With our semester exams just getting over, we had a day to pack and head to Mumbai for our induction into the Mahindra GMC Summer internship program. The journey started with a lot of contradictory emotions, away from friends who were a constant support to the anticipation of making new friends and opportunity to meet new people. With lots of excitement and a little bit of trepidation, we set out for a short journey from Pune to Mumbai, which took us through the picturesque winding roads and long tunnels and after a couple of hours we were at Mahindra Park. There in our rooms awaited surprise welcome gifts of chocolates and congratulatory note welcoming us to the Mahindra family.
Fast forward to 2
nd April, the 1
st day of Induction. All the interns from premier B-Schools across the country settled down after having a lavish spread of breakfast specially arranged for us. We were welcomed to the media center at the Mahindra Worli office with another set of goodies. It started off with the introductions and it was really interesting to know about the funny and quirky bits of our co-interns’ lives. This was followed by insightful sessions by senior leaders of M&M. They spoke about their experiences, challenges and how they overcame them. They also gave an overview of the way business is done. Their passion and utmost dedication to their businesses were evident in the way they presented and this was really a source of inspiration. We got insights about the strategic alignment of the different business within Mahindra with the Group Strategy Office from Mr. Anish Shah, Dr. Prince Augustin spoke about the importance of RISE philosophy in Mahindra and how to go about find purpose in our own lives and this was followed by an intense discussion about the changing business scenarios and future growth sectors for Mahindra with Dr. Pawan Goenka.
The following day was big for us, as we were about to meet Mr. Anand Mahindra. I was brimming with excitement to meet with a corporate leader of such tall stature who is not only so humble but witty at the same time. I have been following his daily tweets which are interesting source of knowledge and insights. From the moment he walked in to the final photoshoot, we were all in awe of such a charismatic personality. We had a very stimulating and thought-provoking discussion on qualities of leadership and the relevance of purpose in our lives.
The next day we had sessions with the leadership team at Mahindra’s Kandivali office where we got a sneak peak at the marketing strategies behind the recent launches of Mahindra Auto Division by Mr. Veejay Nakra, on precision farming by Shubhabrata Saha and how Mahindra was working in the agriculture sector with the farmers in becoming farm to fork enterprise by Mr. Ashok Sharma. This was followed by team bonding exercise and rounds of fun card and board games.
The following day was our first day with our respective sector teams and then we had a day of training on Design Thinking. With this we ended our first week in Mahindra and set out to our respective locations. In my case it is Patna, from where I will cover the twin states of Bihar and Jharkhand for my project.
Looking forward to lot of learning, travelling to new places and meeting new people and giving my best to make my time in Mahindra a success.
I can and I will
Rise!!