Many campuses boast diversity in the traditional categorizations of gender, academic degree, years slaved away as Dilberts *cough* worked etc. I have a contrarian view. The day we arrive at b-school, we are constantly reminded of the power of networking. I was sceptical about this as networking somehow felt like a dirty deed since there was something transactional about the whole idea. To ease my cognitive dissonance (OB does come in handy) I reframed the act as meeting new people and ‘getting out of my comfort zone’(typical self-help cringy cliché).
Some crazy classmates:
Exhibit A - Polar opposite – If I were Yin, this person would be Yang. I am liberal while he is an ideologically right-wing (we avoid political discussions). His role model is Hitler and he is not against capital punishment. I never imagined even meeting such a person let alone giving him a party for when I cleared my CFA L1 (some self-PR).
Many of my prejudices were challenged and I am glad that I can knock on his door the night before the Operations exam.
Exhibit B – DCP queen – My sidey and I joked that this lady deserves a Golden Globe (pun) award. When a voice comes from her side of the classroom, we duck and cover our ears(Grenade INCOMING!). Many a professor have tried to (some subtle and others not so subtly) to quiet her but to no avail. DCP (disambiguation: desperate class participation) is a negative externality (Eco nerd here) and we all suffer. But once in a blue moon, very intelligent words come from her and we are left both in awe and a little wiser.
Exhibit C – IIT se hu – The guy who gets all the shortlists while you are lying in the hostel room having a quarter life crisis and restraining yourself from pouring a quarter under the false hope (delusion) of getting a shortlist. But turns out the guy is very humble and stays back to motivate and help others who aren’t placed (yet). Envy turns into respect and you realize that he just got early payback (remember I cleared CFA) for the hard work put in earlier in life.
Exhibit D – Et tu, Brute? – This man came up with a (not so good) solution to the free rider problem. A mail to the teacher without informing others in the group ensured that he gets all the credit and we see our first C- in grades. The cost is burning bridges and losing friendships. But he wasn’t wrong and I learnt that you have to sometimes force yourself to do things you don’t like. “Per aspera ad astra”.
I don’t think I will be able to monetize this (Baniya spotted) but here are my 2 cents on the topic – One can find diversity in thought, action and such interactions can prove to be value accretive in life even if the time spent reading these 500 words written under the undue influence was not.
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Which ABG company would you want to work for and why?
If given an opportunity I would enjoy exercising both my left as well as right brain at ABFRL. I believe everyone ought to have a signature style to ‘rise above the rest’. I have a classic taste in formal wear but the new Power greens collection from Van Heusen really caught my eye since green is a very underrated colour in men’s fashion. I have always believed that Clothes maketh a man and ABG is helping people express themselves by making access to fashion easier.
- Shubham Aggarwal