Ama Ata Aidoo in one of her quotes has said, “Humans, not places, make memories”. Most of us would agree with her but in my case both the humans as well as the place gave me a memorable day. I remember how was my first day in IIM Trichy, I hardly knew anyone. No friends and relatives nearby.
The preparatory classes had already started and I was one day late. Knowing no one on the second day of my college, I had to go for class. To my surprise, nothing much had been done. But the other students had been given an assignment to introduce the assigned partner. The first day of my class I had no partner. After finishing off with some of the students Achamma mam told me to introduce myself in the form ofa story. Though I was nervous I went forward and started my introduction story.
I began, my journey was well planned to come to Trichy. My train tickets were booked and at 6:25 PM I had my train from Ranchi to Yeswantpur. But alas, due to some riot in Ranchi and immense traffic I missed my train by 4 mins. So the journey for me didn’t start pretty well. Suddenly I decided I would go alone by flight just tomorrow.
To my surprise, the flight ticket prices were reasonable compared to other days. Immediately I booked the ticket for Bangalore and started to unpack some of the things due to luggage weight restrictions. I was nervous, it was my first air journey and I decided to travel alone. So the journey towards IIM Trichy gave me my first experience of air journey. I even enjoyed the window seat view which happened to be by fluke. I reached banglore safely and booked an overnight bus to travel to Trichy. I boarded the bus at night but the people in bus did not know Hindi nor English, it was difficult for me to communicate.
Somehow, with all my big luggage and handbags, I managed to travel. I had to reach Trichy at morning 5:30. It was already time and I was asleep. After waking up I did know where I was, even the bus driver was unable to communicate. But a couple travelling in the same bus came to my rescue. They understood English and I could communicate well. They told I have gone far atleast 40kms ahead from Trichy. I really got afraid cause it was a completely new place for me and there was also the language barrier. But the couple was generous enough to help me board another local bus from a near by bus station which would drop me near the IIM Trichy new campus. Again it took me 2.5 hours to travel back.
Finally, they dropped me outside the campus of IIM Trichy and I was safe. I could see that the class was engrossed listening and they could connect with me. That gave me a satisfaction at heart. After that other students from the class started talking and started to make new friends. It was a communication English class and I was glad that I could give my best and was able to learn more. At the end of the class, Ma'am gave reviews of every one's performance. I got good points for speech and narration in the first class itself. I was satiated. Getting good grades and remarks in the first class itself is always special.
Therefore the first class experience of IIM Trichy will always be the most memorable one for me. I also made new friends who are not less than a family to me. I am glad that I came and joined IIM Trichy.
Which ABG company would you want to work for and why?
I would like to work with Thai carbon black (Birla Carbon) because in my engineering days I have worked as experiments with the Nano carbon materials. So, I would like to know more about the carbon materials as large scale production market. As the world’s largest producer and supplier of carbon black, Birla Carbon delivers effective solutions anywhere and anytime you need to help you succeed. Therefore, joining and getting an opportunity to learn from great business leaders it will help me understand the business globalization, global capabilities and global solutions in a wide range. I would also like to be a part of ABG Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team and reach out to the unreached.