'The Journey Of Becoming A Diamond From A GEM'- The Summer At Indus Valley Partners

By Anmol Gupta

Once there was a GEM. A GEM which was more than precious and synonymously everyone used to call it “ANMOL”. However, the lustre was latent inside it and the lapidaries (the premier b-schools) were not ready to polish it. Their entire community gave the same three excuses – ANMOL is a General, Male, Engineer and there are too many such GEMs we’ve already polished, so we need more “diversity” now.

ANMOL was starting to lose hope and even began to cast doubt on its sheen when finally one fine day, a lapidary (IIM Rohtak) agreed to polish it. The sheen started to turn into a gleam, but soon it realised that the journey from a GEM to the crème involved a lot of cuttings and engravings… AND… This is how started my journey for the summers at Indus Valley Partners.

An electronics engineer by degree and a finance lover by heart, I was eagerly looking for opportunities where I could apply my passion and education in tandem. The summer placement season began, and there came the notification of Indus Valley Partners, a leading FinTech, coming to our campus for recruitments. I knew that this is where I want to be and with thorough preparation, I successfully got selected into IVP. My belief into the quote by Paulo Coelho, “When you really desire something from the heart and soul, all the universe conspires you to achieve it” – became stronger.

2nd of April, the official date when I started my journey of learnings with IVP. New tools, project deadlines, busy people, long working hours - everything that was told to me as the trademarks of financial world before joining, suddenly seemed to be real. I quickly assimilated with this new culture and started to give 100% to my project. The constant guidance by my mentor and his faith in my work provided the much-needed confidence to continue with sheer determination. It was the likings that I developed towards my work and the firm that I was able to complete my assigned project two weeks before the deadline.

I’m a strong advocate of the belief – “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop” and hence did not wanted to waste my last couple of weeks at IVP. I asked for a new project from my mentor and he was more than happy to assign me the same. The next challenge involved more ‘Cuttings and Engravings for ANMOL’ and finally on 1st June, the process of faceting finally paid off. I was able to deliver both the projects on time and the primary motive of seeking an exponential learning curve was achieved.

The 2.0 version of my MBA journey has begun and the bag of experience which I now have from IVP is undoubtedly going to compliment me in the same. Hope to share with you all the next part when this GEM would be transformed into a complete diamond and justifiably called “ANMOL”.

Some of the tips to the new entrants to this MBA world:

1) Hard work: Trust me without hard work it’s like impossible to fulfil your aspirations from a B-School.

2) Patience: The best tool for an MBA aspirant. There would be a lot of failures in the journey, but a patient mind is only the one who’ll rise every time and at last come out with flying colours.

3) Awareness: Awareness about your surroundings and environment is one thing which you can’t afford to miss in MBA. This is a tool in the arsenal which differentiates an astute MBA from rest of the world.

4) Zeal: The constant zeal to learn and learn something new is going to take you really forward. Never stop learning – make this your motto and then you’ll start enjoying your MBA journey like anything.

5) Consistency: Lastly, do whatever you like and pursue relentlessly to achieve it. Don’t stop in the middle and change your goals. Just wait for that one opportunity for which you have chosen to pursue MBA, and I’m sure that you’ll definitely achieve what you have always longed for!