"If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose, then I'm crazy. That's the way history is written." – Artemis Fowl
Through the steely test of time, man realised that there is nothing as resilient as the human spirit. With the precious thought in my mind, I grudgingly opened my eyes. My roommate already pacing about the hostel room, trying to find his belongings and probably his wits. It was a big day for him. Being a start-up enthusiast himself and a prodigy of the future as he solemnly puts it, Ankur Warikoo was visiting. The posters on the walls gave testaments on how meaningful today’s day would be for him. U.R. Rao, Mr Sai Ivaturi, were just a few names and known faces which could be seen around, walking through the grassy path leading into the sun-filled atrium, or flipping through the pages of Journals stacked over others in the library. Humans couldn’t keep all of its knowledge in their mind and thus wrote them down on pages. The Man grew tired of building shelves to keep these embers of knowledge, thus built a library.
It was just another day for me, right from 9 AM till snack time at 5 in the evening and for those 200 strong students who I would sit next to, listening to professors from various walks of life, listening to them, impart knowledge that we certainly would use one day. But I was already running late. A quick pit stop at the mess, where countless students more, lapped up a sumptuous breakfast before heading off to temples of knowledge. We all need our energies. The day was not just filled with classes, but peppered with guest lectures from the brightest minds from all corners of the country. Today was Ankur Warikoo, and tomorrow would be a surprise.
Upon reaching the class and making my way over to my favourite seat, right in the corner, I sat, stomach full, brain cells primed, a pen full of ink, I was ready. Ready for those 75 completely unbridled minutes where I soon would be washed over in the vastness of indispensable information which would take even more time to decipher. The power horse walked in and there we went. The classes ended and students dispersed out. Leaving a handful few working on assignments. One thing was clear from the very first day, it wouldn’t be the quantity of education received, but the quality of it. This was substantiated when we had to dive head first in Harvard Business Review cases presented and the countless hours we would spend staring at the Bloomberg terminal, finding the real motives as to how the market functions the way it does.
Life at SIBM Bengaluru can be hectic at times but nothing is more soothing to the eyes than seeing our very own pair of Labradors running around, nudging everyone in their path with their heads, asking for a pat. After all, they did wait patiently for all of us to get free. Feeling a bit peckish, I again made my way to the mess. Students thronged about, regaling in memories of what bland lives they led before coming here. Soon the cemented court would be used for cricket and other sports people fancied. Balls on the green grass would be aimed at pockets and laughter would coat the walls again with its hue.
Some, whole heartedly believed in having bigger brawns along with bigger brains and myriad of us pumped iron and popped eggs like pills. The day was nearing to an end but was still far from it. Almost everyone is a member of various committees and have even bigger roles when it comes to societies. One thing which has dawned to all the new fish, is that being in a B-school is demanding, to say the least. Time will be a commodity no one will have to spare as the countless projects, assignments and papers to write will ebb and flow from every crevice. Being relentless in their ‘pursuit of happyness’, the students cope with the ever growing pressure from one semester to another.
Life here is not about building a career. I testify to the fact that it is how it starts off as, having a good career and minting money, but along the way, it becomes much more than that. The different reasons each and everyone had to join a B-school are soon replaced with grander plans. Having a personality and confidence to be worthy of a paycheque is what is we learn every day. Work can be plentiful and days long, but learning something new every day makes it all worthwhile.
This is an average day in the Life At SIBM Bengaluru.
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About the Author:
Tanay Singh is a first year MBA student at SIBM Bengaluru. He hails from New Delhi and has completed his Hotel Management Degree in IHM Pune. He has worked as a Store Manager at Domino’s India for a duration of 11 months. Mr Singh loves writing and when he isn’t writing, he will be found listening to music (preferably classic), reading, playing basketball or biting into his favourite food. He aspires to become an entrepreneur in the Electronics industry and also looks forward to becoming an author. He is an exemplary orator and is known for coming up with the craziest of questions in class. Tanay has a creative spirit and never passes up an opportunity to lend a helping hand to one and all.
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Comments
Ansuman Mishra
I agree to the fact that prohibition of marijuana has its own problems. But is legalising use of marijuana a solution? If marijuana was sold openly in markets and are readily accessible, there is every chance that it could lead to abuse of the product, especially among the youth who would try to experiment with it. Use of marijuana is promoted by people who have already used it, and once people try it, they would be willing to use it again and again.And with a readily available market, abuse of marijuana could very well lead to serious health problems. One may argue that it is an individual's choice. Fair enough. But how far is legalising marijuana going to help people? It would just give them another alternative of such products. Medically marijuana might have some benefits, but one must agree the most potential uses arise due to a need to relieve stress, peer pressure and curiosity (http://drug.addictionblog.org/why-people-use-marijuana-top-10-reasons/). Non-legalisation has its own problems, but legalisation is definitely not a solution. Rather a nationwide awareness campaign is a necessity.
27 Aug 2014, 10.24 PM
Purvabh Surana
Legalizing is not even close to setting up a mandi for marijuana. In Uruguay, for example, there are very strict rules regarding who can buy it, how much can they buy, and under the many what circumstance can any such sale be disallowed. Our point towards marijuana is actually allowing people to experiment with it, on their own terms, in safe, regulated environments, instead of having to deal with dodgy characters, and shady areas which the current laws actually help flourish As far as abuse goes, more people kill themselves with painkillers every month than marijuana has ever. In fact, not only is marijuana far less addictive than almost every other stimulant, half as addictive as alcohol and almost a fourth as addictive as nicotine, but in fact, the active components, can in no physically deliverable dose ever be fatal. To put things into perspective, there are doses at which coffee can kill you, much more easily. Out of the limits of moderation, anything can become a serious health hazard. Legalizing it will allow people to make informed choices, just as we allow people to make regarding say alcohol, or nicotine. It will break the underground nexus that currently deals in marijuana, bring regulation and control. It will allow you keep track of consumption, and demand, along with the consumers. The money saved on meaningless policing, and zero significance arrests, along with the human cost of all the lives meaningless destroyed by incarceration for what's hardly a misdemeanor can all be avoided. And all this, is without even considering the financials. The precise point of this endeavour is to allow people to decide what they want to use it for, and not be at the mercy of the local dealers prohibition spawns. We wholeheartedly agree. Reasonable individuals across the nation have the right to full, free and fair information regarding this sensitive issue, so they can make informed choices, instead of having dogmatic, moralizing judgement shoved down their throats.
28 Aug 2014, 03.27 AM
+Read Replies (1)
Abhishek Karekar
To implement and ensure a safe and regulatory environment for consumption in India would have its own huuuge costs, I believe surpassing the costs of ban. Beside corruption would aggravate the matter further, regulatory officials would make money at the expense of social damage at large
28 Aug 2014, 06.09 PM |
Ankur Dewan
Today you are vociferously campaigning for the legalization of marijuana, so what is next on your checklist – legalization of METH?
28 Aug 2014, 04.03 AM
Hemant Agarwal
Having expertise in Automation testing and framework Development using a technical knowhow of JUnit backed Selenium RC & Webdriver. Multi Browser and Cross client testing. A good understanding of SDLC Methodologies. Along with Automation testing working on Functionality Testing , Browser Certification Testing, Sanity Testing, Regression Testing. Knowledge about version control systems. Test Design, Test Plans, Test cases development and management. Accessibility Testing
Yes I believe you, after all who are these big brothers regulating us everything should be allowed there should be no restrictions ... anybody can murder anyone ... anybody can do what they want... regulations are a waste aren't they .. I don't say we shouldn't evolve and ward of traditions and rules which are non coherent with current times but legalizing everything anything doesn't go well.
28 Aug 2014, 11.57 AM
Anurag Ghosh
A VERY SIMPLE GUY........THOUGH HAVE SOME GREAT EXPECTATIONS FROM LIFE......JUST LIVING MY LIFE FOR THEM..........HOPE THEY COME TRUE ONE DAY.........
Lifting prohibition for the sake of money in the form of taxes & duties is totally unacceptable .
28 Aug 2014, 07.50 PM
Anurag Ghosh
A VERY SIMPLE GUY........THOUGH HAVE SOME GREAT EXPECTATIONS FROM LIFE......JUST LIVING MY LIFE FOR THEM..........HOPE THEY COME TRUE ONE DAY.........
Further I did not understand that how prohibition of marijuana can generate violence or spread aids? This is really outrageous.
28 Aug 2014, 07.51 PM
Ashish Verma
A youngsters, with a cigarette in one hand and a buzz in his head. If that's how you want to see the country, then by all means, legalize marijuana. and there is no proof about the claims that Marijuana does not cause brain damage, genetic damage, etc. whereas there is plenty of research matter which proves the exact opposite. I mean, on what grounds can you claim such things?
28 Aug 2014, 09.25 PM
Vinti Narula
This stand is simply outrageous. The society, already reaching deplorable levels of moral corruption, does not need any more narcotics.
28 Aug 2014, 09.46 PM
Purvabh Surana
@Ashish, I welcome your stand, and by all means, please give me the links to this legendary research you refer to. Till then, please chew on this What you refer to as "studies" showed structural changes in several brain regions were found in two rhesus monkeys exposed to THC. Because these changes primarily involved the hippocampus, a cortical brain region known to play an important role in learning and memory, this finding suggested possible negative consequences for human marijuana users. However, to achieve these results, massive doses of THC - up to 200 times the psychoactive dose in humans - had to be given . In fact, studies employing 100 times the human dose have failed to reveal any damage. In the most recently published study, rhesus monkeys were exposed through face-mask inhalation to the smoke equivalent of four to five joints per day for one year. When sacrificed seven months later, there was no observed alteration of hippocampal architecture, cell size, cell number, or synaptic configuration. The authors conclude: "while behavioral and neuroendocrinal effects are observed during marijuana smoke exposure in the monkey, residual neuropathological and neurochemical effects of marijuana exposure were not observed seven months after the year-long marijuana smoke regimen." Slikker, W. et al, "Behavioral, Neurochemical, and Neurohistological Effects of Chronic Marijuana Smoke Exposure in the Nonhuman Primate," pp 219-74 in L. Murphy and A. Bartke (eds), Marijuana/Cannabinoids Neurobiology and Neurophysiology, Boca Raton: CRC Press (1992). I tried looking for all the genetic damage marijuana causes, but all I could find were more judgements, no facts. Please do help me find these reports?
28 Aug 2014, 10.59 PM
Purvabh Surana
@Vinti How sweet. You continue to use the imperative tone IN a judgement type sentence structure, as usual without the slightest hints of any supportive evidence. But then I'm sure that the high perch you're on doesn't need mortal contrivances like supporting statements, any research, or even a logic based argument for that matter. By thy divinely endowed rights on deciding the state of entire societies, you can pass decrees on what we need and what we don't. I'm sure there's a cave full of Taliban leaders taking careful notes for their next fatwa from your speech. Please send them my regards.
28 Aug 2014, 11.07 PM
Siva M
@Ankur Dewan legalizing pot -> legalizing METH = My name is Khan -> You're a terrorist
28 Aug 2014, 11.09 PM
Nikhar Mattu
Nice article....although some points are more relevant to the American society than Indian(The Gun example) but all in all an articulate and well structured article.
29 Aug 2014, 01.05 AM
Nikhar Mattu
@Purvabh You are trying to use logic with people who harbour dogmatic views, it's like using rationality with religious people...it never works!
29 Aug 2014, 01.07 AM