GURUVANDANA

‘Guru’, Lord for the student. A celebration of relation of students and the guru. It is time to felicitate the guru for his contribution not only to student but also to the society as a whole. An occasion celebrated at Prin. L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research on 7th October 2005.

Learning is a continuous process. Learning various things makes a person strong and successful. Teacher not only teaches what is asked by him to teach but also the student gets to learn from his experiences. A different learning experience all together. Guru is always ready to help the student. The Guru’s sole aim is that their students should always excel. It is rightly said that guru is the dispeller of darkness and giver of light.
This gave a brief introduction by the hosts Navya and Jenni. Immediately after these short and beautiful words there was small clipping which showed some famous sayings by some famous people. This slide conveyed the message that even thought parents give us birth it’s the guru who gives shape to our future and it’s him who encourages and shows us the way. This was followed by a small prayer by anchal , another dedication by the students to the guru.

According to Indian culture every auspicious occasion is started by lighting the traditional Diya (Lamp). Guruvandana was then taken ahead by lighting of lamp by Prof. Dr. Uday Salunke, Prof Sahuraja, Prof Kanu Doshi, one of the guide and a student. This marked the start of the Guruvandana ceremony.
This ceremony was then taken further by inviting Director, Welingkar institute, Prof Dr. Uday Salunke. An influential speech by Prof. Salunke (Director), showing his gratitude towards all the guides. He thanked the guides and gave credit of growth of Welingkar to the guides, faculty and the students. He also mentioned how Welingkar is reaching new heights. Institute was the first B-school in Mumbai to get ISO9001 accredition. And to add to those more medallions Welingkar is working towards attaining global standards by getting accredit ions from countries like US, UK Europe and South Africa. The institute as we see it today was brought up by sheer hard work of the student’s and faculty in the year 2002. Prof Salunke concluded by saying that sharing of thoughts is must for overall development.

Mr. Anuj Bhargav was then invited on the stage to say few words. He is the head IT at HSBC. Mr Bhargav said few words of appreciation on the occasion Guruvandana and also about the college. He said that today’s managers have to adopt the practice of living in today and working for future. But while all this is going the student must also accept the fact that, guru is not a magician and that he can only show the way it’s at last up to the student to walk the way.

The occasion was then heading towards the main event where the guides were felicitated. Some eminent personalities like the Head HR HDFC, Mr Naval Kishor Desai, Mr Milind Kulkarni from Nerolac said some really appreciative words about the students working under them. Then Mr Parag Gupta from J P Morgan Stanley was also present to grace the occasion. After few more felicitations the occasion continued with Prof Shauraja, who is the dean for mentoring, shared few of his thoughts with the people present in the auditorium. Prof. Sahuraja said that the programe of mentoring was a vision of Prof Salunke. He thanked all the guides who spared time to share their experiences and also taught the students of Welingkar students by working with them in the corporate environment. At Welingkar he said the mentoring programme is at an infant stage and this has to be improved even further. Welingkar has interior as well as exterior mentors. He gave a figure of 79 external mentors and 10 internal mentors. He explained the importance of guruvandana in Welingkar institute. He explained how important it is to have a guide while studying. Because guide helps to motivate the student to take on the new world called the corporate world.

This was then followed by the felicitation of the internal mentors who are also big esteemed people in the corporate world. Renowned people like Mr Yash Chikka, Head HR from PriceWaterHouseCoopers and graced the occasion by their presence. Also present for the event were Mr. Naresh Patil from Mahindra and Mahindra , Mr. Girij Khushlani from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Dr. Sathyhar Dani from RBI, Mr. V Sarangpani from TCS, Mr. Winston Noronha from Standard Chartered Bank, Mr. Rajeeb Dash from TATA Chemicals, Mr. Sunil Yadav from Reliance Infocom, Mrs Shivani Sharma from Walt Disney, were a few mentors to name who were present.

These were few eminent people present at the occasion. It gave everyone an opportunity to know these people including the new comers of MMS and PG. It was told how mentoring is not only a process of placement but also a place to learn while u earn. The motto of mentoring is “Mentor gives and guides, Men tee takes and glides.”

The function then concluded with dinner for all. Definitely an occasion to remember and look forward to every year.