A. G. Nikhil - My experience through AIESEC

I know I would treasure throughout my life. I knew I wanted to join AIESEC as soon as I heard about it. It was one place I knew I would fit because I have had a diverse background throughout. From being born in Bahrain to doing my education in 6 schools across 5 cities in 2 countries, I knew I was meant for an international career and being in AIESEC will only catapult me towards that dream.

via blog.aieseciitkgp.org

The AIESEC Way

What is AIESEC?

AIESEC is a global, non-political, independent, not-for-profit organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. Our members are interested in world issues, leadership and management. 

AIESEC does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, creed, religion, national, ethnic or social origin.

What we envision?

Peace and fulfillment of humankind's potential.

Our Impact

Our international platform enables young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for
them to have a positive impact in society.

The Way We Do It

AIESEC provides its members with an integrated development experience (The AIESEC Experience) comprised of leadership opportunities, international internships and participation in a global learning environment. See more about the AIESEC Experience here

Our Values

Our values provide a way for the collective leadership of AIESEC to encourage common norms of behaviour across our global network. 

Activating Leadership
We lead by example and inspire leadership through our activities. 
We take full responsibility for developing the leadership potential of our members.

Demonstrating Integrity
We are consistent and transparent in our decisions and actions. 
We fulfil our commitments and conduct ourselves in a way that is true to our ideals.

Living Diversity
We seek to learn from the different ways of life and opinions represented in our multicultural environment.
We respect and actively encourage the contribution of every individual. 

Enjoying Participation
We create a dynamic environment created by active and enthusiastic participation of individuals. 
We enjoy being involved in AIESEC. 

Striving for Excellence
We aim to deliver the highest quality performance in everything we do. 
Through creativity and innovation we seek to continuously improve.

Acting Sustainably
We act in a way that is sustainable for our organisation and society. 
Our decisions take into account the needs of future generations.

Summers (China, JNC), back to KGP, MS, OP, Recruitment, IC & midsems

Life IS hectic. When you start living it fully, it is rarely that you get a chance to document it. But when you do, the memories you recollect makes it yet another great experience!

At the start of the summers, I was sure I would get bored at some point of time. But AIESEC always surprises you. The internship I went through in Shanghai taught me a lot of things. My job role was to teach English and basic information about the environment and the World Expo that was happening there. I was working under the project "Hands on Expo, Hands on Love!" The fact that I got to experience Chinese culture along with personal development in Shanghai, Suzhou and Beijing is in many ways thanks to the AIESEC team there - Mango and Cami from AIESEC in Fudan University were very helpful :)

I visited a lot of place in and around Shanghai. You can always have a look through of some of the pics in my Flickr album - www.flickr.com/photos/theworldendstoday/. Living a Chinese lifestyle with other interns from around the world - Malaysia, Poland, Mexico, Indonesia, Russia - was a humbling experience. Of course, the fact that all of them were girls did help in the overall greatness of the experience.

Four weeks into the internship, I got news that the most awaited national conference of India is coming up a week prior to my ETD (does that exist? Expected time of departure.) from Shanghai. So, I cut short my trip and went directly to Silvassa near Mumbai for another great experience! Our Local Chapter in IIT Kharagpur won the prize for Best Virtual Platform Utilization. Since, I was also a part of the team that brought it for IIT Kharagpur, I was overwhelmed with joy! And of course, I made a lot of friends there. It is when we interact with others that we get to really know the extent of our achievements and shortcomings. When we see that youth across the country is working towards the same goal of creating experiences, your zeal to work increases automatically.

Some other things I did which may be noteworthy of mention :

• I went back to Mom (she would have come to kgp and killed me if I didn't) and bro. Their stay in Chennai was getting more settled which I noticed after Mom started going out to the city ON HER OWN!!! 
• I met a good friend from Bangalore - Mohsin who seemed horrified that he's now living in Chennai and studying in Trivandrum. 
• My results came out too. Ya, I had passed but my marks were, to the horror of my parents (mind you, only my parents), one of the lowest in my batch. 

BACK TO KGP!

Megnad Saha Hall of Residence

I wasn't sure what I was expecting but my flight back to Kolkata and the road trip to Kharagpur filled me with excitement of the year to come. It gave me a feeling of belonging when I saw the gate and the building that will play a major role in my future. But I guess that was just me forgetting what was in store for me. You see, classes hadn't started. Nor had the famous OP or Orientation Programme. I had known that my new hall of residence was gonna be Meghnad Saha Hall of Residence and I was sarcastic of the general notion that you will develop an attachment for the hall if you are in a senior hall and that your hall mates will be your best friends. But then, I hadn't gone through OP. OP started and soon, MS became a term that will be engraved on my grave. Classes started too, but I soon learned that classes are not really the one thing that holds a KGPian to KGP. Hall activities and Societies, and of course, LAN, is what gives the KGPian, the KGP feel. That was what I was missing in my holidays. I can't believe that I missed KGP in the 2.5 months I was away. No wonder, seniors cry at convocation. (I never really understood why, before) But hey, I'm only 1 year down the road. What would I know?! Even hardened KGPians (dual degree) cannot say with complete confidence that they know KGP. 

The Entire LC at Information Seminar

For me though, AIESEC will always be an integral part of my life in KGP.  I firmly believe in its ideals and want it to succeed in KGP. That was one of the reasons of my involvement in the Organizing Committee of the recruitment process in July/August. And man, was that a great experience! It was my turn to implement my belief that a member who believes in AIESEC will work for it. Time to transfer the "tempo". And we did. We organized the best recruitments ever in any society's history in Kharagpur. It was fun to give "fundae" to juniors who had no idea about KGP. I was wonderstruck at how ignorant of KGP I was when I first came here. But at the end, I am proud to have got such enthusiastic new recruits into AIESEC.

Classes included 2 department courses and 4 other courses. The good thing was that we didn't have any labs and thus most of our afternoons were free of classes. But then, that is also a bane. Cuz, then we have 6 exams to deal with at the end.

After another few weeks of class came the International Congress 2010 which I wanted to attend so badly. One of the reasons was that we were conducting it in India for only the second time! I got selected as the Organizing Committee member of one of the events along with Ankit Jain - India Night and I got the opportunity to present Indian culture to the delegates which consisted of member from 107 countries! Since,  we had one a nation-wide campaign by AIESEC India, we also got the chance to send 10 other delegates. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we took it!

No, those aren't KGP girls. How can they be??

And of course, then came the next round of exams as promised by IIT KGP. Mid Sems were around the corner and we started the strenuous task of trying to study what we didn't for the last 2 months in 2 weeks. Admittedly, I did better especially due to the threat from my parents of allowing no other activity (read AIESEC) if I didn't maintain an agreeable mark range. (my grade point had dropped to 7.16)

So overall, I couldn't have hoped for a better 8 months. (Or maybe if I had gone as OC for NLDS 2010 which is going on now)

Thank you 2010!

After the exams, Chennai

The run-up to the end semester exams had the usual symptoms -

• the announcing of the schedule, 
• realizing you have very little time left, 
• finding to your horror that, the syllabus you thought was going to be tested, was only the tip of the iceberg, 
• postponing "studying seriously" to the last moment, 
• mugging whatever formula you could, and 
• writing the rest on your palm and finally screwing the exams.

 But then, it was another learning experience. I am trying to figure out what the minimum amount of study one requires to pass with an average grade is. I have a feeling I am reaching there. But then again, I thought my first sem was the minimum - I actually got 7.65; so more 'peace maar-ing' is in order.

 Presently, I am residing in Chennai (HOT is getting a new definition everyday) with my bro who suddenly decided he wanted to get into IIT too after he heard there was free internet and an intranet with just about anything you can ever desire. Cool, huh? Mom's decided bro won't study if left alone. Never knew he was destined to suffer 2 years like this.

 I would have loved to get back home in Kerala. I miss my relatives though I have only recently started to get to know them well. I did get a chance this weekend because my bro apparently forgot everything he learned in 9th & 10th and actually wants to go through the stuff from his texts which were back home.

End-result: An exciting roller-coaster ride from Chennai to Koratty (near Thrissur in Kerala) at the back of a non-A/C bus

 It would have been fun had there been any girls on board. But God doesn't work that way.

But, it IS good to be in Chennai. After all, I haven't left AIESEC and Himen (Team Management Head) set up a good network so that we could work with people from other branches i.e. I am now working with AIESEC Chennai - Juhi to be exact. Its always fun to meet new people and its a bigger experience to work with them. So, I'm having a lot fun - as I said "I LOVE 2010"!!

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RLDS – the unforgettable, once in a lifetime, conference!

When the senior members of my LC (Local Committee), AIESEC IIT Kharagpur, enthusiastically called for new recruits to attend the RLDS (Regional Leadership Development Seminar), no one had any idea about how much fun and they were gonna have there! Three of us volunteered to attend the RLDS while two EB (Executive Board) members went for the NTC (National Trainer’s Conference).
The seminar was in Shakunt Resort, which was on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. We had to take a train from Kharagpur to Kolkata and then to Delhi. It took us more than 24 hrs just to reach there. Luckily, we had taken an A/C berth. Every LC had to present a ppt about themselves and then show the LC Jive (a set of dance moves unique to the LC) and Roll Call (a moralizing shout unique to the LC). We, 5 of us – Himen Doley, Ninad Sancheti, Subhadeep Mondal, Charudatta Nirmale and A G Nikhil, selected our song and made the dance moves in the train with our laptops. (You should have seen the faces of the other passengers!) Later, we took a bus to Paota (the nearest town to the resort). In the bus, we started practicing our Jives and naturally got threatened by the conductor to throw us out! At Paota, we found a café to download our LC video from our VP C, Shubhanshu Mishra. Totally unprepared, tired and anxious, we entered the resort. After refreshing at our rooms, we went downstairs.
What met our eyes were not the boring sleep-inducing lectures. What met our eyes gave a new meaning to the word “conference”! We saw a bunch of about 40 guys and gals dancing to their song! And that was just the delegation of one of the other LCs! We presented our video about our LC, AIESEC IIT Kharagpur. Everyone gave us a positive response! Our Jive could have been better though ;) It was a treat to the eyes to watch other LCs too performing with enthusiasm.
After lunch (which was great, by the way), we had presentations by Kamal Seth on the State of the World in which we live, the History of AIESEC and the AIESEC Way. On the whole, it was an enlightening session and made us think in different ways. We even had a game (a sort of treasure hunt) in which we were divided into teams and made to decode different puzzles which were related to the AIESEC Way! The best part was the Jives we did in between the presentations. Everyone would dance to the music. Everyone’s favorite was the song Jugni from Oye Lucky! The new recruits learned dance moves from the seniors. It was a completely different experience from our Local Congress as there were many more people to have fun with ;) Then we had a Wrap Up in which the facilitators (Faci’s – basically consisting of senior members) explained what to expect from that night and the next 2 days. We were surprised to know that the party on the second day would admit only couples! We were forced to start asking for dates! The Faci’s increased our interest by Speed Dating in which quite a few of the Faci’s were “sold” to the performer with the highest support!
After dinner, we had a delegation meeting. We had our meeting with AIESEC Kolkata as we were an extension of Kolkata when we started. Our head asked us to find dates soon! Later that night, we would go through Skolling! For those of you, who don’t know, Skolling is an AIESEC tradition that consists of two teams competing in a drinking competition! One of the team members had to necessarily be a girl (or dress like one!). Since, RLDS was a dry conference, the organizers (AIESEC Jaipur) whooped up a brownish, disgusting looking drink. Later on, I came to know it contained old dal, lassi, lots of salt, chili flakes and sauce (YUCK!). Believe it or not, I was one of the few who kinda liked it! It reminded me of some vague dish of Kerala!
After that, we had a Monster-themed party! We had to come in Monster costumes to be able to attend it and outside the venue was a stall with a face-painter! I painted my face and had a hell of a time, dancing with everyone!
At the end of the day, we didn’t realize that we had gone through a 24 hr long journey because the fun we had negated all that and made us fresh! I realized that this is the power of the youth. We were enthusiastic about everything and had a lot of energy at our disposal!

The next day started with the news that we would be divided into 20 FLCs (Fictitious LCs) and would start working with them, later in the day. We woke to a presentation about AIESEC Xperience which was followed by 2 inspirational presentations about Gen 2010 and India. The love and care we had for our motherland was evident in many faces in the room. We vowed to never rest till India is at her best and to promote world peace.
After lunch, we were divided into our respective FLCs. Every FLC was a mix of members from all the LCs. There was a Faci assigned to every LC. They taught the new recruits about the functioning of the OGX (OutGoing eXchange) department. We had fun in making our own Jives and Roll Calls. Of course, we made promises to keep in touch. We also had to elect our FLCP (FLC President). The candidates had to prepare a speech for the final day and had to present them in front of the other members of the FLC.
The official part of the day ended with another delegation meeting in which we consoled the ones who didn’t have dates ;) and congratulated the others. We also helped each other on our speeches for the FLCP election.
The Date Night was a blast. There were couples all over, dancing with each other oblivious to the others! The dates had a lot of fun too!

The next day started with the FLCP elections. The 20 elected members were honored for their oratory skills! We had a session called “One Day in the Office of the LCP” in which the FLCP conducted meetings and noted points to present them in front of the other FLCPs as they had to come to a consensus. The members, in the meantime, watched an inspirational speech by Apple Founder, Steve Jobs.
As we broke for lunch, AIESEC IIT Kharagpur must have seemed the unhappiest bunch, as we were leaving the conference after that. We bid our farewells. That’s when we realized that Subhadeep was missing! We searched here and there. We found him having a last Jiving session with the others! We were so reluctant to leave the conference!!! Throughout the return journey, we talked about the fun we had in the conference and how we could improve our LC and make it the best!

In the conference, we got to meet AIESEC delegations from north-western region namely, Delhi IIT, Delhi University, Chandigarh, LPU (Lovely Professional University), Kolkata, Jaipur, Indore and Surat! On the whole, about 250 people came for this conference and all of us (yes, ALL) had a great time.

I LOVE 2010 (part #### - who cares?) AIESEC

I had heard about AIESEC about 3-4 months back when they first conducted a recruitment drive for first years.. But i couldn't attend it due to my Appendicitis Operation :(... I guess God wants me to be part of this sort-after organization! It seems AIESEC IITKGP is on an expansion mode and wants more members! Hence, there was a Internship cum Recruitment Seminar on Feb 3. The way they presented themselves immediately moved me.. It was obvious that they were proud to represent one of the best T-schools in the world and be a part of its growth here..! What i found most striking was that even though they were all students who conducted it, they were professional too!!

In the seminar, there were foreigners who had come to Kharagpur to do their internship. There were Philippe and Sandra(from Mexico) doing their project on the "Go Green" project (ya, they're basically saving the planet with their work!) and then there were Vanessa(from Brazil) and Lucia working in Barnmale(a NGO based in Kharagpur and working towards awareness of HIV/AIDS). It was inspiring to hear them talk about how different their culture is from ours and how they are enjoying!

Then there were videos of guys n gals who had already attended internships offered by AIESEC. Later on, Shubhanshu Mishra and Sachin (Local Committee President, btw) started talking about the various benefits of joining AIESEC. In short, I was mesmerized by the plethora of experience opportunities that they were providing. The internships they offered were also varied. It wasn't limited to technical matters either! Even though I had told a lot of my relatives that I would be coming to my hometown this summer, I was literally brainwashed into trying for a development traineeship and being an AIESECer! I, of course, applied for the interview and group discussion that was to be held the next day.

The next day, at about 2030, they registered our names and I waited for my chance at the group discussion. They were calling us three-by-three. It was only because there were a lot of familiar faces at the waiting room that I didn't go mad with excitement! At the group discussion, we were asked questions I wouldn't have expected at all! I mean how am I supposed to know, why they made their logo so?! But the concept was nice... Normal people become individuals and emerge from the crowd when they are through AIESEC. (check out the logo here!!)

Overall, I had a great experience. And yes, I did get selected! YAHOOOOO!!!!!

I LOVE 2010! - (part 1)

Yup, work at deco team, SF was grueling. BUT, who cares??! The amt. of fun we had drawing, painting and cutting thermocol(that IS the spelling, right?) was unparalleled!! The best part was using the fevicol to stick up whatever that came into our hands... There wasn't a single day that I didn't go back without a load of fevicol in my hands! At the end of everything, we had to carry our stuff all the way from the gymkhana to the arena (near Comp. Sc. Dept. - that's almost half a km ppl!). Couldn't be helped.. After all, we stuck most of the stuff onto thermocol! The kshitij deco team had it easier, their arena was near vikramshila and they did the work there!
Anyway, on the eve of the SF, we were poised for night-out. We hadn’t finished arranging the arena. There were a hell lot of stuff lying around and we were wondering where to put them… Then comes ….. …. Abhirajika! Our one and only, Jika to save the day and boss us around!! We were 3 first years (initial strength = 30 odd.. they just disappeared one-by-one citing one reason or the other) and a load of 2nd years (who by the way were in-charge) left to stick up the caricatures onto the charts (again, we had to make them). Jika, her antics and her fights with others, were our only form of entertainment (if u r reading this, please don’t kill me and ‘thank you!’).
By morning, most of the stuff was done. We just had to put up some boards. We came after our morning classes (ya, we still had classes… I lost count as to how many times we cursed the Profs that day!) and labs (I bunked one.. attendance will be a big criteria for grades.. I heard later... Bugger).

My volunteer work was in Netaji Auditorium. For those who were not in Jnan Ghosh or Netaji OR the photography team > LOSERS! The inauguration itself started in Netaji. The main attractions were Centrifuge (the dance competition), Two for a Tango (yes, as the name suggests any two ppl could dance to glory) and Sargam (the eastern band competition). I made a lot of friends… the type I can keep for life! The work was minimal too. I was, for the most part, the waiter boy (got drinks and stuff for the judges). Before you scoff at me (I know you already have), I got to have a hell lot of stuff free! That is, because the judges didn’t feel like eating them (for the authorities ;) ).
SF, in a word, simply rocked. We did have minor setbacks with Skid Row backing out due to an accident and Jal quitting at the last mo’. Instead we (doesn’t include me of course.. all accolades to the organizing team) called Preetam, who was kind enough to accept.. Turns out it would have been a better idea if he was coming in the first place!! The crowd enjoyed him and his group. Some other good stuff that happened were the Hasya Kavi Sammelan (HKS!), Dance floor (Perpz) and Drama (Thespianage – we had some great plays).

heyy! (ya, hi is not my usual way of greeting ppl)

Sorry for keeping you waiting for the next entry in my blog (I hope enough of you WERE actually waiting). I have been quite a busy chap with the end-sems and the holz thereafter.. Of course the holz can’t be wasted for trivial stuff like blogging. I have to sit around and do nothing which is much more important 'cause I almost never get to do it. ;)
So ya, I have been putting off. Here's what happened in the last month or so.

Well, NCC was almost exactly as I expected. The instructors gave us physical training with breaks from 0600 – 1800. Of course, there were a thousand and one complaints from the 400 odd guys who camped there but I would say the camp went quite smoothly. One big disappointment was that they didn’t give us shooting training after all the promises. It was one of the only things I was looking forward to… Even so, it was good that I got selected to be the leader of my flight (a group of 30 odd air cadets) and later on, into the Guard of Honor (supposedly the best marchers – YO!). The Guard of Honor guy made us train real hard because we were the ones, the chief guest (some military guy, ‘course) and it soon got nicknames like “g**nd of honor” and the “guard of honor without the honor”. The second name was because we never got the guns that we were supposed to hold when the guy came… So it was a big bummer when he announced it after all the training… I swear I would seriously have kicked his ass if he was our age!!! Anyway, it made us realize the importance of all the facilities we are getting! Most of the guys in the camp were complaining about why they had to go through the camp! There actually was a session on the need for NCC camp in IIT Kharagpur! I mean, why debate it when you are already in the camp!!! If you are about to embark on it and if something IS going to be done about it, THEN its fine. ;)
I liked the food there though. It was prepared by a cook in the camp itself… bathing was in open air which made us realize why gals weren’t there. Toilet was actually half a kilometer away. So if you wanted to use it and not wait for it, you had to go at 0530 in the freezing cold with cold water. The best part was washing our hands in the cold water. It went numb every time I tried. Without fail!

But it was all worth it 'cause the feeling we got after the camp was over was just priceless!! I remembered the saying our yes+ course teacher told us... "Without experiencing sadness, no one can experience the joy of happiness!" We wouldn't know what hit us!!!

Then came the much awaited holidays!!! YEEEAAAHOOO!!! Some guys booked their tickets for an hour after they were released!! Was fun to watch them running and packing stuff up!! I went two days later to Kolkata and then to Abu Dhabi via Dubai using Emirates Airlines. The flight was great. When i first came across individual screens for each passenger, I was shocked that they provide them!! It was on the first flight to Bangalore that I first saw it. I wanted to make my brother jealous and went and told him the first thing I got there. (CRAP!) That's when I learnt that it was getting quite common.

The holidays were good. I got to see my parents and bro (of course) and a few friends. Raunaq (an 80-kg giant and a friend) suddenly about 10 - 15 kg after spending just a few months at hostel!! Then as in all holidays, I got to spend all the time playing and watching movies. I didn't spend as much time e-socializing as I normally would if I was in college. The worst habit I got out of the vacation was a game called ... wait for it... Pokemon. Ya, the child game. Anyone remember it being a hit about a decade back? I donno why. I just couldn't stop playing the dumb game!!! Then of course, mom and dad wouldn’t leave me without new clothes. Got a new mob (nokia 6700 - ya guys, be jealous) and an exchange for my old lappy.

But the holz were soon over... Back to the best t-school in the country (yo kgp - it was voted for the third consecutive time). Back to staying up till 3 in the night watching movies. Back to goofing around! At least that's what I thought. Turns out kgp had different plans for me. I will be staying awake till 3 but only because I got selected in an interview at last!! (Volunteer and Decoration team member of the socio-cultural fest of IIT Kharagpur) YEEESSS!!! So now, no time to goof around with half an hr of studies everyday, 10 - 3 of deco team work, yes+ work and eating and sleeping! Actually I am just coming back from the initial briefing for deco team. Starting tomorrow, I am really busy guys!! So chow for now! Take Care!