Finally came the day that had held us to near ransom for so many days. We were supposed to start the day at around 5:30 a.m.Our apprehensions of us not getting up on time were proven right when we missed the wake up call of 5:13 a.m.. But as luck would have it, our admin people gave us a call and we started the day with luck already tilted in our favour. The stage was set for the event with no major hiccups but for minor aberrations in the internal schedule just before the start of the event. The irony of the fact was that the person who was to get the bus move on right time was the last one to board the bus.
The event started with the lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries led by Ms.Anu Aga of Thermax fame, Padamsri Sudha Raghunathan (Noted Carnatic Vocalist), Ms.Mridula Ramesh of Sundaram Textile and our very own Padamsri Bala V Balachandran, Honorary Dean of Great Lakes. The Guest of Honour Ms.Anu Aga recounted her journey and the ups and downs she has seen in her professional life. She shared some of the major learning from her professional life and work experience with the students of Great Lakes.Padamsri Sudha Raghunathan’s speech was woven around the personal and professional life experiences and the factors that led to the making of her as a Carnatic exponent. Her speech that continued for nearly an hour was followed by a mesmerizing song by her that captured the imagination of the people who followed classical music especially Carnatic.Ms. Hemu Ramaiah stressed on the need to think out of box and spoke about the take away’s from her entrepreneurial venture, Landmark. It would be a sin to talk about successful women and not to talk about the underlying factors responsible for the success.Ms. Mridula Ramesh stressed on the the four factors that form the backbone of a successful women.Family, courage, role models and early proven competence are the four success enablers for women.
The event started with the lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries led by Ms.Anu Aga of Thermax fame, Padamsri Sudha Raghunathan (Noted Carnatic Vocalist), Ms.Mridula Ramesh of Sundaram Textile and our very own Padamsri Bala V Balachandran, Honorary Dean of Great Lakes. The Guest of Honour Ms.Anu Aga recounted her journey and the ups and downs she has seen in her professional life. She shared some of the major learning from her professional life and work experience with the students of Great Lakes.Padamsri Sudha Raghunathan’s speech was woven around the personal and professional life experiences and the factors that led to the making of her as a Carnatic exponent. Her speech that continued for nearly an hour was followed by a mesmerizing song by her that captured the imagination of the people who followed classical music especially Carnatic.Ms. Hemu Ramaiah stressed on the need to think out of box and spoke about the take away’s from her entrepreneurial venture, Landmark. It would be a sin to talk about successful women and not to talk about the underlying factors responsible for the success.Ms. Mridula Ramesh stressed on the the four factors that form the backbone of a successful women.Family, courage, role models and early proven competence are the four success enablers for women.
The Power Talk segment having the speeches of four celebrities from different walks of life was followed by the launch of SWIM magazines having articles written by successful women and articles about successful women. The tea break was followed by the Panel Discussion on the topic -“Educated, Intelligent, energetic, and just in her forties – can she still pursue her career dreams”. The panel discussion moderated by Mr. T.N.Seshan, former CEC, again involved people from different walks of life-Ms. Pushpa Kandaswamy, Noted TV producer, Ms. Indra Subramanyam, MD, Ehrlich Lab, Ms. Lalitha Maheswaran, HR Consultant and Ms. Sarda Ramani, president of C I Global Solutions- presenting their views on the topic.
After the Lunch break, the video’s Life@Great Lakes and SWIM were played which were received well with cheers, laughter and whistles by the audience. This was preceded by the quiz Prelims which was conducted amid the lunch break. A sum total of 46 teams participated in the quiz named as ‘Les Quizerables’. The quiz conducted by Vinod Ganesh was a big success with even the audience remaining unmoved during the quiz. The top three teams shared among themselves the prize money of Rs 35000 which was distributed by Ms. Pooja Mahadevan, SWIM Chairperson. The event came to the end with the rendition of National Anthem.
The event was a success by all the means. The event was followed by group photographs and congratulatory messages. With the event having come to an end by 5:00 p.m., people had enough time to plan and execute other plans that they could make for the night like ‘Singh is King’. Success of SWIM has made people look with heightened expectations towards other events like Sangamithra, HR event and Latitude. Whether Singh is king or not, but for that day the organizing committee was the king.
After the Lunch break, the video’s Life@Great Lakes and SWIM were played which were received well with cheers, laughter and whistles by the audience. This was preceded by the quiz Prelims which was conducted amid the lunch break. A sum total of 46 teams participated in the quiz named as ‘Les Quizerables’. The quiz conducted by Vinod Ganesh was a big success with even the audience remaining unmoved during the quiz. The top three teams shared among themselves the prize money of Rs 35000 which was distributed by Ms. Pooja Mahadevan, SWIM Chairperson. The event came to the end with the rendition of National Anthem.
The event was a success by all the means. The event was followed by group photographs and congratulatory messages. With the event having come to an end by 5:00 p.m., people had enough time to plan and execute other plans that they could make for the night like ‘Singh is King’. Success of SWIM has made people look with heightened expectations towards other events like Sangamithra, HR event and Latitude. Whether Singh is king or not, but for that day the organizing committee was the king.
