Showing posts with label B School. Show all posts

About 5 minutes before the scheduled start of a test, we heard loud sighs of relief from the floor below, one that houses 2 classrooms. As we were wondering what had resulted in this came the announcement that the test had been cancelled. What resulted was a marked deviation from the usual in "L cluster", most importantly decibel levels . About 350 of the so called "leaders of tomorrow" were celebrating the momentary relief by clearly putting their vocal chords to best use.

But most people walking back probably had no clue what they would do in this new found free time (or wondering about the next deadline that has to be met). This has more or less what the last 2 months have been for me. A schedule has been made for me and all that I do is run with it. It has gotten me thinking about what has really happened to the things that I used to enjoy and those that I used to look forward to eagerly. Maybe the life around here is designed to be hectic and as the lines of poem Leisure goes , "there is no time to stand and stare".

There have been some special moments that I cherish, but most of them just zoom past me and it eventually takes some time for me to realise that they would indeed fall in the "once-in-a-lifetime" category. These are the times that I would like to live through longer, enjoying them in it's full beauty without the worries of what the future holds for me. I can picture the look of disbelief on the faces of many people inside the campus as they would disagree with me writing this. For, the reason is that I have succumbed to the pressures of the environment and am truly left wondering at what cost have I changed myself to suit this place. I no longer find the time to be in front of the T.V whenever Arsenal steps on a football pitch, have a track of the cricket tournaments happening in the world, read Dilbert at a stretch, watch "The Contest" for the 186th time, stubmling upon random blogs in the cyberworld and probably most importantly writing the occasional post on this blog about whatever leaves a mark on me.

These and many more are the things that I would truly like to be a more significant part of my life in the next 2 years I spend here. Everytime I walk in front of the room M-14, memories flash in front of me, a re-run of an old episode which could have led to a very signifcant change in my "script".

And yes, A Happy and Safe Diwali to everyone of you reading this post (as long as that is within 2 days of posting :) ).

6 weeks and a set of mid-terms down , I have finished more than half-a-term in this place now. The words most often heard inside these walls are " This too shall pass" . Many of our classrooms are interesting for those special "examples" through which "concepts" are taught.

A few excerpts from our classes so far :
(I fail to relate what concepts most of them relate to, for they mostly went somewhere over my head)

Managerial Economics - Prof. Ranganathan. V

"Mere inefficiency cannot get you fired in the public sector"

"It is always wise to opt for education ahead of sports, for here, a lot of mediocres are tolerated"

"It's all over. It's like marriage" (On Sunk Costs)

Financial Accounting - Prof.Padmini Srinivasan

"All accountants know the cost of everything and the the value of nothing"

"If one of your legs is on ice and the other on fire, on an average you are fine".

"In India, we do not know which way to follow - the U.S way or the U.K way" ( On Accounting Standards, but I guess it can be generalised to everything).

Manish Sabharwal , Founder Teamlease (Guest Lecture)

"Why bother digging with shovels, when you can do so with spoons? " (On NREGA)

"Secret to success is being at the right place at the right time. You never know what the right time is so you hang out at the right place all the time" (Quoting Calvin)

"You dont have to be Cleopatra, you have to be less ugly than your competitors"

"Strategy is the art of creating an unfair advantage"

"We did not write the 11th plan, but the 11th version of the first plan" (On working with the Planning Commission)

"Know your customer or Kick your customer" (On Banking Infrastructure in place)

"Most of my competitors are either criminals or politicians, often both"

"The notion of a taxpayer paid social security is science fiction"

"MBA is the most intellectual wine tasting session that lasts longest"

"Post mortems have a certainity over prescriptions"

"You married a pregnant bride , you can't take credit for what happened" (His dad's comment on his company's success".

"You have to kiss many frogs, before you find your price/princess"

To end it, something which acts as a comforting factor for me most of the time, heard in Prof. Rishikesha.T.Krishnan 's class :

"In the long run , we are all dead" (Quoting Keynes)

It has been more than a fortnight since I have reached the campus of the place to B - IIM Bangalore. Life has been a "Series of fortunate/unfortunate events " over this period of time. Each week has been characterised by a particular theme and significantly none of them have been the magic word - Academics.This was more or less on the expected lines for that is what a B School is supposed to be , not just the Education , but much more than that.

The first week that was essentially spent in getting oriented to life in IIM Bangalore , will probably remain the most interesting week I shall remember after these 2 years. With the second week going off with the facchas trying to prove their worth to seniors through Aarambh , the cultural show put on by us to entertain our seniors. Sleep is the most luxurious thing inside these walls in Bilekhalli and something which the freshers realise in the first week, for I hear "Zombie" has become an annual feature at Aarambh.Amidst such activity , something else started off - Classes. They have just become another of our daily activities, we can either choose to be prepared for every class with all the prior readings or you can be present at the class, sign the attendance sheet and try catching up on some lost sleep if the professors do not mind. Fortunately for me, every professor has taken a different approach to the subject and none of them which is scaring me about it. I have opted to attend the classes, but as to contribution I doubt what I can do on those lines.

And the last 5 days have truly been the benchmark of the ratrace, the mad fight for that single biggest bullet point in your resume which can get you the coveted Day 0 Shortlist.Noone really knows how significant that line can be and how that can give you a "spike" in the resume which your past 20 odd years of existence has not given , but you just do not want to risk missing out on that. And let me tell you that, I too am running, partly worried as to why truly I am doing this and partly being ready to agree to the fact that it is the fear of a being tortoise in this ratrace.

354 other people have joined me in this journey , many of whom are just simply exceptional and to say the least , it's plainly scary to know that I will be competing with them.But I dont think that will be bearing heavily on my mind throughout the next 2 years ,for slowly everyone of us will become just another PGP1 (and hopefully PGP2's next year) who is trying to prove Darwin's theory of "Survival of the Fittest" wrong . As the days progress , the challenges increase and we either will ourselves to fight it out or we just know what we are best at , realise our limitations and know where we stand in the crowd. The last 20 days have been intimidating, frightening and overwhelming but I am slowly realising that this place is Mostly Harmless.


P.S:
The theme for the next week is the magic word , 4 quizzes and I get the first true taste of "competition" around here , I hope I survive to narrate the story.