I'm@MHROD, Delhi
School of Economics...
- by Rishi Raj Gupta *
Life, for me, was simply awesome
at Symbiosis Law College, till I understood that it was not law that I want to
take up as a career. It was then I decided to move on, and joined MHROD, at
Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
Rumours had it that it was the
mistake.
Master of Human Resource &
Organisational Development, or MHROD, as they call it at D'School! I'm sure many
of the readers would amuse, "Now, What the hell is that?" A small building,
quite unlike the ubiquitously magnanimous B-school towers, a chotu sa
computer lab, university-run hostels, a small bunch of 40 students per batch, a
student body called SPHERE (which, as I later came to know, is the acronym for
Society for Productive Human Enterprise & Resource Enhancement) and not to
forget the Babudom of a university.
Then, the Life@MHROD began, and
it began in full speed. There was so much to do. More so outside the classroom.
Teams were the buzzword - Alumni, Student Development, Convention, Journals, and
Placements. All were working under the aegis of SPHERE. And the trouble was, all
wanted to have their say in all that we do! I remember telling myself: "Tough,
man!" However, I joined the Placement Team.
"Oh! My God!" used to be my daily
sigh, every evening, if not night! There were deadlines, and again, more so
outside the classroom - make corporate presentations, run to printers to get the
placement brochure out, run to the Vice-Chancellor for his message, edit and
re-edit the texts, plan for outstation corporate trips - life was all but
relaxation for the eight of us. And the same was true for the other teams.
Alumni team was finding it hard to keep themselves sane while keeping the alumni
database updated - alumni seem to shift their corporate loyalties in weeks, if
not days! The Student Development Cell (SDC) was fixing guest lectures and
workshops, not to forget the debates, quizzes, et al. The Convention guys were
having more troubles - from deciding the venue for the national event to getting
the speakers on the dais. Truly speaking, it seemed that I was actually a
manager in a MNC, trying to strike a balance between many things at a time. And
then, there were acads - with Professors so fastidious, threatening
rather than encouraging was the season for the first few days. And why they
wouldn't have been so, after all they were the D'School Profs, the same D'School,
which is world famous for its academia.
We did all - the corporate
presentations were made, national convention was held and praised, placements
went very well, journals were published, alumni dinner was great, and SDC also
arranged many guest lectures, the inevitable gyan. The key was one word -
Teamwork. And it reflected in many a ways - in the heated arguments in the GBMs,
in the discussions over the aloo paranthas at the Girls' Hostel, in
working with printers at the dingy lanes of Delhi, in slogging late nights
together, managing to crack the exams, in doing each others' assignments, in
marking proxies and pleading with Profs for team members' attendances, et al.
In the final semester now, life's
same as it was in the first year. Same guys, same fights, same events, and even
higher challenges - nothing seems to have changed. Many of my batchmates are
placed with the best of the companies, much before the actual placement season.
Still there seems so much to do. And there is a great lesson that we learnt,
amidst all this chaos. It does not matter if you are not at IIMs, it does matter
if you work it out like them, it does not matter if you lack resources, it
matters if you still try and be the best. And the fact that we learnt management
almost hands-on. It's at MHROD I learnt that its good to excel in a
mediocre's job rather than being a mediocre in an excellent job.
Legend will have it, it was not a
mistake.
