It was our 1
st MM1 class. Being a marketing enthusiast, I naturally was very excited about it. I already heard a lot about the faculty being unconventional and extremely detail oriented. We were given a case based on an FMCG company, and in assigned groups, we were supposed to send him analysis before the class starts.
It was an 8:45 AM class. I entered the class at 8:40 AM. To my utter surprise, sir was standing just next to the entrance door and was looking at the clock. It ticked to 8:45, and he locked the door. What do you expect in your 1
st class? A bit of hi, hellos. Then, the most obvious question was thrown at a person sitting closest to the faculty, which fortunately or unfortunately was me. He asked me “ What’s your name”? I, with a happy smiling face, replied “Rajit.” As soon as he heard that, his facial expression changed. I was wondering what’s wrong in my name! By the time, he kept on asking the same question to 4 of my other classmates; we pretty much realized he was looking for something else. To be Specific- “Parul Tyagi” who happened to be the case protagonist. What it made us realize is, unless we wear shoes of the protagonist how can we think from her perspective!
9:05 AM. Prof. asked for two volunteers for a roleplay. That was certainly not something we were expecting. Two of us went onto the stage and started performing the possible conversation that can take place between the CEO and the Protagonist. Prof gave them certain directions privately, and the whole classroom front podium turned into a business level meeting.
9:20 AM. Drama ends and case analysis starts. Prof. now starts asking what have we done for analysis. Though many of us made an analysis, it was mostly qualitative in nature, which prof. Seemingly did not like much. Next step! He inserts his pen-drive into the class desktop. The entire class was expecting a detailed quantitative analysis and a presentation. What instead opens is a movie scene of “Dewaar.” I just thought it could not get more unpredictable. Why movie. Moreover, that too when we were supposed to make an analysis
. The famous dialogue of Amitabh in the movie gets played
- “Mere Paas building hai, property hai, bank balance hai, Bangla hai, gaadi hai..kya hai kya hai tumhare pass?” Prof. cuts the tab exactly at this point and goes on to ask “what do you guys have”? We were literally off the track by this question, and some of us replied “Ma” thinking he might be asking us the part he did not let us watch. Soon were we fooled by his words. Prof- “Almost all the B-school students read the books you read and have access to the cases you study, then what’s the difference?” After a pause of 30 seconds, one word came out form Prof’s mouth- “Analytics.” We realized how crucial quantitative analysis for any given case study is. Next 20 Mins was about only numbers, some given in the case and some projected. It was a perception-changing experience I will never forget. My love towards Marketing went up to another level.