It all started with a mail from IIM Calcutta- "Congratulations, you have been selected for the one-year PGPEX program at IIM Calcutta!" Without hesitation, I can say that that moment can’t be described by words from any lexicon. It was fun, it was exciting, and yes one year in this institute put me into its laps of memories and learning.

Today after my last class, a question trickled my mind, a question that the whole world will be asking you soon after you graduate- “So what did you learn in your MBA ?’’

Well, I could opt to blabber about the marketing sessions, the overwhelming demons of finance, an intriguing journey of my economics classes and what not. But, a thought that continuously strikes my mind is how much would I remember out of all those things, say, after 5 years? So what did I really learn?

My take on this question is: "Life is all about imperfections and filling those gaps." I had a wonderful batch of sixty-seven people, with an average eight years of job experience. Had a guy with a gaming industry background, who could challenge all your academic wisdom with his questions full of wittiness and imagination of a kid. Somebody so well read that I could seldom see any question undermining his realm of knowledge. Yes, there were a breed of toppers too, and many more. However, one thing that will remain with me forever is a bag. Yes, just a bag full of memories and experiences I had with such a wonderful batch. The moment I spent with them during this one year allowed me to live the experiences of more than fifteen industries and twenty-five companies. I could witness different approaches to the same question by different guys from different backgrounds. So nothing was right and nothing was wrong. Enter the famous MBA quote "It all depends."

Coming from an engineering background, I always thought that there always exists a perfect answer to every question. An answer that sometimes may fetch you good grades or a good job. This passion for perfectness forced me to pursue the path of a pseudo-perfectness, and I never realized that real fun in life is being imperfect. The feeling of imperfectness always challenges you to walk an extra mile to seek another perfect answer to any question in front of you. The overwhelming feeling that makes you realizes that you are just a drop of water in a big ocean. You may have been the star performer in your class, but life is full of such great performers. It is the imperfectness in us that makes us humble and passionate to learn more.

At the epilogue of my session I am carrying my bag with all the happiness I shared with my batch and had there been any rewind button in life I would again want to start with that moment- "Congratulations, You have been selected for one year PGPEX program at IIM Calcutta."

Signing off,

Raushan Kumar

PGPEX 46 / 11

IIM Calcutta

Raushan Kumar

A Bag And A Batch - IIM Calcutta Diaries