Written : 11th April, 2010
Published : 19th May, 2010
The only reason I restrained myself from posting updates like “Yippee! I am half a manager already!” was not because I felt they were way too immature, but I felt that simple status updates on twitter, facebook or gtalk will not do justice to the magnitude of accomplishment here. After three terms here at ‘one of the most coveted’ campuses in the country, have I become a changed being, is my thought process more ‘managerial’ or have I become more ‘professional’ and business-like? 25,000 feet above the ground on-route to my internship at Mumbai seems to me as opportune for some self-introspection and passing time.
Like every yum-bee-yeah aspirant, I was flush with dreams when I entered the hallowed portals of this prestigious institution in June. The initial preparatory course, a light breezer that I am so glad to have attended doesn’t seem so far away. But what will probably stay afresh a lot longer in most of our minds would be the ‘orientation week’ that was so wonderfully planned and almost flawlessly executed by our seniors, who by now must be on their way to joining their companies.
After having witnessed two mega events on this campus, namely our summer placements and our seniors’ final placements, the ‘billion-dollar question’ which everyone wants the answer to, “Is the ride worth it?”. I am extremely tempted to give the answer in typical MBA style : “ Depends”. This word, as I have learned in due course of time, is the best possible and most widely accepted answer to any complex question asked which requires one to weigh both sides of an action and their consequences. That is how I feel we are expected to be : Non-committal: Stuck in the middle and ready to plunge to whichever side seems right, or rather more ‘justifiable’ at the moment.
I know anyone reading this post to this paragraph must be getting impatient for me to elucidate as to what are the variables on which the answer to the billion-dollar question so daringly and shamelessly ‘depends’ on. The first thing it depends on is “Your objective” – Every serious aspirant does prepare an almost identical answer to this question as he is bound to be asked the deciding question of “Why MBA?” at the interview once he manages to bell the CAT or any animal that is friendly to him. The answer in everyone, alright, pardon me for generalizing, almost everyone’s mind seems ‘so-fucking-obvious’ : Money and probably, a faster career growth. However, as popularly said, the devil is in the detail. One can earn a decent amount in an IT-job or any technical role they are in with due course of time. Is it the frustration of the IT-job you want to get away from, or simply the headline-making insane salary figures that have caught your imagination? You need to ask yourself these troubling questions, and maybe some more to unearth the real reason, which as in most cases usually is ‘all-the-above’. I can go on rambling justifying or trashing as MBA, but the truth is no one knows better than you, I will only make the facts a little clearer if you are really interested.
One of many significant learning s from B-school has been that one cannot really win all the time. It’s the truth and the earlier one realizes this, the better for him. This might seem quite obvious on the face of it, but believe me, it isn’t obvious in this place. Most of the people here have been achievers all through their lives, that being the reason they are here. But when you put the best people from the country and ask them to fight among themselves, some will eventually win the battle. The most important thing here is respect others. Give it your best shot and if others are still better than you, its alright to lose to the best in the business. In fact, take pride that you were the ones they had to fight with. Eventually, what you have in you is going to matter along with what you learnt by fighting and enduring these battles.
What started out as an exercise in self-introspection has turned out to be more of gyan about knowing what one wants from life! I, however am of the opinion that a good read is one which comes freely and hence pardon the deviation from the course. Posting my self-introspection report online is postponed indefinitely and the inconvenience, if any, is deeply regretted.
Cheers, Anand.
