Being Vocal for Our local - Kondapally Toys

This year I have celebrated independence day in a wonderful way. I felt more patriotic and proud this year.  That is because this year I felt I have contributed to my country by being part of #VocalForLocal moment.  To give a back ground, Marketing Interest Group of NITIE has organised Mandi online with theme #VocalForLocal this year. As you might know about our primeminister's vision for India to play a bigger role in Supply chains of the world. We students from NITIE in an attempt to contribute our 2 cents for this moment, guided by our favourite #1/12 Mandi sir, have identified some of the best local talents and promoted them. The talent that our team has promoted is Kondapally toys of Andhra Pradesh. In this blog, I will explain about the uniqueness of this talent.

What are kondapally toys?

Kondapalli Toys are the toys made of wood in Kondapalli of Krishna district, a village nearby Vijayawada in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh

How are they made?

The  toys are made from soft wood known as Tella Poniki which are found in nearby Kondapalli Hills. 
Each part is carved out separately. Then makku- a paste of tamarind seed powder & sawdust is used to join pieces together, add details and finish the toys.
The later step involves coloring with either oil and water-colours or vegetable dyes and enamel paints are applied based on the type of the toys.
The artisans mainly work on producing figures of mythology, animals, birds, bullock carts, rural life etc., and the most notable one is Dasavataram, dancing dolls etc.


                                 

Where can you buy them?

Thanks to the advent of e-commerce, now Kondapally toys can be easily purchased through online.
All the major e-commerce websites are selling these toys at attractive prices. Below are links for some of them.

Buy From ArtsyTrbe 

Buy From Amazon

Why you should buy them?

Kondapally toys depicts our culture , values and traditions very well. The main themes of these toys revolve around village life of people at the time when we were children.
If you have these toys at home , they will definitely bring you back the sweet memories of your childhood which you can cherish.
Moreover, it would be an opportunity to teach the young generation today about the serene life people used to live before technology invaded us.
Also, on patriotic perspective, instead of buying cheap plastic toys from china , we all need to encourage our unique local talent and be part of India's vocal for local movement.Below is an excerpt of how Chinese goods are hurting these toys.

"Competition from Chinese machine made toys is our main obstacle. We spend 10-20 hours-a-day making a dozen miniature buffaloes that are sold for a mere ₹ 300. We toil our lives away making these toys but sustaining ourselves in this competing age is major challenge,” rues S. Nageswara Rao, a second generation Kondapalli toy maker.

 

                                           

I believe time has come for us to show our patriotism to our country and buy local goods to encourage our talents. Jai Hind!

Please let me know your thoughts in comments below.

My Journey to "God's own Campus"

GATE Exam Results Day

It was on evening of 13th March ,I received a text from a friend that GATE results were out. I have been waiting for this very moment for over a month. During this time I might have checked the score predictor hundreds of times. I opened the link with enthusiasm and was delighted to see that I have got AIR 545 rank in GATE-2020. It was a moment of celebration as I felt my hard work had finally paid off. I immediately called my parents and close friends to share the good news.

                                      

College Application

With the results in hand , the next step is to apply for colleges. I have decided to pursue MBA at NITIE as I was passionate about acquiring managerial skills and leading teams. I have applied in the NITIE college and the application tries to captures all your details including academics from 10th class. One need to fill extensively about final year project, internship, Achievements and awards. I have filled in the details carefully and cross-checked it many times for accuracy. 

                                     

The Twist in the Tale

As I'm dreaming about my first trip to Mumbai, the universe seemed to have an entirely different plan. Covid was spreading like a wild fire and India has announced lock down on 25th March.Things changed quite fast after that, every college has postponed its starting date of new academic session and I was expecting the same from NITIE but to my surprise , NITIE has announced that it will go on with the dates of process which it has announced prior.

                                         

Preparation for NITIE

NITIE has announced 25th April as the day for next round of evaluation. As NITIE is famous for developing leaders who are dynamic, it wasn't much of a surprise that the esteemed university has transformed the process of evaluation to fight the COVID situation and shifted the entire process to online mode of evaluation. 

Around 10th April , NITIE has given details on the evaluation process . We are supposed to give :

• Our Introduction for 5 mins.

• Speak on extempore topics of operations for 5 mins.

• 5 mins extempore 2 for answering generic questions. 

I have started preparing my intro accordingly and practiced it over and over  in front of mirror to improvise. I have also practiced in front of computer screen to feel comfortable about it.

With days approaching , I have started watching news everyday to gain more insights into markets etc and prepare myself with the required jargon of the finance.

The D-Day

The interview day has approached , I ensured good internet connectivity and kept multiple devices beside me to ensure net couldn't ruin my chance of selection. I have ensured that room is quiet and hoped that everything will go smooth. 

The interview process has started and I have delivered the intro part well as I have practiced it to perfection.The next two round went fast as I was immersed in the process without any issue and I was able to answer all the questions well.

                                       

The period of Uncertainty

Since this time interviews are given to computer, there is no way of learning how well you have performed since there is no feedback in terms of expressions etc in virtual platforms. I have started checking the NITIE website after one week hoping that result would be out soon. The days passed by but the results were not announced. My desperation grew and uncertainty loomed all over. 

Results day

 I got message from Facebook about results by an FB channel from NITIE whom I have been bugging for results from quite a few days. With a feeling of relaxation and enthusiasm I have opened the link and Hurray! The results are out and I got selected to the one of the most prestigious university in the country for PGDIE program. 

                                    

Business Communication -The Beginning

It was the day we have been waiting for months, with COVID glooming all over our lives , the only thing we were certain of is the uncertainty about future. Shattering all the myths surrounding the education for next term, NITIE has shrine light during this turbelent times by switching to the digital platform and ensuring that the students careers are kept on track. Virtual on boarding, Virtual ceremonies etc were conducted smoothly to give students a feel that they are in NITIE. Management struggle to give best to their students has been evident.

Our classes began, one of the subjects we have is about business communication. I wondered , how can one teach business communication virtually. The class began with a pink Floyd video of re-imagining education.

Then sir has explained how the education should be and why traditional education fails to deliver the results. According to him unless you go there and communicate you cannot understand. Then he introduced the maha mandi, event which is flagship event of NITIE which emphasizes learning by selling.

Some of the key take aways from the lecture :

 1/12 concept : You must earn 1 lakh back during the MBA course per 12 lakh you invest. With an aim to earn, you will learn by doing. This concept was summed up using the below lyrics :

“Becho Becho Becho , Bech Bechke Seko”

 

In the next lecture , sir has emphasized on the requirement of learning by doing.

What one does should be visible to the world. Thanks to the developed technology, people has been able to reach masses through social media .We are able to meet people of different countries just a click away. When you google a person, we get lot of details about them. We are in a digital space where information can be conveyed to masses with an ease that past generations envy.

How can we use the digital development to our advantage?

First of all your presence should be visible on digital media.

Unwind yourselves, Create beautiful content using your creativity on youtube , facebook, blogs, twitter etc.

Be Flamboyant, express what you feel, believe in , like or learn freely in the media. Technology has given a stage for you with audience virtually unlimited, step on the stage and share your beautiful thoughts with the world.

Here you might think that I’m not good enough, my English is bad, I need to learn more before I write etc. But learning some times should be about starting, doing and then improving. Sir has summarized it by saying one should not “aim , aim, aim” and then shoot instead one should “shoot, shoot, shoot and then aim”. You should always learn by doing , first start doing and then you will automatically start learning.

With many more lectures to come , I'm excited about the subject.