Now with just convocation left, IIM-A chapter in my life has come to an end. As the media all over is screaming about the kind of jobs IIM-A grads got this time, I think the more important issues are getting ignored.

Things that this place gives you also include "Less hair" & "More white Hair" (I'm in this category ). Sadly media doesn't cover this aspect . Anyway everything has its pros & cons. Now everybody in family circle expects me to earn a fat pay cheque despite my innumerous attempts to tell that one needs below average salary to make an average domestic salary of around 8 lacs . Then nobody also understands that the figures of 65 lacs quoted in media are farce because these figures are supposed to be in dollars or pounds & there is a thing called PPP (Purchase Power Parity) when one lives abroad, but media doesn't deem it important to be mentioned.

So what has this place given me, other than the motivation to write scary articles about life in first year? Actually, a lot more than what I expected. I was just a dreamy 21-year-old fresher engineer who had passion for a career in marketing, and my knowledge about the subject was limited to the first chapter of introduction in Kotler's book (It's a different issue that I still haven't finished that book ). It has taught me what management is all about, what one can achieve with the technical skills and also the shortcomings of these skills. It has given me a chance to have a mallu MBBS as my neighbor and a 32-year-old married guy as my junior. I doubt if many other places can give that experience!

It has taught me what it actually means to manage across cultures and age groups. It has taught me to find out what my core competency is (it is just selling soaps & beverages ) and have fun in that. I haven't ever had second thoughts about my career options or an idea that I should hedge my options by taking subjects I don't like. This place gave me the confidence that I should do what I enjoy and rest will be taken care off. The fact that I've been placed with one of India's oldest conglomerate is a testimonial to that.

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* Contributed by -
Anuj Arora,
B.Tech. Elect. & Comm., Kurukshetra University,
PGP2, IIM-Ahmedabad.

Send your comments about the write-up at anuj005@rediffmail.com