The IIM Treasure Hunt – Finding The Right Instructions

How do I begin the interesting part?

Now all of us know that inside an IIM is one of the most coveted places to be for many of us dreamers. Once you get inside though, the dream kind of changes. When I first stepped into my IIM campus, I was stumped. The grandeur of the place itself was a revelation of a kind. ‘Among the best’, my neighbours would claim (let me let you in on a secret, my neighbourhood is not that posh, I come from a small town!) and somewhere down the line that made me feel uncomfortable.

What started off as a dream journey soon turned out to be a bore. Some classes shook me off my laziness and kick-started my brain, while some made me question my existence! I would look around people all day long and try to figure out what they were thinking but to no avail. From dropping heads to drooping eyelashes signifying eyes glued to cell phones to hyper DCP from that one relentless soul practising for Red-Bull auditions, I could not find one interesting brain to prick.

Then the tables turned one fine day.

I came across a woman who was an acclaimed writer. She had the face of Cleopatra and an air of sophistication. Instead of Atropos, it seems Clotho determined our Fates! (Check up on the three sisters of Fates if you want to get what I mean) I bonded with her over some high brow affair and every day our conversations have been evolving. Somewhere I thank IIM for that. It didn’t stop there. I came across a married woman who is like this Amazon. She can dance, play sports and is a fantastic cook! I came across two women who have solo travelled across the world (yes! In-your-face style… I have been chickening out for some two years now). I came across two more women, one is a nationally acclaimed shooter and another plays awesome basketball and both of them look like spin-offs from Sidney Sheldon heroines. My point is… there is so much talent and completeness in this lackadaisical place that it eludes your consciousness.

Our professors sometimes tell us that our generation is the laziest of the lot and the most superficial. That is heartbreakingly true. We are. But that is probably because we are choosy and impatient. We want the best and we want to be the best and we want it fast. While most of us are lost in the fruitless pursuit of money, fame and power, there is no denying the fact that the crème-de-la-crème of our generation is very much focused on the banalities of a secured life. Is that wrong? That is the question. The ‘conventional success’ is what my Cleopatra friend and I would claim. That’s why these institutions have been made. At least that’s what I thought for the first few months here.

It was, however, a short-lived notion. When I finally fought against my perturbed spirit to work for the ‘MBA experience’, I started interacting with the professors, and I realised how they are spending their lives the unconventional way. Some have initiated projects for social well-being, some are fighting against the inertia that has infested the minds of the young but of course, there are also some who are just here to be here… quitting on millennials like most blithe adults. It is stupefying that such knowledgeable creatures exist among us. Most of us are either working like robots, booting up our systems during nights and dozing off in class while becoming zombies during exams. End results? A fat paycheck and some trophies strewed here and there.

An IIM is a beautiful place with beautiful people. Somewhere among the neon lights, the unregistered smoke and underlying gluttony, we are failing to connect the right dots. I guess it is time, we stop, look back, breathe and redo the puzzle of reality...since the instructions feel right and we just might be reading them wrong.

NOTE: I have mentioned only women here because of the intoxicating effect of Women’s Day… Kudos to the men as well!