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, Tejas Bagrecha, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out his story!
The following are Tejas Bagrecha’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, Tejas'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.
I have always loved quizzing. When I joined IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, I was distraught to find that there was no quizzing culture on the campus. Even Dhanbad as a city is cut off from the quizzing hub of Kolkata. I understood that I had to make a Quiz Club. This required identifying and convincing people. I had to go door to door, met many of my batchmates to open a club. In this process, many like-minded people were reluctant, but with my determination, I kept at it. Today Quiz Club IIT (ISM) has a fledgling quizzing culture on campus.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act?
My roommate in college is a friend who comes to my mind. On the one hand, he is a talented designer and has a knack for visual and audio arts. On the other hand, we study in a technical college. He had been keeping his academics on the back burner, so much so that he had planned to drop out as he couldn't keep up with academics. At first, I couldn't understand and would mock him for not performing well in his academics. One day, a professor asked me why he didn't come to class and made me responsible for him to come to class. I conversed with him and understood that he doesn't want to pursue a career in environmental engineering but he wants to immerse himself in visual arts. After the conversation, I tried to empathise with him and understood how suffocated he would be feeling with the academic pressure and not being able to focus on what he loves doing. From that time on, I have been helping him with his academics by keeping my notes and lab journals up to date, so that he can refer to them whenever he feels like it and completes his course without any hiccups. He is now focusing on building his career in the visual arts while also managing his academics regularly.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
I had to work with my environmental engineering classmates to conduct a fest in my college. It was a responsibility put on to us by our professors, and I couldn't back out. There were very few people whom I would call my friends in my department. In the discussions leading to the event, there was a time when my biases for certain people were reset, and I gained new insights about why certain people work how they do. I understood that all misunderstandings could be solved with an open and honest conversation. If that doesn't work, one of the parties must concede, for personal grudges shouldn't stop or be a hurdle in the way of tasks being completed. During the event, there were many kerfuffles which are now fun memories to discuss as it turns out that what seemed so important then was trivial.
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?
Quizzing is a hobby very close to my heart, and most of my achievements in life can be attributed to my zeal for quizzing. I started quizzing in my 7th standard when a teacher identified my potential in me, looking at my enthusiasm for participating as an audience member in school quizzes. Under her guidance and with the collaboration of my teammates over the years, I have won multiple quizzes. My passion for quizzing also led me to found the Quiz Club on my UG campus, and set the stage for me to become the secretary of Dracula, the Cultural Committee at XLRI.
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?
Since my formative years, my mother has endeavoured to teach me financial responsibility. She has given me a thumb rule - Divide any sum of money you receive into two parts. 50% - Save/Invest; 50% - Budget to enjoy/splurge So, sticking to this rule, I would first set aside ~37Cr to my investment portfolio for safekeeping and grow the money further. With the rest, I would like to distribute 10% each to my parents and sister to use as they deem fit (~22cr). Of the remaining (~14.5Cr.), I would like to buy a car for my family as we have never had one and my mother has been wishing for one. Next would be buying a new home and refurbishing our present home to suit our needs better. Finally, with the remaining money, I would start an entrepreneurial venture in the food/restaurant industry with my sister utilising her culinary arts education and my business education to create a sustainable enterprise for my family.
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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.
Have you ever considered how much time it would take for you to be amongst these top 0.5% earners in India?
Find out here!