Being born and brought up in Mumbai, coming to MDI, specially to Gurgaon was a big change for me. I had entered a whole new world and there was a bunch of things to explore and experiment with. One of the highlights of the first few weeks on campus is an event called the KOK – Klash of Kings, an intra college sports competition. In this competition, there are various sports that students can take part in such as football, basketball, volleyball, tennis and several indoor sports as well.
To create enthusiasm and energy within the students there is a long and drawn out process that is carried out before the tournament actually starts. Keeping this in mind I would like to share an anecdote with you about the same.
One of the first things we had to do when we were starting preparation as a class was to decide the name of our section and the design of the tshirt. As such, the class representative called a meeting of the entire class to discuss the various names and possibilities of designs. The discussion started tamely enough but 30 minutes later had practically turned into a war room, with people threatening each other, discussing possible bribes, and other critical strategies. The criticality and intensity of the discussion would have dwarfed some of the meetings in the Prime Minister’s Office.
In the true spirit of democracy, it finally came down to a vote. We decided on the name by popular opinion. Naturally whichever name got the least “boos” was the winner. The T-shirt discussion went on for a considerably longer time, however. Ranging from colour, to design, to material, to style. Round neck or Polo? Individual names or not? What about colour? Black will be too mainstream while white will get dirty easily and blue someone’s already taken we are not going to repeat a colour of course that would be the 8
th deadly sin.
After what felt like days and weeks, several white board renditions, a Photoshop design contest and even several brand presentations we were finally able to decide on a simple red polo neck tshirt, with a white print.
With victory in our hearts and minds and the feeling of having arrived, we trooped out of the classroom ready to announce ourselves to the world, fortified with the strength of our armour (on paper, of course) and the power of our name. While on the way down the stairs the only thing I could think of was, in quiet contemplation, maybe we should deviate into the fashion industry, we definitely did our fair bit of leg work after all.
The world of fashion allows for a creativity of thought that is hard to match in any other industry. Constantly evolving consumer trends, new designs and the uncountable product families are a big draw for me personally. Therefore, if given a choice, I would love to be of Aditya Birla Groups Fashion Vertical.