A building that looked solitary, an untidy statue in the center of the L-shaped building and no one to be seen around. A scene that definitely is far-far away from the glitz and luster of the B-school life at the centroid of Delhi University.
Very few must have imagined that an MBA degree from one of the best B-schools of the country does not offer an alternate path to the journey of success. It definitely equips one with an armor which is quintessential to win the battle though. I had a withered imagination of pessimistic view of life after MBA and all my horrors did come true!
It all had started a month back. I along with two engineering friends of mine was planning to start something up for colleges. Putting it simply - Conducting workshops at colleges for students.
I happened to be the marketing guy. After working for a couple of weeks putting together documents and plans and various models, we were ready to meet our first client. It was a mixed feeling...or calling it ‘mixed’ is oversimplifying it!
I had been to various meetings, handled various clients, gone to meetings with excellent preparation sometimes and no preparation at all at others. But this was different. No one was bound to listen to me, nobody asked me to talk about X, Y or Z with the client, No one was watching me, No one was monitoring me, absolutely no one. It was me, just me!
I reached the place of meeting 10 minutes in advance and expectedly found no one around. I started roaming around the college and realized there were exams being conducted. First thing that struck me, Will I be given sufficient time to explain myself?
Time started ticking and it crossed the designated time of 4 o’clock, now it was wait time that ticked. From one department to other, from looking at notice boards to pretending to be looking at them at times, I patiently waited, or convinced myself of being patient at the least.
I could not believe it first, a local PG college and I am waiting for a small meeting since almost 40 minutes now. All the flowery and boastful statement about the premier institutes and how we would be treated after our MBA fell flat on face that moment. I was like an ordinary salesman waiting for my turn to demonstrate my product and nobody would give a damn if I am from FMS or IIM or ISB. This was end of one emotion and inception of other. Words like special treatment, FMS, premier, best b-school, top-notch etc started fading away from my mind. Soon I found a different platform to stand on for myself.
I was not an MBA student from one of the top-b schools here, I was a marketeer! I was already a marketeer!
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