First Month at IIFT

Author: Dhruba Jyoti Chatterjee

MBA-IB 2011-13,New Delhi Campus

As I was walking past the Academic Block today, a bland piece of paper caught my attention. It said – Applications for MBA (IB) – 2012-14 (Full Time) available. I smiled. Not a long time back, I was one of the many aspirants seeking the right to call himself an IIFTian. Today, as I complete a month at IIFT, I can safely claim that I have completed (1/24) th of the journey towards that goal (Pardon me for the exaggeration, but the hangover of the business statistics quiz will take some time to subside!).

So, how has it been so far? The immediate responses from the heart are: Hectic, Demanding and Sleep-depriving. On most mornings, it becomes impossible to believe that water is chemically neutral, for it makes my eyes burn as I try to wash away the dreariness from them. The subjects haven’t made my life any easier. I now know how hard it is to ‘balance’ a balance sheet; the bell-shaped curve has made frequent appearances in my nightmares; I fail to see the difference between segmentation, targeting and positioning, beyond their spellings and pronunciations. In between shuffling the pages of the textbooks (cumulatively heavier than yours truly) and understanding acronyms/jargons/ fundae/formulae, I am also unlearning and relearning a few things; the alphabetical system, for example. In a world, where the evening begins at 23:59:59 and GAS is not just a state of matter, but part of your daily conversations and content for the answer sheets, alphabets have assumed a whole new meaning. The letter A doesn’t remind me of the fruit/product Apple anymore; nor does the ball represent the alphabet B. In my new world, A stands for Assignments, B for ‘Babloo ke Paranthe’, C for CV, D for Deadlines and so on and so forth. It’s easier to count the days when I faced a quiz than the ones when I didn’t. I almost feel the chairs greeting me as I enter the auditorium or the NCH, for I have spent more time with them than anyone else in the college so far. Yet, every night (technically morning) when I eventually hit the bed, I go down with the satisfaction of having spent the day productively, having learnt something new.

As I slowly find my feet in this new phase of my life, walking away from my comfort zone, I can see many others like me, frantically waving their hands – my new friends and mentors, welcoming me in this world of exciting challenges and wonderful opportunities. Well, the journey has just begun. And I am in no real hurry to finish it! Hopefully, we, the batch of 2011-13, shall make it a memorable one.