I, being an introvert, never actually volunteered to participate in dramas and skits. I always felt that acting is not my cup of tea and to present a whole new personality on the stage in front of an audience is something I will never be able to do. This thought prevailed until I came to IIM Trichy for my preparatory programme under PGPM. We got Mrs. Achamma Abraham as our Faculty for Written and Oral Communication. She was really good at her job and knew exactly what was supposed to be done to bring us all out of our little bubbles of comfort. Within a day or two, she had analysed the strengths and weaknesses of all of us and designed tasks for us to overcome those weaknesses and become a better version of ourselves before we step into our MBA-student lives.
We were divided into several groups with each group having 6 members on a random basis. I was still gelling up with my batchmates because of which I was a little afraid in the beginning about whom I got as teammates. But when I met my team – Dipankar, Aarthi, Nitin and Shipra, I knew nothing could’ve been better. We were given two tasks to finish in two days – 1) To prepare a skit on the topics related to communication errors that happen in day-to-day lives and 2) To prepare a presentation using powerpoint about the “common string” that connects our team and present it in front of the class. Both the activities had me thrown off-guard. I have stage fear and doing both the tasks were pushing me to face my fear.
Lucky I was that I got such amazing people in my team. They made me laugh, they made me open up to them and feel homely away from home. They made me forget the sadness that used to dawn upon me when I thought of my parents and me staying alone for the first time. The two tasks given were not easy to be finished in two days as both skit and presentation require ample practice in order to get good results. We practiced day and night, starting from the scratch and developed three stories in the skit and developing a presentation too. It was difficult but was equally fun. We got to communicate and know more about each other and got to find a common string too- watching inspirational movies.
We were the first team to perform both the tasks and were appreciated for our efforts. People laughed at our silly jokes and enjoyed our performance. Surprisingly, people even appreciated my acting skills. It was an eye-opener for me. I got to unleash another version of me through those activities and the preparatory classes. I will always remember these days with pride and happiness.
Which ABG company would you want to work for and why?
A. I would be privileged if I get to work with Idea Cellular as it is a renowned company in the arena of telecommunication and holds a strong position in the market for its solid customer base and unique marketing strategies. If I get the opportunity to be a part of the organization, I believe I will get ample opportunities to learn and grow in the management front as the company is posed with so many competitive challenges and yet it turns out to be one of the largest mobile network operators.
This article is written by Khushbu - Class of 2020