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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