Life@SJMSOM as seen by SOM14

Photo Credit- Sanjay MS (SOM'14)

Sitting on the edge of the balcony of my room in H1, with the green and muddy football ground beneath enticing me to the euphoria that lies in a dirty monsoon football match, all that comes to my mind repeatedly is the genius of the ad campaign by a certain detergent brand- “Kuchh daag achche hote hai”. What a new perspective, a new spectacle I already gained in merely two weeks of my managerial safari inside this part of technocratic jungle in Powai. I wonder what kind of vortex of change lay ahead. Let’s explore, let’s keep forging ahead...

“They” say it takes a lot of pressure to transform a chunk of coal into a magnificent piece of diamond. I often wondered whole my life who “they” were. Now I know: “They” are the seniors in SOM, they know how it feels....and I have already experienced the buzz, courtesy-  the heady cocktail of classroom teachings (read assignments) and a long list of activities (read writing a blog may be)  that gives a taste of bitterness but plunges us into an instant high that just remains all the time...always (of course assignments and activities are aplenty and we hardly rest).

After all tell me-can you forget those moments when for the first  time in your life you get an assignment at 1 o’clock in the midnight, only to prepare an ad campaign to sell a unique product or package of products : Almond Oil and a Ball Pen!!?. You feel flummoxed and irritated. You find out who your group-mates are. You prepare a skit. Stay awake till 3 am in the morning and it seems as if some birthday bash is going on. You are certainly on a high...mind-blowing!! The next day you go the induction process and after a chain of lectures just when you feel your sleepy head can’t take it anymore, you go and perform on stage. Team building games go on and you realize: wow...This is awesome!!  After a long long day , you come back from the hypnotizing spell of VMCC or IRCC. Legs tired from taking a long stroll across to adorn the courtship of the Queen of the Campus and she ensconces you. You sink into the land of sleep and you don’t even know when it happened. What a hell of a day!! But.  Let’s explore, let the pain of the journey make the story worth telling, interesting...

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”. Sounds familiar, right? Let’s look at another angle- the common notion is that MBA is about networking, networking and networking with people. But let me go back to what Forrest Gump (or rather his mother) said and I must restate that MBA is about Friends (you never know you may make some of them who will stay in your life forever) and about learning from them, mixing with them, becoming one in a group of hundred odd people where the self submerges and one entity rises above (read SOM’14). After a brief stint at leading the salaried life, going back to the studentship and experiencing the one-ness again after quite a sometime feels rejuvenating.  Let’s explore, reach new heights...

The induction ends and classes start and your mind hover on the dialogues of the movie you saw last night at the theatre- A storm is coming”.  And then the storm hits you. Lectures and sessions just blow your world to pieces. What remains is the panic of assignment deadlines. Frightening faces of the faculty criss-cross your dreams and give jitters. Surprise quizzes surprise the wits out of you. But in the midst of this chaos somehow a connection builds, a realization dawns- the professors and lecturers, they are the engines of this huge bandwagon. May be they are the Dark Knights, teaching us to conquer the fear willingly and hiding themselves inside the cloak of villains ...Let’s explore the uncertainties and be fearless...

Now the mood is ripe for a flashback and the memory lens captures one fine morning in March, 2012. The nerve wrecking day of GD-PI at SOM.  A fresh air of exuberance and hospitality cools you down and suddenly now you realize that right from that day and on, it has been the seniors who have been breathing life into SOM. Right from coming up with the results on time, managing admission process, managing the induction, the Continuums and the list goes on. Teams and forums galore, their roles ranging from promoting HR management to Logistics. They teach us how a team is built. They play the perfect role of advisors, CONSIGlieres. Their Finesse, Systematic(a) approach leaves a Mark(trix) in our mind and sets the stage for the soap Opera that we call Life@SJMSOM. We aspire to be them. 

My mind returns to the green spectacle ahead of the balcony of room no 275, H-1, content with the rounds and rounds of reflection and contemplation. Time to go back for assignments and a thought occurs, a dormant wish resurfaces somewhere inside- Can I try my hand at writing? Can I shape my perceptions and my life here into mere words? The PR team is ready to nurture me...Let me try...let me explore...

Abhishek Banerjee

SJMSOM’14