Do you dare…

Do you dare to be yourself

when the world is faking it up,

Do you dare spending time alone,

when everyone is busy socializing,

Do you dare to travel solo 

when many groups are planning so many trips,

Do you dare to question yourself,

where the world wants to question everyone else, every politician, every celebrity, every government,

Do you dare to be truthful

where people are lying to themselves,

Do you dare to express yourself

where people are finding reasons to open up,

Do you dare to find yourself

where people have already lost themselves,

Do you dare to accept the past & move on

or join the increasing number of victims of depression,

Do you dare to appreciate someone

when everyone is hungry for praise & starving for appreciation,

Do you dare to be flawed

when everyone aims for perfection,

Do you dare to confront

rather than letting things go,

Do you dare to prioritize

and follow them straight,

Do you dare to selflessly help someone,

where the world is being selfish,

Do you dare to think beyond money & material ,

Do you dare to follow yourself ,

where everyone is following everyone ???

– Straight from My Heart,

Prakriti Singh

11

I am gonna miss these college walls..

The college walls… whenever I was happy , whenever I was sad, in days of excitement and in moments of tension.. I was surrounded by them.

As pillars of strength, as colourful as life, as beautiful and energetic as the youth. The moment I entered the college building, I fell in love with them. The amount of positive energy, vibes and warmth I could feel.
To say, to think these are just walls, but within these spaces, took place many events, conceived many ideas, and million memories made.. And how we characterized floors in the initial years, the purple wall, the green wall wala floor. 😉

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The photographs, were made just more beautiful by them… how excited we were for events , ” Aree yeh nai yeh wale wall pe le ” , ” Aaj group pic lenge yaar”.. And list goes on.

  • The gals lounge..which was later taken over by Placecom for corporate events..was an adda for all the creativity, and lots of fun games, or just for chilling
  • The library, which was not “just a library”, where people didn’t come only for studying, where people made new friends too, over some common interest. Not to forget the endless discussions and brainstorming activities.   IMG_20150224_210456   1909311_888177311226689_7186266387821794710_o
  • The canteen, the hogging zone.. sasta sundar tikaau khaane k jageh
  • The galleries outside labs, which got so occupied during vivas, and submissions
  • The sparkling girls wash room, only the gals can understand those washroom moments, where we always need company 😉 and our selfie sessions over there.
  • The basement, where people went to click “better” pics.
  • The seminar halls, which gave a different feeling totally throughout the placement season
  • The staircase, more than have of our college time was spent there
  • The terrace, which was occasionally opened, and we never left a chance to sneak
  • Oh.. the class rooms, the lectures, the fun, and the presentations…

Last, but not the least, the college entrance and the feeling when entering college.I will definitely miss everything. We all will.. maybe somewhere down the line, when we plan to visit college, we will feel more strongly about everything.

It’s over and difficult to digest..

Telecom

I am gonna miss these college walls and the people and the amazing moments which made them so special…

Straight from my heart,

Prakriti Singh

6

What a Foodie wants…

I am a foodie, I big  one. I just love eating , I eat every 2 hours and I want variety in my food. For a foodie, food is not only a matter of survival , but its an art, which they appreciate. They have an urge to try something new always, and wish to order something different every time they eat out. They concentrate on what they eat and have every bite with relish. Foodies have many problems too, one is a dilemma to choose between taste or health. Another main problems are the financial problems, they don’t understand where their money goes 😉 Getting information about different restaurants  menus, their location and timings is another big concern for them , as they never get tired of trying something new.. Being a student and a foodie, I face almost all these problems. I don’t realize why and when my wallet gets empty , and my stomach keeps craving for good, tasty, different food. But I am glad,that technology has helped the foodies too. With so many websites and apps for food-lovers, ordering new variety of food has become very easy. Some of the reliable and awesome ones are:

FoodPanda: Panda was anyway my favourite animal, and foodpanda just made me fell more in love with it 😉 With foodpanda we can order food online, anytime, anywhere in more than 100 cities !! Also the mobile application is very user friendly, plus one gets various codes and additional discounts on applications. Based on the location, foodpanda fetches all nearby restaurants and moreover introduces great offers too for example, its the festive cricket season, hence it on using certain code we get 100 Rs off. (Thus making the cricket season more festive 😉 ). As  far as reliabilty is of concern, there is Panda Price Promise, which promises to refund the difference, if one pays more than that listed on the menu.

Now what about getting more offers on foodpanda. YES !! There is http://www.27coupons.com/ which helps customers and foodies like me to get additional offers, like flat 50% on full menu, 40% off on all food orders, and even buy one get one free, wohoooo. Check them out here ( http://www.27coupons.com/stores/foodpanda.in/)

JustEat: As the name is, they want us to just eat, without thinking much. justeat offers easy, reliable and fast food ordering and deliver in Banglore, Delhi and Mumbai. One can order or even book a table with just few clicks from over 2000 restaurants and 52 cuisines. The best part is you can pay by cash or card. For people who don’t like online payments, there is always Cash on Delivery option. The mobile app comes very handy and there is 50% off on app orders too. They also have corporate food ordering, the managers can take care of their employees working late nights or on weekends. All that is needed is a registered id and password, then selection of city and campus. Food from the selected restaurant will be delivered on campus. No more waiting in long queues to order, also it gives the power of customization, getting food according to chosen time and limits.

27coupons (http://www.27coupons.com/stores/justeat.in/) provides justeat coupons, codes and discounts which are tested and tagged with banks. Many offers are active like 50% off , 25% off, etc. The offers are available both on online payment and also on cash-on-delivery mode.

Capture

Thus now we can save money, while we continue eating and enjoying food. Registering on 27coupons will thus help in availing additional discounts and satisy our sudden cravings for pasta, pizza, aloo-paratha and what not !!

So hurryy..

Happy food ordering

Happy Just Eating.. 😀

Straight from a foodie’s heart

Prakriti Singh

0

How to get placed ? (My Placement Story)

Finally I am writing this one. One of the objective of my blog is to write and share lessons learnt. I wonder why I did not write this since so long. As the post title suggests, this post is about how I got placed through campus. Yeah, I got placed 😀

Placement is one of the most expected and common outcome of a college degree and majority students desire a placement from college. Some people are ready for any placement offer, well some are very particular about the profile, I fall in the second category,I wanted my profile which will satisfy my love for project management.  Many companies visited the campus and went with selected students, but  I was waiting for the profile to match my need.

Another company came, I was very much excited for the day, I was not at all worried. I had full confidence on myself that I will get what I deserve.

And as any other important day, I was clicking pictures and wanted to capture every moment.

IMG-20150207-WA0051 Few things which I learnt from “the” placement day:

Be excited for the day: 

Yes, be super excited for the day, yay placements. Be happy that you have come to this point of your college life that you are eligible to take a placement from college. But being excited doesn’t mean being nervous.

Dress your part:

Many think of this as the last step in preparation, but it is very essential to dress appropriately. Wear colours which suit you, and also which are lucky for you. I am a strong believer of luck, and I usually wear pink for exams and interviews. 😉

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 Be yourself:

Just be yourself during the process, Do not fake up, even if you feel like keeping quiet and being a good listener during the group discussion. ( I was just a listener in the GD round). The whole point is to be yourself.. that’s it.  Even during the interview, I was just being myself, went with a positive attitude, showing my love and inclination for project management.

Don’t lose the smile:

The process can be very lengthy and it becomes a long day for the candidates. But we shouldn’t lose our smile and be patient. I was taking selfies during the waiting time to ensure that I don’t lose my smile and charm 😉

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IMG-20150207-WA0065

Keep zero expectations:

Positive or negative both expectations hurt, so it is better not to keep any expectations and wait for the results . Once, they are out, there are three ways to deal with them : regret it, or change it, or accept it. I have finally accepted the result 🙂

Everyone has their own learnings and a placement story, what’s yours ?

NOTE: The points are purely the viewpoints of author and as experienced by her. This post does not guarantee placement.

Straight from my heart,

Prakriti Singh

 

 

10

10 Things Every MBA Tech Student Will Understand

MBA(Tech) is the one of the first  Btech-MBA dual degree course in India  by Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS). There are certain things which every MBA(Tech) student can relate to….

1. Naya Course Hain ?? It was launched in 2004, six batches have passed out , still people aren’t aware of such a course. Sad but true, people consider their unawareness as non-existence of something !!

2. People ask you questions like “4 years for engineering and 1 year for MBA !! or 3 years engineering and 2 years MBA ”  Ya, because they have no idea what integrated course means 😉

3. So you consider yourself as an Engineer or MBA grad ? 

None of them, we call ourselves “Techno managers” !!

4. BTech students will think that MBA Tech is very easy and our exam papers are “Chindi” as compared to theirs As per our syllabus, the papers are fine. Maybe the technical papers are set leniently at times to compensate for the upcoming management papers and their checking.

5. We are awesome time managers and can easily manage even 14 subjects in a trimester  Not to forget the presentations, assessments , research project

6. You are MPSTME not SBM ! We get to hear this often , from our faculties, placement department and other “smart” students. But during the research project and internship evaluations, we are expected to perform like IIMs, IBSs,etc!!  Weird 😉

7. Why MBA(Tech) ? Some or the other time , we’ll come across this question by people, or we ask ourselves. A very difficult question to answer though…. 😉

8. Campus to Corporate, Corporate to Campus We are given Campus to Corporate training before our 5- 6 months management internship. The internship period is the best time for some( first income, good exposure, and projects) and worst for some !! But as soon as we get accustomed to the corporate world, Boom, Back to Campus.. Final Year !!

9. Techie job or a managerial one, or a mix !! In the end students are confused to take up a technical, managerial or techno-managerial job… or take risk and be an entrepreneur. Ultimately they will realize what’s best for them.

10. We won’t realize when the 5 years fly by !! Five years is a long duration for a course, but we don’t realize that college’s gonna end soon and wish to capture  and relive every single moment, memory and events….

Straight From My Heart,

Prakriti Singh

5

Lost & Found !!!

No,I haven’t quit blogging. I still remember I have a blog site. There is no particular reason why I wasn’t writing. In fact I don’t know ! There were enough reasons to write, many inspirations, few of my readers asking me why haven’t I posted from long, is good enough a motivation to write. What I know is, that I was lost,for sometime, the real me was somewhere lost !! And before the year ends,  I want to speak these out and dump such memories and go forward with new hopes and positivity.

The last few months, things were not favourable for me. Some problem, or the other kept me preoccupied. Before one was solved, others started knocking at my door.

First the harassment case, yes I was a victim of psychological harassment by the college canteen vendor. And I spoke up, and stood for it. Unlike as described in Shenaz Tresurywala’s open letter  http://www.indicine.com/movies/bollywood/shenaz-treasurywalas-open-letter-to-pm-bachchan-srk-salman-and-aamir/  There were many people who supported me, helped me and were always by my side. But there were also few, who thought that it was fake, and asked me stupid , annoying questions like, “Really ?”, ” But he is very good yaar ” ,  “Are you sure”.  I wonder why would any girl want such news to be spread about her !! And neither do I want publicity , I already have enough, positively and negatively 😛 It doesn’t stop here, some people made a joke out of it, some blamed my over friendliness as the reason for it. Ya, I am friendly, but I don’t wear a “Free Hugs” or “Hug me” board and roam around.

Then, there were other problems. I was suffering from insomnia,  couldn’t sleep for days, even after trying to sleep for hours. After 2 weeks I was so frustrated and totally broke down. But I identified the root-cause, and cured it. 🙂

The worst and most recent,  my father got a paralysis attack during my semester end exams. I had four back to back exams, and couldn’t even meet him when he was hospitalized. I wanted to be with him, support him but couldn’t. I managed my exams somehow. I am really grateful to this one friend of mine, Parita who supported me throughout, and I was able to give my exams, only because of her.

Lack of sleep, and stress worsened my upper respiratory track infection and it led to severe nose bleeding !!

Because of all these and many little things, I was lost, I stopped interacting with people. From being a girl who initiates a conversation, I became someone who started running from people. I started wearing specs so that people cannot see my eyes, the dark-circles and the pain. I stopped caring for myself.  From a girl who used to eat every 2 hours, I used to starve for hours !!   A girl who loved taking selifes so much that I actually roam with a selfie stick, I started hating the camera !!

I was lost… but now when I look back, I wonder why did I take so much stress, why did I stop loving myself. Why was I so worried about the future !! I was feeling , and questioning luck , destiny, faith , that “Why me?”

But then I  realized that everything eventually is solved. Most of our worries are about things beyond our control, so why waste time and energy for it.

I now have no regrets and I am proud of how I was strong and handled everything. I am having my last continuous holidays of college, and maybe of my life. I am spending it with my family, enjoying quality family time which I was missing since when. I am devoting all my time for Dad.

I also realized that I am so blessed and lucky to have some wonderful people in my life, who were like my extended family and helped me find myself. I am the same Prakriti now as I was, a person who loves herself, is very positive and lively. I never thought I would suffer from serious stress , insomnia and etc.

But Hard times do make better people. And as Robin Sharma says, ” We need to get off the track before we can develop clarity to be on track”.

I would like to thank all of them, who knowingly or unknowingly helped me in finding myself, supported me, reminded me of my strong self or just gave me a listening ear. Also, I would not want any of my friend to lose their real self because of the problems and worries…

Love yourself and Never Lose yourself

Straight from My Heart,

Prakriti Singh

 

 

 

 

2

A small token of gratitude

A teacher is not only someone who teaches, but one who inspires, encourages, supports, appreciates, recognizes talent and prepares their students for life. Be it for the daily life or, for the corporate life.
A teacher plays a very crucial role in shaping everyone’s personality.
Schooling will decide what kind of individual one becomes, what manners, basic etiquettes, command over language, competitive spirit one possess. In college, the professors teach us the right attitude towards life, prepares us to handle stress, multi-task, gives us a bigger picture of what life really is, guides us for our career, develops our personality and above all gives us a glimpse of the corporate world. And there are dance teachers, music teachers, swimming coach who brings out the hiddden talent from all their students. Makes them believe that they can do anything.

Accept it or not, for most of the students, their first role model is a teacher. We look forward to them for everything, any advice and guidance. Teaching is not an easy job. A teacher is supposed to know everything, be prepared for every question, and should always be right !! They play many roles together, teacher, counsellor, advisor, and even that of a friend, to name a few.

Even after having all the industry knowledge, awareness of latest developments and trends, and even experience, they chose to be in the education field. They want to shape futures, want to contribute in development of youth. Its their passion to educate the world. Many people, specially the youth today thinks there is no growth in this profession, but the fact is, their learning never ends, and they keep growing, in terms of knowledge, experience and wisdom.

As our PM Narendra modi said,

Teaching is not just another profession. It is a divine responsibility to guide and enlighten

We should all respect our teachers, professors, coaches, lecturers.I want to thank my teachers for everything. Their support, encouragement, recognition and appreciation played a crucial role in my personality development, without which I would not have acheived anything, and would not be in the same place as today.Their examples, experiences, stories and lessons will stay in my life forever. Really grateful for everything, words are less to describe my  gratitude towards them..

-Straight from my Heart,
Prakriti Singh

6

Understanding & Cracking the CAPM Exam

Even though I have many other things to post, but this is the need of the hour. Many of my friends asked me about the Certified Associate of Project Management (CAPM) Exam. This post will clear major queries related to it. It will be helpful to any person pursuing CAPM certification.

Understand what it is: CAPM exam is conducted by the Project Management Institue(PMI). It tests one’s awareness and understanding of project management methodologies and terminology. “Understanding” in bold as many people mistake it for just a memory test. Its not only about remembering the methods, tools and techiniques but also understanding them.

Scheduling your exam: The first main thing about cracking the CAPM is scheduling it. Schedule it wisely. Try taking a date and centre which is comfortable in all sense. There should be no other appointments and commitments on that day.
According to me, it should be the first thing to do. If we think we will prepare and schedule, it will never happen , as we will feel our preparation is incomplete. The right approach is to schedule it and then plan. (Think from PM viewpoint, you need a target and then plan, the target here is your exam date and goal is to finish your preparation within the timeframe). Schedule atleast 2 weeks before you plan to give it.

How much time it takes to prepare: Well, this is a very relative question. It will depend from person to person. If you read online, many blogs say that one needs atleast 1 year or 6 months. Trust me, its no hard and fast rule that you need that much time. I prepared genuinely for 4 Days. (Plus I used to read notes while my daily travelling). For people having basic PM knowledge and who attended the 23 Contact hours training by PMI seriously, it is not a difficult task at all. By basic PM knowledge I mean, having Project Management as a subject in a semester( And you took it seriously)
Remember its the quality of preparation that will matter, and not only the number of hours).

How to prepare: Before starting you need to have one thing needed for any exam, Confidence . Be confident that you will rock it. Stay calm and realistic. Go through all the knowledge areas. Refer your notes made during the contact hours training. If you haven’t then you can make your end moment notes. If you are comfortable reading from someone else’s notes, take someone’s phone.

Don’t focus on memorizing the processes in the knowledge areas and the ITTO Tables (Input-Tools and Techniques-Output Tables) . Focus on understanding them. They are all logical and sequential. Try grasping the logic. For example, all control processes have many common things, only few primary input -output. Once you are familiar with all knowledge areas, their importance, their function, all the processes would be clear.

It’s not necessary to follow any book. CAPM notes and PMBOK is good enough.

Get acquainted with the exam pattern. Following would be useful :

  • Download PM Fastrack. Its a exam simulation software.
  • Register on http://www.pmstudy.com/ and PracticeQuiz.com
  • Give free tests and simulated tests there. It will be good revision and will acquaint you to the exam format and all

Analyse your result report carefully. Detailed knowledge area wise results are provided. Identify your weakness and strengths and work accordingly. Improve on the weaker knowledge areas. Make flowcharts and tables while giving exams and during revision.

 

Start taking everything in your life as a project, and you will realize how things will turn different. Follow the PM methodology, and you will be a separate, systematic person and with brilliant time management skills.

Happy to help, Contact for further details

Passionate towards PM

– Straight from your heart,

Prakriti Singh CAPM

CAPM NO 1686610

 

4

Life is like a train journey or Train is life ??

” Life is like a train ride. We get on. We ride. We get off. We get back on and ride some more. There are accidents and there are delays. At certain stops, there are surprises. Some of these will translate into great moments of joy; some will result in profound sorrow.”- Author unknown. There are so many life is like a train ride quotes. Many authors and poets use the metaphor of train journey for life. But for about 8 million people in Mumbai, train is a part of their life. Rightly described as the lifeline of Mumbai, it plays a very crucial role in our lives. We are greatly dependent on the local train network, few delays and cancellations, our life gets disturbed. I am one of them. I spend 4 hours everyday travelling. Everyday I meet many new people and the same people and my  train friends(a category of friends which only Mumbaikars have ;)).

From the past few days, I am travelling alone, which is usually not the case.  Everyday I observe people, interact with many and overhear many conversations. I have overheard many ladies complaining and cribbing about how their lives are just about travelling-office-travelling. By the time they reach home, they are too tired to spend time with family, or just there is nothing much to say other than the train-rides and office politics ! Avoiding both the topics, they prefer to sleep. During monsoon, many people spend even 6 hours travelling in Mumbai local. This made me wonder, is this what we Mumbaikars call life ? Do our lives have no other meaning than just travelling and returning !? Train is life for Mumbaikars ?

Its all perspective. Its like the glass is half full, or half empty !! Both are true, but it depends on the attitude, how we take it. Some things we have to accept and move on with it. There is no point cribbing. Yes, we travel , we spend 4 to 6 hours daily in train, so what ? You are not alone, there are 8 million people doing the same.
There are people who enjoy travelling, have a train group, countless train friends, are merry, discuss everything and don’t crib at all. In fact, motivate other travellers and give them tips too 😉

I would say that people who travel by Mumbai local are one of the most hardworking, perseverant , social people in the world. They experience life in its true form, every single day.

Below are some qualities which Mumbai local travellers develop and even master:

Being Social: They are the most social people in the world. They can start a conersation with anyone, and on any topic !! Moreover, they feel connected to many people too. Train friends soon become the closest friends.

Time Management: Their system gets tuned to keep track of every minute. Moreover, they will value each and every minute of their life. Even 2 minutes means a lot !( Had written a whole post on it – prakritisingh.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/managing-time-the-train-way/)

Multitasking: Listening music, reading, chatting, eating,playing games,these are some things which are done simultaneously. For bloggers, even writing 😉

Never lose hope: Even if one single minute is left for the train, they will hope they get it. Many times the postive attitude works a lot 🙂

Running: Its dangerous, but all the local travellers atleast for once, must have ran madly to catch a train. Well there are those who do this everyday too, in kareena kapoor and Shah rukh khan style 😉

Flexibility: Sounds funny, but their bodies remain flexible. Due to the crowd, they can stand in weird positions, on their toes, all the body weight balancing on one leg , their bags on their head and what not ! Also they get free body massage many times 😉

Planning: Every day begins with a plan, which train to take, what time to leave from home to reach office/college on time, and so on. These little things make them strong in memory , assumptions and ultimately planning becomes a part of every task.

Introspect:Many people prefer utilizing the time with oneself, to introspect, to ask answers to oneself, and some even meditate (only possible in harbour line)

The list can be never ending.. These are just some of them. So, if we see it positively, each day is a new learning, new hope for Mumbai local travellers. Are they really wasting time ? I believe nothing in life goes waste, everything teaches us something.

Ultimately, life is what our thoughts make it…

Straight from my Heart,
Prakriti Singh

9

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