The egg shell I had lived in for over 20 years had everything I needed- food and comfort, until one day I realized I needed more. I hatched from the shell, boarded a train to Pune, for I wanted to go to SIBM- a premier B-School of India. But I was scared and why wouldn’t I be, I was a chicken in a place that would have eagles.
I arrived at the splendiferous hilltop campus, took possession of keys to my room. I walked through an unsettling silence of the corridors of hostel and till I reached my room, I could only think of the bed I would take, the negotiation skills I would have to incorporate to resolve initial conflicts. I reached the room and saw the first eagle, Sumit from Gaya, Bihar. He had already taken the better bed and looked determined to not leave. I stood there like Buddha’s disciple would have, thinking of what I could do next. He interjected my chain of thought and offered the bed to me and started reading something on his Kindle. I was out of words, more so because of the technology that always eluded me- Kindle. And my question on its technology moved like a musical note from books and authors we like and don’t. I knew I had found a mighty eagle I would follow and befriend.
Meanwhile, arrives the next eagle. This eagle, Souvik, had a puppy face. I assumed he would be the character too. But the moment he arrived, he took over the room like a mad dog, running around littering and eating our stuff. He was loud and astray, or so it appeared. Two weeks on, as it turns out, he is actually the puppy character I thought him to be. Younger in age, lot of energy to dispense and just not caring about the world.
Before we could get comfortable in our rooms, the college threw me out of comfort zone into group activities to meet, participate and compete with other eagles. As I tried to fit in, I found a cuckoo bird, Kuhu. A genuinely heart-warming personality with radiant and infective cheerfulness. She could just look at you and you would feel at peace. I soon realized that in her company, I never missed my sister who had the same effect. I ensure I meet and greet her once a day and my daily dose of happiness is taken care of.
While performing the tasks, I also met a royal eagle, Mayank. He just wouldn’t share the space with us mere mortals. But being in the same team, “his highness” had to interact with us. He wouldn’t speak much, often spoke only
body language to primarily refuse his august company to everyone. I was intimidated by this eagle. I was given a task with him and I contemplated how and why would I even utter a word, when it would just bounce back from the shiny shroud of royalty. But as the task progressed, I realized that he was also a chicken who wore that shroud to hide the absence of wings that the eagles possessed. I connected with him like two chickens in a strange place would. A week later, he converted a better B-School than SIBM and as he prepares to leave, I am sad to lose the only true friend I found here at SIBM.
Today, I am not sure if I ever will become an eagle, but I sure do know that I will learn to fly high as I belong to the family of Eagles here.
Which ABG company would you want to work for and why?
An old hindi song goes "jidhar jaiyega, hume paiyega"(wherever you go, you will find me there).
Be it affordable range or the premium clothing for business meetings, every time I come home happy with something new to wear, it eventually is an Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited(ABFRL) brand. The dynamism of fashion industry is already too high but the ABFRL brands manage to stay ahead of the curve. I would love to work with ABFRL, which is in true sense a pioneer in this dynamic and ever evolving industry of fashion.
Kushal Gupta
Marketing, SIBM Pune
