"IIM-A Chapter
Draws to an End"
- by Anuj Arora *
Now with just convocation left,
IIM-A chapter in my life has come to an end. As the media all over is screaming
about the kind of jobs IIM-A grads got this time, I think the more important
issues are getting ignored.
Things that this place gives you
also include "Less hair" & "More white Hair" (I'm in this category
). Sadly media doesn't
cover this aspect .
Anyway everything has its pros & cons. Now everybody in family circle expects me
to earn a fat pay cheque despite my innumerous attempts to tell that one needs
below average salary to make an average domestic salary of around 8 lacs
. Then nobody also
understands that the figures of 65 lacs quoted in media are farce because these
figures are supposed to be in dollars or pounds & there is a thing called PPP
(Purchase Power Parity) when one lives abroad, but media doesn't deem it
important to be mentioned.
So what has this place given me,
other than the motivation to write scary articles about life in first year?
Actually, a lot more than what I expected. I was just a dreamy 21-year-old
fresher engineer who had passion for a career in marketing, and my knowledge
about the subject was limited to the first chapter of introduction in Kotler's
book (It's a different issue that I still haven't finished that book
). It has taught me
what management is all about, what one can achieve with the technical skills and
also the shortcomings of these skills. It has given me a chance to have a mallu
MBBS as my neighbor and a 32-year-old married guy as my junior. I doubt if many
other places can give that experience!
It has taught me what it actually
means to manage across cultures and age groups. It has taught me to find out
what my core competency is (it is just selling soaps & beverages
) and have fun in that.
I haven't ever had second thoughts about my career options or an idea that I
should hedge my options by taking subjects I don't like. This place gave me the
confidence that I should do what I enjoy and rest will be taken care off. The
fact that I've been placed with one of India's oldest conglomerate is a
testimonial to that.
This place is like a goldmine of
knowledge, how much one can take depends on the individual. The system teaches
you importance of time and how important deadlines are (I lost a sub-grade once
for submitting late by 5 minutes). Never before in my life I thought that 24
hours is less for one day, but then I also never realized how much one could
work in 24 hours . This
place gives an individual chance to find one's self worth and get clarity. The
respect that one gets in society after mentioning the name of this institute is
astonishing. But then there are negative aspects, like girls think that all guys
in IIM-A are geeks (no, we are not geeks - ok, only a few are
), no wonder most of
the guys in here are still single. It's just not an opportunity to learn
academically but about so many other aspects as well. My collection of movies,
books, music and an empty wallet speaks volumes of such opportunities to spend
money on.
Also the lifestyle issues are a
big problem. When one is used to sleeping at 3-5 am everyday, how can you blame
that pour soul for trying to read a book at 2 am while traveling in train? I
wish that fellow passengers could understand this conundrum.
But now for my batch the time has
come to leave this virtual world and get back to real society. The two years at
this place have been a roller-coaster ride but at the end of it, it is worth
each & every second that I've spent here. The placements & jobs are only a small
subset of the whole experience but what becomes of one's personality is the
important issue.
The countdown to leave the campus
has begun but lets hope that there is a bright future ahead for IIM-A's class of
2005.
Signing off as an IIM-A current
student and signing in as alumni.
