most loved and most memorable heroes of the Mahabharata. He encapsulated in himself the angst of living a wronged life, which he lived by the motto of making the best of the worst.

The script of the production is adapted from the original “Karnabharam”, a Sanskrit play written in 500 B.C by Bhasa, who is referred to as the father of Indian drama. Karna comes in the wake of previous 2 highly successful productions by SMU ICS, Ek Pyaar Ki Kahaani and Heer Ranjha. SMU ICS hopes to continue entertaining audiences from across the spectrum while spreading awareness about Indian culture and the diverse talents of its members.

Vision for Karna - The Eternal Warrior
With Karna, SMU ICS aims to expand their audience to include the wider Singapore community. The club seeks to enrich the Singapore community with Indian culture and Indian theatre style. Karna will entertain and educate audiences with its unique blend of traditional Indian theatre (founded in 500BC) and modern theatrical technologies of today.

The drama delivers the message of being successful in all situations and standing loyal to your values and what you do in life. Overall the production gives the audience an opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the multiple talents of SMU students in the showcase.

Production Crew and Cast for Karna - The Eternal Warrior

Production Crew
Niharica Sand- Production Manager
Unnikrishna Menon Sreekanth- Director
Parampreet Kaur- Finance Director
Shaffalika Gandhi- Marketing & Sponsorship Director
Ramesh Chandraseharan- Technical Director
Saroopa Das Choreography – Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society

Cast
Zameer Vaswani- Karna
Gayatri Gopal- Kunthi
Sri Saravanan Sithiasagaran- Salya
Akram Yacob- Suthradhar
Unnikrishna Menon Sreekanth- Brahmin
Roger Cherian Payyappilly- Parasurama

I did learn something in SMU

For the 1st time I am only doing 3 modules. Keeping this in mind I had forecasted ample free time and a chilled out semester. It has been 4 weeks into my last semester in SMU and boy have I been proven wrong.

For each of my 3 subjects I have weekly readings and for strategy I have weekly case homework. I know it doesn't sound so bad. But trust me in the last semester I just don't have the motivation to even pick up the textbook, forget doing case studies. Frankly it is not so bad. I agree. What makes it so irritating are the overly zealous juniors in my classes.

All 3 of my classes have an ample of year 2 and year 3 students. Maybe its generation gap (yikes) or the lack of experience dealing with the SMU style of education. Whatever the reason they are the epitome of kiasu. They highlight their slides a week before the lesson. They complete assignments a week before submission. They want to meet 3-4 times to work on a 10% project. They are eager beavers and it irritates me to no end.

After spending 7 semesters in SMU I guess I have gotten used to completing assignments and projects in minimum time and with minimum meetings. I have also gotten used to prioritising deadlines with their respective grade weightage. I must admit that I too have gone though the period of 3 hour sleeping time and pulling out my hair.

In short I guess I did learn something from my time in SMU. I learnt to be an efficient worker, managing my time well and multi-tasking effectively. Now if only I could land a job based on these practical leanings....

Lamhe at Re:Present, SMU Arts Festival 2009

This coming Monday I will be dancing with 5 other dancers from the SMU Indian Cultural Society. Our performance will be part of the ongoing SMU Arts Festival, Re:Present. In line with the theme of time our performance, Lamhe, will showcase the transition Indian art has made over the years. Using a song from a 1958 Hindi movie and its 21st centuary remix, our dance showcases the difference in music, costumes, dance steps and socital attitude. Come down and watch us dance to the beats of Ek Pardesi, old and new, at Singapore Mangement University T-Junction at 12.30pm on 19th Jan totally free of cost!!

Exams Frenzy

Yikes where does the time fly..

Wasn't it just yesterday that I was enjoying my Chritmas holiday weekend with my girls in Genting? Or wasn't it just yesterday I had started with my Investor Relation classes? Or wasn't it just yesterday that I had my first Tax Planning class and hated it?

All the slogging, all the tears, all the hardwork and all the torture culminate in the 4 exams I will soon be sitting for. I have never hated exams as much in my 12 years of schooling as I hate them in university. The time never seems enough, I never feel prepared enough and the atmosphere doesn’t seem conducive enough!

A semester in SMU lasts for 15 weeks. 13 weeks are for lessons with a one week break in week 8 and week 14. Week 15 is exams week. The 1 week break in week 14 is coined the study break as it is before the exams. It is supposed to give students time to concentrate fully on exams. However I think 1 week is just tooo little, especially with professors stubbornly holding tutorial and revision classes in the same week. Where is the time to sit and down and burry myself in books if I am going to be running back and forth SMU and home?! That is the normal state of things during the weeks of classes anyways. That leaves nothing special about week 14 break week.

Also no matter how much earlier I want to start studying for exams, I can’t.

1. The syllabus doesn’t get completed before week 13, or week 12 at the earliest.
2. There is a rush of project, report and presentation deadlines in week 11, 12 and 13; sometimes even in week 14!

I usually end up staying in SMU till crazy hours in my bid to meet these deadlines

Making the library my 2nd home, I have stayed in the library latest till 3.30am!

So it all boils down to the week 14 where I have to manage/ attempt to cover my studying for all my exams; 4 for this term.

My exams are as such,
2^nd June, 9am: Advanced Audit
3^rd June, 2pm: Ethics
5^th June, 9am: Tax Planning
6^th June, 9am: Advanced Management Accounting

My carrot to survive through the exams is my flight to Sweden on 7^th June!! :D

“We are so much better at and happier doing non academic stuff”

“We are so much better at and happier doing non academic stuff” said one of my friends. She was referring to how we manage the SMU Indian Cultural Society (a club so Indian in its ways that even the Indians would be ashamed at its Indianess. More of that in another post).

There is so much truth in this statement. Yet the fact that this statement came from a student pursing her Bachelor’s degree it is very disturbing. Or is it?

I wish I could stop studying something I have no interest in and pursue my dream of becoming a dance choreographer..

I simply love to dance. As I say, I love to dance and dance to live. What is left in life without dance, music or rhythm? Dance has passion, expression and freedom. Dance is empowering, dance is exhilarating, dance is humbling, dance is embracing yourself and letting the world see through your eyes.

The accounting 'hell' I got myself into

I am a student of Accounting. But the fact remains that I do not enjoy this field of study. This is the very reason why I choose my 2^nd major of Corporate Communication. Corporate Communication is as far removed from Accounting as ever. It is also a field of study I thoroughly enjoy.

As if being forced to study Accountancy is not torture enough, someone brilliantly decided to have all the Accountancy classes at 8.30am in the morning. Each class also has a minimum 50% weightage exam together with disastrous project requirements. Most of the times the projects aren’t even useful and demand insane amounts of time and resources.

The professors too have sworn to be the most boring, monotonous, cynical, evil and vindictive of the lot. The students are no better. They are vicious with their excessive competitiveness and fire to excel regardless of whom they have to remove from their path of success. This deadly combination makes the faculty most unfriendly in general. It also brings about an atmosphere of hostility and Darwinian style fight of survival.

It’s quite obvious I do not have the most raving of views of my faculty peers. As expected of all my friends a bare minimum are from the Accountancy faculty.

It is then a pity that I am expected to sit through 3, 3 hours advanced accounting classes at 8.30am on each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Most times I have no interest or initiative to follow the lesson. It is at these times that I wonder if I could use this time instead for something more worthy. Especially since I can survive the course without listening to a single word during the class and studying on my own.

It is then depressing to think I have 3 more accounting modules left before graduation. I sincerely wish I had not chosen Bachelor of Accountancy for my degree and gotten myself into this hell.

3 full public holidays spent in SMU....

Labour Day, election polling day and Vesak day- 3 public holidays and 3 days I spent in university with 2 other friends. And i mean the whole day, 10- 12hours each time. Each day i was working on something concerned with the summer module i am doing. One day i was studying for an upcoming test. The other two days I was working on projects. I have to tell you it is very depressing spending the whole day in university on a public holiday. Other than the 3 of us, no one else, the shops all closed, people walking around (going for movies, having fun)...

After going through all the 3 days, I've been thinking what good are public holidays? i mean some people are still working (hawkers, cleaners, shop owners, corporate workers), universities are still open (students like us go back), the bus and taxi drivers are still working i mean is it really a public holiday? When do these people get their holidays? i mean they also deserve to enjoy the holidays especially Labour day!!

But the sad fact is that this is just an unrealistic dream. The city cannot function without these people. Imagine having no public transport or restaurants open on public holidays? Won’t that be very sad? It certainly will. However it is also true that they deserve a day off when the rest of us are enjoying a day off too.

So what can we do to appreciate them? I really have no idea if something is being done as of now. But I think they should be paid a special bonus for working on public holidays or given gifts. Moreover even we as enjoy their service, we can say thank you and be nice to them. I’m sure this small gesture will make a difference.

Anyways till then i am looking forward to enjoying the next public holiday anywhere but working in university.