I had the perfect boring life going on for me. Working in a corporate firm in Gurgaon! Listening to “exciting” client stories! Looking out of the window and seeing 20 storeyed glass & concrete structures staring back at you! You know the ‘clichéd’ good life. And I really didn’t mind any of it. And yet here I was on my first day at XLRI.
And I was the most clueless one on campus that day.
My XL journey started a good 10 days later than the rest of the population here. I hardly knew anyone. I roamed around like a lost kid in a corn maze. And this is a huge understatement. Nobody wants to talk to the awkward new guy. And I have never been not ‘awkward’. I have never been the quintessential extrovert. And I am naturally shy. So it took every little bit of courage in my body to approach people and ask them for help. I knew I was short on time. Although with time, I realized that everyone here was short on time. But that’s a story for another time. From asking about where the washrooms were to where I would get my books from, my life had turned from a corporate slugfest of sorts to a treasure hunt where I had no clue where, to begin with. So people were the only source of help. And I have never been good with people.
Thankfully, my Malayali lineage came to the rescue. A chance encounter with a fellow Malayali batchmate at the bank outside gave me the little ray of hope that I was searching for desperately. I found someone I could reach out to for the barrage of silly questions that I had. I tried to limit my questions but the XL culture was taking its toll on me. And these were just the first 3 days. All this time I was questioning my decision to come here in the first place. Whether I should have just said no when I got a call from the admission office informing me that my waitlist had cleared. Thankfully I hadn’t given up. Yet! All I could hope for was that things would get simpler! Maybe!
Let’s just call this 1-day period of my life as naivety. On the 4
th day, I got to know that we were going to have quizzes. Here I was, yet to get my books from the library with a pile of assignments, presentations and quizzes lined up for me! Among the insurmountable pile of workload, I somehow found more people I could relate to. I found people who didn’t think it was a hassle helping me in this mad world. I found people who were as clueless as I was and yet were there with me through all the rat races.
I found friends. I think!