AIKYA 2007

Aikya is definitely not one of those oriental words that are regularly used in the English context.

Aikya is a Sanskrit word meaning oneness and unity.

And yesterday was when we had our first Aikya meet. A brilliant idea - whoever conceived it. I am sure this is prevalent only in ISB. I havent heard of any other school having something like this.

Aikya is a forum where ISB connects the MBA Students with business families and entrepreneurs in Hyderabad. Each study group is assigned to a particular family. Sometimes, two study groups are assigned to a single family. I think that depends on how many MBA Children they can support.

So, yesterday morning was when all this started. Most families have been connected with Aikya since inception. We also heard that 80% of families from the last year we happy to be part of Aikya this year too.

Every group had a representative who was supposed to receive the respective family at 9.30 in the morning.

So, when the right time came, my mom arrived. My Aikya Mom is Pinky Reddy, daughter of T. Subbirami Reddy. GVK Sanjay Reddy, her husband, who runs the GVK Group of industries is our Aikya Dad. Dad was very busy running business in Bombay, so he couldnt make it. But from what we heard from Mom, Dad's hazaar enthu about Aikya and he likes to network with ISB Students big time. So, we are looking forward to meeting him very soon. Our Mom is a very socially inclined person. She is into a lot of activity in Hyderabad. She organizes the Hyderabad 10K every year. I have told her that this year I will run the marathon.

So that's the story.

So whats the purpose of all this. Well, we get to interact with business minds in Hyderabad, get a taste of corporate life and culture. We'd probably get to learn about the real work life balance. I dont even know whether it exists for serious enterpreneurs who are so engrossed in running their businesses. My dad (original) didnt have. In fact, he was just running a small industry. But he was extremely busy. We can imagine how it would be for people running huge firms. Must be a big challenge.

And then, we get to meet the family at their residence during festivals orr events organized by them. We also get to share our knowledge from the ISB MBA. I dont know to what extent that would help them, but it would definitely make a better topic to talk about than to talk about the Hyderabad Weather.

Coming back to reality. Without further delay, we entered the dining hall. Sarovar had made great arrangements with respect to the food. ISB Junta hogged.

I continued my activity of clicking photographs. I managed to click about 100 photos. All photos are on my Flickr.