A memorable classroom experience at IIM Trichy
I was in the preparatory batch (2018-20) of IIM Trichy. The classes were conducted for around 10 days and even during the weekends. So, in the beginning, I had thought about bunking the preparatory classes on weekend for meeting my friend, who recently got married and shifted to Coimbatore, but the English Comprehension & Communication Skills course got me stunned and engaged because of the fun activities it conducted. Among these activities, there was one that was organised on a Sunday, wherein I had thought of bunking, but I am so grateful and relieved that I didn’t bunk that day, as that Sunday was and will definitely be one of my most memorable classroom experiences at IIM Trichy.
So, it was the skit portraying communication barriers, a group activity. We had to depict a few communication barriers through our play. Now, we were 6 people in the group. Ishaan and Priyanka, my peers in the group, wrote the script and came up with 6 characters in the play among which the Joker, the Batman and the 2 goons were the main characters. My group’s skit title was ‘Joker Learns Satyamev Jayate’. The skit was supposed to be of 10 minutes and was about the Joker commanding the goons to rob the BBI bank, eventually ending up with demonetised currency in his hands, with Batman being aware of the Joker’s plans in prospective; the skit trying to exemplify the few communication barriers.
Initially, I was supposed to perform the Joker’s character which had around 15-20 lines, but then my voice and laughter didn’t have that acerbic and rough tone, which the Joker normally depicts in the Batman movies. So, I landed up on Batman’s role which had around 5 lines, as we all know how taciturn he can be, and Ishaan took up the character of Joker. We did the skit practice the night before the play to be performed and headed to our respective rooms.
The next day the skit was to be performed at 1 pm. As it was a Sunday, I woke up with a full brim of lassitude at around 11 am, kind of deliberately missing my breakfast, only to find out that Ishaan was unwell as he was bit by some insect, and that he won’t be able to perform the skit. Adding to which, I was appointed as the Joker again. I was all nervous and perplexed as this was the 1 st time ever I had to act and that too as the main protagonist. I had never acted before, in any skit or any drama, neither during my schooling nor during engineering. Now I had to work on my lines on the last- minute, profoundly reminiscing me of the engineering streak that hadn’t left yet.
So, I prepared for the Joker’s character by disguising as him, smearing my face with talcum powder and a red lipstick, swatching the lipstick all around my mouth; enacting him, iterating his famous lines of “Why so Serious?”, portraying his acrimonious and sarcastic attitude, his tongue flip, his laughter and his chides on the goons. I was quite nervous before the start of the play, but once the play began, I garnered confidence and tried to put in all my best efforts, trying to surpass all my fears and nervousness. I got a really overwhelming response from my other prep-batch peers regarding showcasing my acting, my commitment to the character, and an appreciation from my mentor of not showing any qualms for performing the character of Joker. I was very satisfied and happy. Also, I was positively assured later that I performed well enough when my mentor marked me as 3 rd in the Top 3 among a class of 40 students. I was extremely contented and thankful to Ishaan for not showing up that day. IIM Trichy gave me my first role play. That was one memorable classroom experience I had at IIM Trichy. Many more amazing experiences to come.
Which ABG company would I want to work for and why?
I would definitely want to work for the ‘Madura Fashion & Lifestyle’ division of ABG. So, I am a bit of a shopaholic and have true belief and admiration for the branding apparels Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Annabelle. Till few months back, I didn’t know that Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Louis Phillippe; such magnificent brands are Indian and not international. When I learnt about it, I was amazed and completely awed that these are actually Indian apparel brands under the banner of ABG company portraying so much of brilliance and sophistication. So, I would love to grow among such amazing talent.
This article is written by Suphil Khobragade- Class of 2020