In the movie ‘Transformers’, a car can become a humanoid in just seconds. But in real life the transformation from an Engineer to a Management student took many turns and unfolded mysterious paths and reached the destination at IIM Trichy. Like the hot filter coffee of south India, Trichy welcomed me with a heat of 45
0C. But the cool seniors gave a grand welcome and the
friends/batchmates made the environment habitable for a
Bangalorean like me.
The heat went up again with the never ending case studies even before the classes started. Cases are the unforgettable flavor of the IIM Life. They can turn any bland subject like Ethics into something that leaves a lasting aftertaste in your mind. Akin to learning to appreciate all the complexity of a recipe while still managing to enjoy the dish, I went from looking at products as merely products, to looking at them as a smorgasbord of contributing factors that resulted in the whole.
While I was in the aspiring stage, Coke kept me awake in my late night endeavors of CAT preparation. The travel to office by bus was just another routine while cursing the delay in the bus schedule and the HR was the most
discussed topic in the office.
During the transformation stage at IIM, Coke is not just a drink in a bottle anymore. It suddenly became a brand and conglomerate ‘Coco-cola’. While paying the price of the coke bottle I purchased, I think of the bottom line and top line contributions I made to coco-cola. The bottle design which I could comfortably hold in my hand reminds me of the appeal, ergonomics, presentation and every other aspect that made me buy the drink has my attention now. A travel by city bus reminds the operations and planning that I would do to stick to the schedule (sacrosanct) and the job of HR suddenly transformed into a savior or the organization’s life cycle.
I saw all this and more after getting initiated to the MBA life and all its multi dimensional thinking. And surprisingly, I relish the additional information as much as the Coke (i.e, a lot). It’s the everyday things around you that doesn’t seem obvious anymore. MBA doesn’t teach you anything new, it just teaches you to look around and not to ignore anything. After cherishing the 10 months journey in this transformational path, I look forward to start climbing the Knowledge Mountains and reach summits in the next year to come.
________________________
Dinesh Krishna, PGP14-16 batch, IIM Trichy.
An aerospace engineering graduate, after letting my dreams fly high joined the management circles to enable my business ventures reach the sky. In addition to juggling between academics, I volunteer for various issues of child rights with my prior association with NSS and CRY.