History repeats itself, not in the exact same way, but in a way that reminds us of the tumultuous past. It was some fateful day in the 1850s when Charles Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." Dickensian period revived again in 2020. It is the kind of stuff the post-world war generations have seen in the movies. Pandemic breakout. People in-home quarantine. Schools and colleges shut indefinitely. The dementors came alive from J K Rowling's pen and started sucking the happiness out of people's lives.
And we were doing an MBA during these times.
The MBA journey in 2020. What in the name of Erebus was this all about? We were planning to go on Mars, but fate had something else in mind. Pandora's box opened somewhere in Wuhan, and things took a turn for the worst.
Who would have thought that things would pan out like this? What were the odds? Even the most pessimistic protagonist in his nightmarish prediction would not have imagined this kind of scenario. We had come here to paint our story on the canvas of imagination. To find our muse. To see the world through our lens. And to make the world our playground.
Everyone had distinct ambitions when they opted for an MBA, but one thing was common. It was about finding the "Identity" among the crowd. Discovering who we are. To enjoy the campus life while going through the grind of the curriculum. Some of us were getting rid of the same old job, while some wanted to polish more of the same skills. Some were finding themselves misfit and opting for a change, and some of us were just going for a two-year holiday at the residential campus. One thing was common- everyone was exploring every horizon, looking after each opportunity to learn and expand their latitude of skillset. The first year of MBA delivered on its promises. It was all going according to plan until the devil hit the nail. Covid-19, the best candidate for the word of the year, spread like wildfire.
Celebrating festivals, enjoying with Friends, campus life. Everything was a washout. The air was filled with despair and distress. We missed the classroom, missed the spirited case discussions at the dorms, missed cosy times with the closest ones, and missed going to our favourite hangout place at 4 am in the night. We missed the interaction with the juniors. We missed the club and committee activities. We missed a lot of things. But we did not give up and fought to get what we had dreamt of.
Most of us achieved what we aspired for. We created new methodologies and reached new milestones. We adapted to the online platforms pretty fast. We fought and celebrated over the Zoom calls. The 2 am calls made us cheer after our hectic daytime schedule. Hats off to everyone who made it possible. We showcased that we were already Managers when the pandemic began. Kudos to all the juniors for going through everything and facing everything with the chin up. It need not be said again, but we are always here for you, to help and support, to guide you through thicks and thins and for the fun part too! Keep the traditions and rigour of MBA alive.
Coming back to finding our identity, we do ask ourselves, who are we? We find answers in our learnings. We are the tail in the normal distribution. Is this an identity we wanted? No, it has been bestowed on us. We showed character. Not losing hope in the worst of times and not giving up when the odds were microscopic. We will be remembered in the MBA titbits. All the coming batches will talk about the journey we have had. Maybe someday, when we visit our campuses back, the batch will be reading an HBR Case Study on us.
This is a final goodbye to all my classmates, to whom we shall not get a chance to say it for the one last time. This is the last toast over the fireplace at the Dorm parties to the ones we shall meet again. This is the celebration of our graduation ceremony. This is the mortarboard flying high in the sky. All the tails of the distribution, can you see it?