“You recognize your capabilities only when you go through situations, you never thought you would even survive.”
This article is a result of listening to the storylines of a set of people belonging to IIM Rohtak who came from diverse background, diverse thinking, with diverse goals but lived in one environment and created a collective, similar story. Leaving their colleges, jobs, families and friends behind, these two hundred and forty-three students were ready to face a life they couldn’t have had been prepared for.
“I have always been a productive and focused person.”, says Navjot Singh Bhatia. The 99 percentiler, who cleared various exams while doing a job in night shift and taking care of his gymming regime, had a tremendous work ethic. “But the kind of exposure and first-hand experience I got in such a limited time has made me defeat my procrastination habit. You automatically understand your responsibility when you see people around you are putting in that one extra hour.”
The transition is something that is even more difficult for freshers. The difference between day and night starts to fade and what remains is the idea, that work is worship. “Three months into living this life, you don’t even realise that you have changed so much. You can attend classes all day, work on assignments, do a live project, prepare for a performance, even have a party and still be ready to wake up next day to discuss a serious case of saving a company!” says Apoorva Mathur, a first-year student.
As the outside world and our dealings with it start to evolve, so does the inside world of ours and the way we look outside. “My perception of viewing the world has changed.” claims Mohit Jindal. “Learning in the most practical way here has helped me look at the world in a practical manner. The case studies, guest lectures or chai time discussion with friends help me look at real-life scenarios through a business perspective.” Another aspect of this inside world is our emotions and the way our emotional quotient changes is something interesting to be looked at. Aptly putting this forward, Pragya Manchanda says, “There is no doubt about the fact that MBA is a roller coaster ride. You get to have lots of fun with your friends, work and compete with them in the midst of the struggle to achieve your goals. Life gets hard. And this brings about the opportunity to explore yourself. I decided to look at the silver lining and thus, became an emotionally strong person. I now am more aware of how to handle an emotionally toiling moment.”
When an institution comes together to work towards a single goal relentlessly, there is something which binds them together: a symbol, a tagline or a word. In our case, in the moments of hardships, we push ourselves to be a ‘KATHOR’. (KATHOR is Rohtak spelt backwards, the word, all of us align ourselves to.)
The great American author, Charles Buckowski Jr. got his epitaph written as ‘Don’t Try!’. The KATHOR way of life switches you from trying to being. Life thus is much more simple and you, much more strong.