Life in a B-School is often assumed to be either an exciting time picking up lots of new things or a stressful period which you can’t but wait get over. With a seven digit annual salary, of course.

The reality is that it is somewhere in between, the degree of each varying from person to person. At a B-School there is too much to do, and way too much done to you. There are books to read, cases to study, quizzes to expect and exams to bust the gut and grey cell for. And then there are friendly inter hostel rivalries, pluming parties, annual festivals, sports meets and multitudes of competitions to test your mettle. It is for sure a great learning experience, but it is only voluntary half the time.

As immortalized in song and lore (don’t ask, you’ll find out sooner than you think), the first term is a blur of activity. You come in, attend never ending classes and tutorials, face mountainous submissions and presentations and slowly realize you do not have the time to stop and stare. The sunrise is only an indication to get up, the stars only seen when your head is spinning. Before you understand the others around you, before you think you like a particular subject you will have your first set of exams upon you. And then this trend will continue.

Life at a B-School is a blur. By the time some of the freshers (people fresh from undergrad, without any work experience, for those who don’t share the lingo) go back for their convocation they find that they have suddenly grown up a lot, they have suddenly become very different from the people they walked the plank with for four years. You don’t realize how much your senses are filled with the knowledge flow until you get such a moment to stop and reflect. As in any field of endeavor, for every subject or Professor you like, you will find two that you think are a waste of time. And everyone else will disagree with your particular choices.

But when you get into one of those really contemplative moods which manifest due to triggers from past, you will realize it is just a microcosm of the life you’d want to live. Not always predictable or comfortable, not always interesting or kind, but at some level or the other, wholly enriching. Which is when you realize two things: you wouldn’t have picked management studies if you wanted an easy way out, and more so, contemplative moods are a curse to the grades in the next day’s assignment.

G. Sriram

1. Aastha Says:
   January 9th, 2009 at 11:29 am

   And ever so often, a Managerial Communication prof recommends that you become a writer, right GS?

   Aptly summerized by the way, Couldn’t Agree More(SSS) to you.

2. Sriram Says:
   January 10th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

   Thanks Aastha

3. Jayant Says:
   January 11th, 2009 at 8:48 am

   very aptly summarized! CAMs!!!

4. arjwiz Says:
   January 15th, 2009 at 11:42 am

   Nice piece. Fancy me stumbling upon it, Sriram!

   Hope you’re having fun!

5. Sriram Says:
   January 15th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

   Ah! The world’s getting to be a smaller place Arj Stick around