First Week at YIF: People

YIFP aims to groom a batch of 100 fellows each year. The batch of 2012-13 is an amalgamation of engineering with arts, finance and management. Not to forget that we have 3 lawyers too, out to which only one can defend us in court. Talking of defence, we have one guy with an Indian Air Force background too.

When I think of large groups of new people I've met, college comes to mind first. That was an enormous bunch with individual diversity but homogenity in academic choice. Next was Jagriti Yatra, which had 400 incredibly motivated development enthusiasts. The diversity there was amazing - people from all kinds of educational and professional backgrounds, rural and urban areas and also regional and international diversity. In contrast, YIFP has students from great educational institutions of India with hometowns ranging from Meghalaya to Kerala. Most, including me, are urban creatures though a few have strong ties to their rural backgrounds. The common thread here is that they are special. Whether a psychology graduate from Christ University or a mechanical engineer from an IIT, they stand apart from their peers in some way to "reach for the stars".

In the process of knowing who these people are, today was a milestone. We wrote a document called 'Initial Vision' for Dwight's Leadership class which was about our lives so far, what kind of leaders we want to be and strengths and weaknesses.
Today, while sharing this with our groups in class, we discovered the people beyond their CVs: the moment that changed a life, their foibles and extraordinary achievements.

Another group of individuals I'd like to know better is the energetic troop that runs YIFP. The Dean is Dr. Pramath Sinha, a PhD from University of Pennsylvania. He's the Founding Dean of ISB, Hyderabad and has spent 13 years with McKinsey. Dr. Anunaya Choubey, a well-known painter and Principal of the College of Arts & Crafts, Patna University is the Deputy Dean. Our day-to-day concerns are shouldered by Anu Prasad, Associate Dean, Academic & Student Affairs and Manonita Chakraborty, Assistant Programme Manager. Aman Singh, the Programme Director is a regular face at the Treehouse while Pragnya Seth, Associate Dean, Leadership Development makes periodic appearances. Incidentally, Pragnya is a BITSian too.

First week at YIF got over on June 3rd. Now, the regular routine is on. Actually, it is not quite regular. Along with classes, there are movie screenings and guest lectures. Next posts will be about the life at YIF.