-By Bhini Yadav, a science stream high-schooler who graduated in fashion technology. She loves exploring, reading and enoys every bit of her learning expeditions
I will start off my story with an excuse- that despite my best efforts I am only human. It is a condition I have long tried to overcome, but alas, despite my efforts so far, I remain very much a human. So, when I joined IIM Udaipur, I came here with all my humanness intact.
And with this humanness came its usual partners- pre-conceived notions, expectations, assumptions and other alike things. I suspect they are responsible for half the problems in the world. My suspicions though don’t help much against their allure.
It should come as no surprise then that in my head I had certain assumptions, presumptions and notions of what life in a b-school would be like. So very convinced was I of the truth, the absolute “fact-ness” of some of these notions that I didn’t even bother to wonder about them.
One such notion was my idea of classroom learning- I have had ample practice of being taught in a classroom- more so than most people. Why I say “more so than most people”- is a topic for some other time. Returning to the topic at hand, let’s just say that with all my vast and varied experience of being taught in classrooms, I pretty much knew what to expect.
Fast forward to first day, first class- it was for a subject called “Managerial Oral Communication”. At the time, I didn’t really see the point of such a subject (but boy! am I glad now, that there is such a subject in the curriculum!). So, there I am- walking into another classroom, resigned to learn another subject and determined to stay awake for a change. Here I will take a short detour and point something about life- it has a convoluted sense of humour and not much respect for plans.
I purposely strode into the classroom with the objective of grabbing that perfect middle seat- neither too far and nor too near to attract attention- and came to an abrupt halt. The classroom was beautiful- it looked like a mini auditorium with ample lighting that would offer no refuge from attention no matter where you chose to sit. This was still within the scope of my expectations and would require only a minor adjustment to my plan. Next came the professor, whose coming did evoke marginally more surprise by the very fact that he came well before time, but this too could be accepted easily. And when finally, the lecture got underway and as it progressed my assurance about the ‘facts of the classroom’ sustained hits little by little until severely bruised lay my notions. They were completely blindsided by the reality of being in a classroom where class participation was mandatory, where students fought to sit on the front benches, where disagreeing was acceptable, where something so intuitive as “communication” was dissected, analysed and understood at length, where learning happened by doing, where the equation was less student-teacher and more business-client, where feedback was meant to be heard and accepted without being defensive, where your quirks didn’t have to be left at the door, where staying awake was never even a consideration, where everyone made a conscious effort to push the boundaries of their comfort zone and finally, where by the end of it, you actually left the classroom a slightly changed person for the rest of your life than what you had come in as.
Which ABG company would I want to work for and why?
If I get the chance I would like to join Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited. I first became aware of Aditya Birla Group’s presence in the fashion and retail segment during my Under-grad years. Every year Madura Fashion & Lifestyle would come to my campus (NIFT, New Delhi) and select just a few candidates for their apparel internship. There would be much interest and competition for the same. It was because Madura Fashion & Lifestyle besides being one of the top players in the segment and owning popular brands like Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, etc, also had the reputation of being an excellent organization to work for. Since then, Madura and Pantaloons have been consolidated under the common banner of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited, which continues to dominate the fashion retail market in India.
