Testimonials

Ms. Sneha Jha, a student of the Indo-German Training Centre, Mumbai goes down memory lane and narrates her experiences during her stay in Germany. “An experience never to forget………………. I was thrilled on receiving the news that I had been selected by my training company Bosch Limited for a two month training stint at Bosch, Germany. I couldn’t believe that my dream of getting an international exposure in a leading German MNC was about to come true! I was keen to experience the cross cultural work environment, which would broaden my knowledge base.

7th November 2009, I landed at Frankfurt and I was welcomed by the chilly breeze of the approaching winters. I was given accommodation at the Bosch Guest house where I interacted with the other International employees of the company. There were people from Czech Republic, China, Turkey and me from India. We all belonged to different countries and different cultures, yet were all united and tied in the same string as we belonged to the same company, the same “Bosch World”.

At Stuttgart, I was supporting the functions of the Human Resources team of Bosch, Germany Gasoline Divisions. The work culture, style and environment was indeed different. The employees were extremely professional and I must say the punctuality there was something to be adorned. The environment was quite friendly and everyone was treated with the same respect irrespective of their designations and positions.

My training was quite interesting. I was supporting the Human Resources Department to implement a common process for Reorganization at Bosch Worldwide. My project mainly involved creating a Post Merger Integration Checklist and Assessment measure which could be used at Bosch worldwide. I was instrumental in creating the Excel tool for the Employment Measures that Bosch is planning to implement and I translated the guidelines to create Organization Charts for the Gasoline Systems in English. The mode of communication in office was German and since I am familiar with both the languages (German & English) I tried my hand at some English translation of the documents of HR Policies, Guidelines and Standards.

The two months in Germany have been the most cherish able moments of my life. This experience of mine was definitely a stepping stone in my career. There was a lot to learning, both professionally and at a personal level.”

Ms. Mira Parekh, another student of IGTC, Mumbai narrates her experience of her three-month training stint at Bosch, Germany. “My training in Germany was a dream come true.In Germany; I was trained at the Corporate Headquarters of Bosch in Schillerhöhe. An Orientation Seminar at Bosch was an eye opener for me. It made me realize how differently the Germans think. The Seminar was specially kept for expatriates in Germany to make them accustomed to the German lifestyle. It was a nice intermingling of Culture and Thoughts.

I worked with the Corporate Human Resources Department (CHM). I was fortunate to work with two separate departments of Human Resources during my three month stint in Germany. One of them was the CHME which is theCorporate Human Resources Executive Department. The main tasks of this department were to perform management potential/ salary reviews and reactive staffing. I was actively involved in the function ‘Rewarding’ which was by way of an Annual Salary Review worldwide. My first set of assignments required me to submit a Status Report on the Annual Salary Review. I was required to know the International Executive Compensation Tool (IEC) and the Management Executive Development Tool (MED).

My second set of assignments required me to use my German Language skills to make a list of all the Personnel Announcements for the Bosch Portal in both the English and the German Language. I was instrumental in developing a manual for the MED Tool users. The 2nd department that I worked for was the CHMI which is responsible for International Assignments. Here I was required to design a Matrix for the Social Security Agreements worldwide. My training here was very fulfilling and gave me a wonderful opportunity to work the ‘German way’ i.e. with Precision, Perfection and Punctuality.

On the personal front, the thought of spending Christmas alone was a bit disturbing but I was lucky enough to be invited by one of my colleague to celebrate Christmas with her entire family. For the first time ever I experienced what traditional German Christmas was like – beautifully decorated christmas tree, singing of carols and hymns, munching on delicacies like “schokolade kuchen” and exchange of gifts at the end. All was simply fantastic.

Traveling was a rejuvenating experience for me. Be it getting the panoramic view of Stuttgart city from the oldest Television tower/Fernsehturm or dreaming of owning a Porsche one day at the uniquely designed Porsche museum. I truly enjoyed my travelling mainly because of the well organized network of trains with not even a minute’s delay in the train timing despite of the bad weather. That’s was sets this country apart from other countries across the Globe.

Overall, my trip to Germany was an experience which would always remain embedded in my mind for the years to come.

Admission Open @ IGTC for Batch 2010 – 2012. Applications welcome from company sponsored candidates.

CHAKRAVYUH 2007

The first day we all met at IGTC, we were strangers. Today, six weeks down the line we can fondly call ourselves a family; a family that learns together, dreams together, works together and makes amends together if things go wrong.

With lectures scheduled till late evening, business quizzes every week, assignments and presentations practically every day, we were slowly getting used to the hectic pace of the life of a management graduate; when one day we received an invitation from Lala Lajpatrai Institute for Management to participate in their annual management festival – CHAKRAVYUH 2007.

The entire class was excited with the thought of getting this first opportunity to represent our Indo-German Training Centre at a management fest. But at the same time apprehensions seeped in. Our seniors last year had made us proud by winning laurels at many events hosted at CHAKRAVYUH. We hardly even knew each other, so will we be able to work together and keep the IGTC flag flying high? Will we manage all our lectures, assignments and quizzes with preparations for a business plan, Ad-Mad, finance and HR quizzes, dance and fashion show practice sessions? Will we be able to face stiff competition from other senior management students? However, after much deliberation and discussions internally, we the trainees of Batch 2007-2009 decided to take the plunge. Yes, we decided to participate in CHAKRAVYUH 2007.

The next couple of days was a mad rush of deciding who would participate in which event, what would be our theme/ topic for the different competitions and setting our practice schedules. Despite a lot of cajoling, none of our faculty members gave in to our request of canceling any lectures. This was when we learnt our first lessons on team work and time management. What followed was a number of emotional breakdowns, tempers flying, people falling sick, hurting themselves…severe obstacles which tempted us to give up but we didn’t. The motivation to make a mark for our newfound home – IGTC – kept us going strong.

And at last, the D-day arrived. We reached Lala Lajpatrai to see 34 B-schools participate in the various events. The first day, 5th October, 2007 had elimination rounds for most of the events. The events for that day included management events such as the Ad-mad show, the Finance Quiz, the Marketing Quiz, the Business Plan and Recycle Bin in addition to other cultural events such as Singing, Dancing, Fashion Show and the Laughter Challenge. All the events were held at different locations in the college campus. All in all, the day was pretty successful as we qualified for a number of events. The presence of our Director, Mrs. Radhieka Mehta and Manager Corporate Relations, Ms. Tamanna Khanna was a great moral booster. Having qualified for the finals in many events we all were euphoric, but also nervous as many more expectations arose. We had to give our best shot on 6th October, 2007 – the finals. As the day progressed, a few prizes came in tow, leading to growing excitement. Everyone was looking forward to the final prize distribution ceremony. Gradually the secret unfolded and we realized that we had won the following events –

• 1st in Ad-mad show
• 1st in Fashion show along with Best Female Model
• 2nd in Business Plan
• 2nd in Brand Housie
• 2nd in Laughter Challenge
• 2nd in Table Tennis

Amidst a lot of cheering, a number of awards kept coming in and finally it came to the announcement for the Best College Trophy. Our hearts literally skipped a beat when they gave a clue that the winner was from Flora Fountain, and before we realized it, the Indo-German Training Centre was announced as the winners of the overall championship! We were ecstatic! We had done our Training Centre, our Director and ourselves proud! We had surpassed expectations to triumph!

Unbelievable but true, that night we came home with a grand trophy that stood as a symbol of many things – a unified class, understanding friends and unstinted dedication toward constructing newer paradigms for an excellence undreamt of!

You are not in college now! Think of your self as being in Kindergarten.”-With these words, 39 young minds readied themselves for a journey they never could have imagined. Yes, this is the story of IGTC batch 2005 of which I was a part of and take immense pleasure to write about.

So we 39 “KG” goers did what our Marketing teacher (Mr. S. Prabhu) asked of us: Questioning everything as KG goers do, becoming as curious as KG kids can be and converting our minds into sponge, that could absorb every information, every teaching, every learning. Its amazing how in the end of it all we all remembered this first lecture of our academic life in IGTC (which commenced on 1st September, 2005).

Two weeks have past since we finished our formal education in IGTC, few of us already working in our respective companies. We had all met up last week at our usual “hangout”. In a journey called life where there are new people, new places and many new experiences, I am glad that some things remain constant. The same “hangout”, known friends, that feeling of belonging- I guess you can not blame anybody for getting nostalgic.

We were all remembering our days in IGTC. My good friend Darshana Choudhari shared her experience in Siemens (where she is working in the Corporate Finance Department). As much as she loves her new work place, she still considers IGTC to be her second home. Of course after spending 13 hours in college on more than one occasion, one does feel a change in postal address could be the next logical step. But I guess more than the long hours, the warmth of your friends, the support and encouragement of the administration staff and the wonderful feeling of comfort that we all felt at IGTC is the reason for us to call it our home.

To talk of home and not mention Stella Edwards is unthinkable. IGTC batch 2005 like the ones before it and the ones following it will come and go, but one thing is for sure, all will be drawn back to our beloved Stella. I am sure my Alumni would agree with me if I say that IGTC without Stella is unimaginable. My friend once told me: The ones dearest to our heart are the ones whom we yell at. This is because we care for them and would want the best of them. Well to tell you the truth, we loved to get a shouting or two from Stella, because we knew that it came from the care and concern she had for all of us. I envy Ashutosh for getting the most shoutings!

Ashutosh Apte, our very own Arts genius was remembering the perfect balance of fun and work that IGTC offered us. Our director Mrs. Radheika Mehta ensured that we do not end up like dull little Jack – all work and no play. Ashutosh particularly loved the Jaya Joshi’s empowerment workshop where actually got in touch with our selves. Work shops like MBTI mapping, Kursheed Merchant’s workshop and the empowerment work shop helped us all to understand ourselves better. They made us aware of our strengths, weaknesses, who we are and who we choose to be. All in all they helped us become better human beings. As Ashutosh repeated what Jaya Joshi had taught us – “Every one is empowered to choose things in your life-and that is what will make the difference” I understood why he the ‘Arts genius’ chose to work for DHL operations. He ‘chose’ this for his life.

This is the uniqueness of IGTC that we all admired. Things are not just on paper. Just as we implement our learnings from workshops in real life, all that was taught in theory i.e. on paper was what we observed and implemented in our practical trainings as well. Our teachers also admired this model of learning. So much so that our Costing teacher Mr. Hariharan (Savoire Faire) even recruited my colleague Jaidev Paranjape. It was a smooth transition for Jaidev from college to work since he could actually see Mr. Hariharan’s teachings in the class room being actually practiced in his work.

It was also a smooth transition for Vishwanath (lovingly called as Vishy). He had his practical training in MICO BOSCH (Bangaluru). During all three practical phases, MICO BOSCH was able to assess whether Vishy matched their company’s culture. And when MICO BOSCH offered Vishy the profile of his dreams, it was a match made in heaven. He said he will be missing Mumbai and IGTC; but as the old saying goes: Home is where the heart is…

Some of my colleagues from outside Mumbai have made Mumbai their home. Amol Bhutada for instance…He is our class’ reference book. He is our class topper and now works for Unity Infraprojects. He will always be grateful to Tamanna for helping him out during placements. Did I mention Tamanna, our Training co-ordinator who was more than a guiding force, a true friend to us. Her perseverance, hard work has taught lessons we would cherish for life.

This is what IGTC offered us. We were constantly supported in our endevour to make not only our selves but also our surroundings better. Ask Aniket Vaidya (placed with MAN Force Trucks Pvt. Ltd.) and he would tell you about our factory visits. An automobile engineer/lover was truly happy when we went to Daimler Chrysler and Bharat Forge in Pune for our factory visit. Aniket would always cherish the entire experience of IGTC as it gave him opportunities to meet new people and thus build his confidence which helped him in his job.

Talk about Pune and it brings happy memories for Varun. Varun Verencar would soon be calling Pune his home. He was reminded of the day when he went to Bajaj Allianz General Insurance interview to Pune. He can proudly say that he was one of the few chosen by Bajaj Allianz after a competitive all India selection process across colleges. He has mixed feelings about finishing his education with IGTC. Sure he is happy about his job but he will miss all the fun that we had together. The picnics (Gorai Beach, Alibaug, Neral to name a few), the movies, the outings and also the parties and treats. Most of all he would miss the treats because his was the last placement treat we enjoyed.

All the fun and joy was possible only thanks to Meghna Dadha. I do not mean she financed any of it (though we wished). All I mean is that it was her meticulous formulation of Time Table that gave us a perfect balance of Class room lectures and enough time for co-curricular activities and extra curricular activities. But more importantly, she understood us as we are- as students. May be it is because it was not long ago that she was one either. It just helped us to know that our activities were planned by some one who is able to judge what is necessary for students and what additional is “required” by them.

Observing all of us silently during our nostalgic confessions is Saurin Shah-the guide to all of us. His 17 years of experience in BASF surely shows the rich culture of BASF. He guided us and passed on to us whatever wisdom he gathered from his experience. He was truly a blessing in disguise for us. He confessed to us that it was totally a new experience to him to share the class with kids half his age! However, he has also taken a lesson from us to live the forever green at heart life. It also helped him bond with his daughters better. His one statement that can be truly framed and hung on every wall (according to me) is: “There is no re-exam in life”. No matter how many books you read or seminars you attend, but experience is the best teacher.

What I got out of IGTC? Well, friends I will cherish forever, experiences that have made me who I am and teachings that help me better mysef. But most of all and I think for every one in the world, it is important to be a KG goer. One must never stop learning. And that is the mantra I got from IGTC- a land of opportunities.

Aditi Patil
(Ex-Head Student Council, IGTC Batch 2005-2007)
(Now – Executive Asst. to All India Head and M.D. PBC Deutsche Bank)