In our list of India's Best 50 - the 50 Most Employable Students from the Class of 2021-23, we feature MBA students who have walked that extra mile and done that little more to stand out! One of those featured in today's story, Rahul Meena, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out his story!
The following are Rahul Meena’s set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top 50 Most Employable MBA Graduates of the Class of 2023. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Rahul's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his own words.
Name an instance where you wanted something and went out of your comfort zone to achieve it OR Tell us the biggest risk you have taken so far in your life.
In the year of 2017, I was offered an opportunity as an exchange student at Tomsk Polytechnic University based in Tomsk, Russia to pursue a research project in the field of Artificial Intelligence. As enticing an opportunity this was, it was equally challenging and frightening. Firstly, the extremes of temperatures in Russia with an average of -15 degrees Celsius during the months of November-December, the same time frame as internship period. Next, the non-vegetarian cuisine that is followed in the country of Russia. There were hardly two outlets in the entire city of Tomsk that offered few vegan dishes. Me, being an only vegetarian in the group of exchange students had to primarily rely on cooking, an uncharted territory. Russian was the only language of communication in the city of Tomsk, only 1 in 100 might even remotely understand English. This always created chaos whenever there was a need to communicate. Lastly, this was the first time, I was stepping out of the protective bubble of parenthood and institute. I was being exposed to life for the first time, miles away from any defined support system. Me, being an only child, this was also a reason of concern for my parents. This research internship experience had a significant impact on me, it transformed my outlook on life and me as a person. I stepped out of India, a fearsome individual and landed back into the country, a confident person hugely inhabited with survival instincts.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act?
In the work I do, I am hugely concerned with the quality that I deliver and punctuality. Irrespective of the time it may take, I strive to deliver perfect work as per commitments made by me. This may come at the cost of personal health or wellbeing but a word of mouth and the relation you develop based on that is of prime importance to me. Most times, my work hours at KPIT extended because I was helping a colleague with a task that may or may not fall in my course of work. During the 2 years at KPIT, I only took 3 compensatory and 2 casual leaves. Often, my managers and colleagues at KPIT would ask me to close work early and take vacation due to this behaviour. In other words, I am a workaholic, perfectionist and people pleaser. While this is morally incorrect but these also form an inherent part of the person I am. This person in me who cannot refuse friends, acquaintances or people help in any manner. In fact, this person will go beyond his ways to make sure he gets the work done in a perfect and high quality work. Instances range from helping somebody steer through their placements sacrificing my own preparation at the same time to single handedly taking up academic work of others at IIMA due to expertise in a certain domain.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
Back in 2019, I had appeared for CAT as a fresher and applied to the top B-schools in India. I had converted IIM Calcutta and waitlisted by IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore which did not clear in the waitlist movements ahead. On the other hand, I had a pre-placement offer from KPIT Technologies. Contrary to popular opinions from friends and family, I decided to join Products and Platforms SBU at KPIT giving up the admission offer from IIMC. Not only was I inexperienced to the corporate environment but also unaware to the ways of life. Me - The responsible yet immature individual was academically exhausted at that point in life to appropriately realise and do justice to the MBA investment seeking high returns. The 2-year corporate experience equipped me with a 2-dimensional perspective of the business ecosystem and more importantly an added sense of maturity. Additionally, it gave me breathing space to explore my interests and strengthened me in terms of financial independence to fund my studies. Looking back at life that panned out, this is by far one of the better decisions given the importance or due consideration that I give to my friends and family.
What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative that has led you to do deep work in that field?
Back until 10th grade, I was a shy and introverted kid, nursing his inferiority complex in secret by keeping to himself and his daily chores. In an attempt to rediscover myself and grow in confidence, the 4-year journey of engineering transformed me - the shy introverted kid changed into a responsible individual with enhanced problem-solving abilities capable of both leading a team and working in it. The 2-year corporate experience equipped the responsible individual with ways of life and particularly an added sense of maturity to constitute the individual I am today. IIM Ahmedabad was the ideal alma mater to polish my raw and relatively unexplored personality. The introverted school kid turned his fears of being bullied and mocked at whenever he spoke to his strength and core competence in the art of communication through his life experiences. A proficient orator with a career ambition in the line of people's business or popularly known as Management Consulting. The dimensions of communication - voice modulation, audience analysis, reading between the lines, non-verbal communication, etc. and leveraging them to achieve desired outcomes. The adrenaline rush that I derive from the 100s of faces keenly listening to me while I dance around them with my words drives me further to charter deeper territories in this field.
If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?
In my opinion there is no one right way to spend a sum of money as huge as 10 Million dollars. Thus, if I was given 10 Million dollars to use it in any way that I deem fit, I would break it down into multiple stages and parts. First and foremost, I would let the initial exhilarating emotions wear off to avoid taking any decisions driven by emotions and not rationale. Then, I would break down the corpus into four unequal parts, each for a different purpose - paying off any debt, perpetual investment in assets, spending on living life and emergency funds invested in short term risk free assets. The highest share would be a perpetual investment to get steady returns on the principal amount followed by the emergency funds invested in short term risk free assets to allow growth and maintain liquidity. Any outstanding debts would be partially paid off by a small component of the corpus while the smallest share would cater to the former emotions for instant gratification - buying a car or house, a family trip, etc. This is not a thoroughly chalked out plan to spend the huge sum of 10 Million dollars but gives and essence of how I intend to approach the same if I find myself in such a situation.
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As per government tax payers' data and our assessment, only about 6,00,000 Indian taxpayers earn an annual 'salaried' income of INR 30 lacs or above. And only 11,00,000 Indian taxpayers earn a 'total' income of INR 30 lacs or more.
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