One month at XLRI! It couldn’t have been better. It is just like a roller coaster ride and people say that it has just begun! One month, and I have gone through almost all the human emotions possible - Joy, Sadness, Stress, Anger, Fear; you name it and it is there. But the output has been just splendid.

I started my XL journey on 17th June (officially), and just like many other students, I was ecstatic and enthralled to be in such a prestigious institute which has never failed to produce results for the past 70 years. Well, we all got to know very early, rather the first day itself, that results aren’t produced by name, but by working hard and working on time. We were introduced by the time 11:59:59, the most dreaded time for most of the B-schools. If you are a minute late you are late forever. Deadlines are sacrosanct in XL. If a professor has taught you a chapter you need to study it the same day, because you never know that tomorrow might be a quiz on the same! (And mind you, its not engineering, quizzes are taken very seriously here).

Apart from regular studies, you have countless events happening on the campus wherein one can showcase his/her talent. The events are so diverse that everyone gets an opportunity to be part of something or the other. Apart from the regular events, we have the Adventure and the Village outbound, where we stay for three days in a village and three days in camps with our entire batch! Just imagine 60 people in camps for 3 days! The bonding and camaraderie we form there can only be experienced and not described.

But the most important of them all- the people you meet here! They are just amazing and in no time, they become a family of yours. A family away from family. The respect that everyone shows here for the other person is amazing. Be it your seniors or your peer group, everyone is ever ready to help you out of any situation you are in, and the best thing that they don’t spoon-feed you but just show you the way and you literally just find your own path out of it. We have people from all the geographical locations of India, diversified in food, culture, language and yet we all bond as if we are one single family.

Although 30 days is a very small time to judge and come to a conclusion about life in the prestigious B-School, my experience in XLRI until now has been just amazing. The XL culture is slowly sinking, the late-night studies have become a norm, the race to finish the assignments has begun, the tedious process of preparing the CVs has started, and more importantly the fear and anxiety of SIPs is creeping in, but at the end of the day when I go to bed I just think that all this is worth it.

Vyom Aggarwal

InsideXLRI - The First One Month At XL