The IIPM episode

I have not been blogging for almost two weeks as I was stuck with work. I did want to blog on a variety of issues but somehow dropped the idea at the last minute. Well I am back. This particular episode has evinced a huge response from the blogging community in India. It all started when a popular website called Jam published an article on the Indian Institute of Planning Management(IIPM), one of India's so called best management institutes. This, my dear folks resulted in a shit storm. The link to that article is here. A blogger who was previously working for IBM India wrote his views on the article in his blog. Arindham Choudhary, who runs the IIPM empire saw red and used his contacts in IBM to get even-steven with Gaurav. Now, that is nothing short of being an ass. Methinks Gaurav used his freedom of expression and gave his views and every Indian is entitled to do that. IIPM's actions prompted a response from India's blogging community and is unprecedented. Technocrati, a popular blog site registred 700+ posts on the topic. Visit Technorati to find out more. You can read more on the episode and Gaurav's musings by visiting his blog.

This article appeared in Metro Plus, an newspaper magazine published by the Hindu on Thursday the 20th of October 2005. Guarav will surely go ballistic as will the other bloggers who think Arindham Choudary is made of horse shit. The link to the article is here.

`Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch' is certainly a record success story of our times. If the response of the market is anything to reckon with, Arindam Chaudhary is one man to watch out for. Having geared up for the highroad to success, he is busy bagging feats, left, right and centre. And it doesn't stop there. Take for instance his most recent exploit where he took on the Capital with four "fire-brand" communicators and a sack-full of corporate wisdom.

Extending the success of his book of corporate wisdom, "Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch", author and management guru Arindam Chaudhary has organised the Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch Power Seminar in different places across the country. "This is probably for the first time in India that an initiative has been taken by a B-school to take management dialogues beyond the realm of the CEOs and MDs. While in the past we have had workshops where CEOs and MDs have paid Rs.40,000 a day, this has been priced at an affordable Rs.2,500 per head. This seminar is an effort to take management to the masses," he said.

Chaudhary says despite being the costliest B-school in the country, his Indian Institute of Planning and Management makes necessary financial arrangements to assist the students in their studies. In addition, IIPM has tied up with Al Amin and the Ramakrishna Mission, to educate students who, as Chaudhary puts it, are underprivileged in terms of exposure.

Twelve films

Among other projects in the offing, is the plan to take IIPM to the U.K. and the U.S. Besides, Chaudhary is all set to try his hand at films again, a total of 12 projects this time. Rituparno Ghosh, Aziz Mirza and Anjan Das are among his directors, while stars like Konkana Sen and Salman Khan have been roped in. Commenting on his debut production Rok Sako To Rok Lo which bombed at the box office, Chaudhary clarifies that he got its final print one day before the release date and terms it a "gigantic mistake". But that doesn't mean he will stop counting his chickens before they hatch!

I feel sorry for one of my friend's who is doing his MBA at IIPM. I will ask his views and write on that later.