86 lakh, someone said. And I paused for a moment, and then realized how conveniently a few numbers have been multiplied together to come up with this figure. Take a few pound sterling, convert it to US dollars, and then again convert that to Indian Rupees, and there, lo and behold, you have defied logic, gravity, and everything we thought we could rely on.
It is an achievement, undoubtedly. Placement season at my school is amazing, no doubt about that. The best companies. The best offers. The best students.
But unfortunately the exceedingly pretty picture painted for the outside world perhaps does a little damage to those who still aren’t placed. Or who are not placed on the first day (because eventually, everyone will definitely be placed in a matter of 5 days). It does hurt when friends and family start calling up and ask for “good news” from your side. It makes you feel sorry for yourself, when you are not one of those who could "make it" on the first day. Makes you feel incomplete, and you start questioning yourself (Or rather, those friends and family start questioning you as to what went wrong).
And more importantly, or disturbingly perhaps, a hajaar people out there start looking upon this building of IIMB as a money churning machine. No one cares about subjects or courses or learning or anything else. All that shines in the eyes of the starry-eyed aspirants, are dreams of dollars. All that glitters for them, is nothing but gold. And quite a few of them do get a shock when they realize that not everything was as bright as what was promised to them. That this moon too, has spots of its own. For about one third of the batch, perhaps yes, this place gives them what they came for (that they don't know what they came for, is perhaps a different issue altogether). For the others, it leaves them equally confused by the time they are done with it.
But I guess that’s what management is all about, isn’t it?
2 comments:
Thanks Mohit...
I know... because I have seen this process from all sides.. a participant in my summers (when this desire to outrun the other IIMs was perphaps not so strong), then an observer during my seniors' placements (again, I couldn't fathom the intensity of it all), and then, from a tracker's perspective in your summers (that's when it hit me the most -- when there were times I felt like shunning the process because I felt pained seeing whatever I had to be a part of). And finally, being a finals participant, it does nothing but numb me...
But as I mentioned towards the end, perhaps this is really what management is all about (you never really believed that Kotler and Brealy-Myers were teaching you management, did you?)
Well said Seth!
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