A Day @ IIFT

Peggy! Peggy! What’s the time?
Modi! U r late…
Oh fuck man!

Peggy and Modi, our loomies in great conversation every morning. One is in the loo and the other inside his cozy blanket. I realize my day has begun. It is 8:55 A.M. The class is about to start… Typically every day i get up only after my roomie Paji gets up. With a frown on my face, I curse myself for choosing to do an MBA. I am not the 4 hrs’ sleep types honey! Welcome to a high profile corporate life… The day has started rolling in (or rather steam rolling… :D)

Run! Run! Run! Run to the loo… Run for the queue… Run to the bathroom.. dress for the run (:D) and you realise that you are late by more than 1000 seconds! Have you seen today’s time table? The automatic question that comes into my mind is “Was there any home assignments?”, “How can I be so irresponsible?”, “Partha! You are a manager… Shit on you! How can you forget?” No no.. These are not sermons… In fact these are some greetings from my brain to my heart. And this happens when I am running… U know what I mean by “running” right?

I am dressing up! Where is my watch? Arre cell kahaan hai? Who took my pen dude? All these small but important things have the habbit of disappearing into thin air when they are in great demand. I finally manage to get hold of my books, collect a newspaper lest I get time to read and take some more important things …. loads of tension for the day! I have a presentation to make. The ppt is ready but only googling is not recommended. The profs are smart enough. Oh there is one corporate interaction also… Who is coming BTW? Might be some CEO or VP or some foreign delegate. I tell myself… Whaaaaaaaaaaat? Sonaaaaaa hi toh hai!!! Then I remember I have a batch meet at 10:00 p.m with the IMF (Not the monetary fund thing.. it is the IIFT eeeeestudents’ body). With books and the laptop, I reach the class room within 30 seconds (15 seconds error acceptible). Did anyone realise that I bypassed the mess (only smelled the beautiful smell of the morning breakfast)? This is just the start of the day.

I reach the class room but sir is already there. Thank God! had this been the first trimester, I would have been kicked out not without a kick on my ass. One good thing is that I always find someone or the other coming after me… So I am not the last one to enter. The corporate “gurukool” as we call it is on for the day!

Very very generously, sir allows me to sit but with a dialog which symbolises the true “screwing” spirit of the profs here. “Mr. Partha! You are late… I must say again. You know time is sacrosanct here in IIFT”. I wonder “Is there any simpler word to describe the same?” But promptly reply … “Sorry sir! was awake till late last night”

There is no empty seat in the last rown. Find a seat which places me away from the direct gaze of the teacher. The litany continues. Some ACPs* and DCPs* are asking questions. I wonder whether the question freaks are never at peace or do they want to gain some valuable points? For those who do not know, in every subject, 10 marks are allotted for class participation.

Whenever I pay attention to what the teacher is saying, I feel guilty. I plan for my next class and plan that I would be prepared by the next discussion. Don’t think about this class… It is over and you know that every thing is going like Shoaib’s bouncers.

4 classes everyday with two hours each. 15 mins break between two classes. 30 mins lunch break. Post class I have tons of work… make a presentation, prepare a report, surf the net, get a nap, eat the dinner and stay put in your room. This is how life is at IIFT. We are busy every day, every moment and every second. Miles to go before I sleep!!!

There is no time to think… People here are so smart that given a moment, they would not think twice to take away the piece of bread you started eating. Maybe this is what professionalism is? I believe there is nothing wrong in it. After all, everybody cannot be a friend and off course not all are enemies. Who constitute the rest? I mean who is there who fills the gap between friends and the enemies? They are the professionals. And one can learn the most from these professionals only.

For all my friends who have been complaining about my blogs, I promise this is a new start!!!
🙂