When I came to IIM
Calcutta, right after finishing my engineering, I had certain preset notions
about life in a college-away-from-home. Though I had heard that life at
an IIM is going to be different, I thought to myself - what difference does a
few more assignments and a compulsory attendance system would make to hostel life (I was a fairly regular student in BITS despite its
no-compulsory-attendance rule). Little did I know, my life would become a
roller coaster ride in just few days of coming to Joka. I won't explicitly
describe the first 10 days in Joka; lets just say I felt like Alice in
Wonderland except the fact that I was expected to act like Superman in
Metropolis.
The general belief is
- as you grow up, you become more liberal, you have freedom to do things as you
wish to. But here, it was different. I felt like I went one step behind instead
of going forward. Though, this could be because BITS was far too liberal I
guess. Here, you not only have to attend every class but also read prior to it.
The assignments are usually in groups (which has its both upsides and downsides
(read: free riders)). But academics was just the teaser, the full
version was called Summers (the summer internship placement process). Apart
from CV making, CV reviewing, PPT attending and preparation we had to do
one big thing - choosing the sector of your interest for internship. Well, for
most freshers like me - it is nothing but taking the best you can get based on
your CV from the pre-defined universally accepted order of preference. Soon
enough, you realize that whatever you did or will do in the future, is weighed
it terms of CV points.
This is where I would
have ended the post if I was writing a few months back. (Of course I did not
have the time to post then). But I realized there is more than it meets
the eye. The very attendance rule I cribbed about made me realize what I'd have
missed if I had slept in my room the day Mr. Anoop Sinha gave insights on the current European economic crisis. If not for the numerous
group assignments, I wouldn't have met some wonderful people with their even
more wonderful ideas. As for the free riders - I am sure, I will have to deal
with a lot many in the future and I'd rather be prepared for it. The placement
process does sometimes makes you feel more like a commodity and less like
a person - forced to accept what others choose for us. But why do we keep
forgetting that it is just a 2 month internship - constituting just
about 0.2% of your lifetime (side-effect of MBA: you
start quantifying facts). And it is meant for experimenting! So why
not experiment with the best you can get right now? It may happen that you end
up hating your work. Then it just means, you have one less sector to choose
from when you sit for your finals! It surely may not seem as simple as that
right now but I choose to believe that couple of years down the line, I won't
remember the stipend I was paid during the internship or the kind of work I was
asked to do, but I'll remember the fun I had with my fellow interns.
To sum up, life in an
MBA college may be hectic, may make you feel disillusioned at times, but it does
help you realize your true potential (yes, the numbers of hours you can stay
awake at one go adds to it). Learning comes through various sources - sometimes
from people you least expect. And who says you don't make real friends at an
MBA college? I am lucky to have found friends who never miss a chance to take
my case or never fail to cheer me up when I feel the least like it :-)
Good..
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