"One Year in a
B-School"
- by Amit Gupta *
In the words of James Packer, the illustrious son of Kerry
Packer, "Knowledge is like electricity. The latter lights up everything, while
the former lights up a human". It is this quest for knowledge that takes us into
a B-school (atleast this is the reason given by one and all). But most people
still look with awe at the term 'B-School'. Ironic as it may sound, the name
exists and haunts distraught souls like me. I still haven't understood why they
call it a school. What a transition - school to college to school. Wow, but
don't let the word school fool you. The 'B' before the school changes it all.
As many of my peers, I too had landed up in a B-school with a
baggage full of hopes, aspirations and dreams, enough to last me for a lifetime.
I am not saying that the baggage is lost, but it certainly has got a bit
lighter. I am sure my peers would excuse me for saying this. My reason for
saying this is not to demotivate people but to demystify the truth. A B-school
in itself is not a panacea.
After spending a year in a B-school, my efforts are to
capture it for you. I hope your precious moments sacrificed on this article,
would help you to appreciate a B-school better and not otherwise.
The first year started with a bang with all those classes,
presentations and assignments with not even Sunday coming to our rescue.
Engineering college seemed like one long vacation. The CGPA's (Relative grading
for the uninitiated) were made public after each term forcing me to take refuge
in some obscure corner in campus. It brought out the Davids and the Goliaths.
The campus belonged now to those stalwarts on the top with the others still
coming to terms with this disaster, though for me it wasn't unexpected. It is
this devil, the CGPA, which has the power of turning friends into foes during
examination time, with everybody vying for that extra half mark which would
bring them a higher grade. But for non-academically bent people like me, who
aspire to bring up the rear end of the academic roster, all my friends remained
that way.
Numerous exams, projects and presentations later, we have the
measure of how things work in a B school and know how to scrape through with the
minimum possible effort. At least that's what we like to delude ourselves into
believing. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt
gratitude for Google, the messiah for all of us. Terms like cash cows, activity
based costing and PERT don't hit us with a bang. We were supposed to be good at
all subjects, which is just like expecting Sachin Tendulkar to represent India
in all the sports. A poor engineering soul as I am, with the grace of the
Almighty, I managed to scrape through Accounts, which was the most horrendous of
all. Submissions have changed in nature. Initially there was a concerted effort
by all the group members to make a contribution but this fizzled out with time.
The new mode of submissions entails writing down the names of some lost members
of your group who suddenly spring up just before submitting them to the
Professor. But managers are known for springing last minute surprises, aren't
they??
After zigzagging in this maze, the annual festival happened
to lift us out of this quagmire and re-incarnate us. It promised to set the soul
free and give it a lift. It was as if the heavens had opened for us. The
descendants of Eve who descended down made us remember once again the famous
saying by Keats - "A thing of beauty is a joy forever". Not to deride the
womenfolk in my B-school - they carry a beauty of their own. But as we humans
are, a change is always welcomed with more than two hands rushing to the
occasion. The music had still not stopped ringing when we had to go back to the
mundane task of hearing the good, old Professor (assuming everyone listens to
the Professor in class). It required no less than a superhuman effort to do this
with Keats's beauty back to its original abode.
Then the Summers appeared to augment our troubles. By this
time we had become adept at using the B-school lingo for anything and
everything. It was something like using something as abstruse sounding as
"Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" when "7-Up" would have sufficed. After
all, George Washington once said, "When you do the common things in life in an
uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." We weren't fools to
let go of such an opportunity to tell the world that the future managers of the
country had finally arrived.
How can any talk of a B-school be complete without a mention
of the "home away from home"? Yes, our very own HOSTEL. In the hostel, life
begins after dinner. The din starts to take off and becomes vociferous as the
night deepens. Don't go away, the day has just begun. Then starts a cycle of
endless inactivity.
The summers proved to be a great experience. I realized the
vagaries of not being academically bent. As unlike popular belief, a lot of
alien things we were supposed to learn in the first year did come across to me.
And it seemed to me like I have been told to face up to Shoaib Akhtar's bouncers
without wearing a helmet. Fortunately, I was able to escape unscathed. So all
those first yearites reading this, do not commit the folly, which this pour soul
committed. You might not be as lucky as I was.
All said and done, it was a great first year in a B-school. I
learned the tricks of the trade, hopefully I did. The trade was to survive in a
B-school. I was bruised, battered, but like those warriors of yore, refused to
give up and rose back again the next day. There are poor souls like me who are
still in the same state of ignorance as we were when we came here, but there are
others who claim to have undergone a lot of value addition, whatever it means.
Its time I should end my day as its already 4:00 am. And I have to get up
tomorrow to live yet another day.
