The Top 5 Activities of MBA students in the final phase

Come the 6^th aka final term of a two year stint in a MBA programme, and one finds quite a few unique things happening around/to oneself. It is a different matter altogether that something keeps happening to/around oneself throughout the MBA course. But the 6^th term is somewhat special. May it be regarding activities, academics, interest or casual time pass; all of it gains a new perspective and like a kaleidoscope appears to bear a multitude of different things. Based on my observation of few things, this is a humble attempt to pen down the Top 5 activities actively (or passively) indulged by the majority of the students in a MBA campus. As Margaret Fuller says ‘Nature provides exceptions to every rule’ so is the same true here.

Do try to check if you can correctly identify the Top 5 activities by your own (Of-course before you reach the end of this article).So here we go with the activities stated in no particular order.

1. Quest for Nirvana

As surprising as it sounds, the fact of the matter is that many students develop a new interest in the attainment of Nirvana or Enlightenment during the ending phase of the MBA programme. It may be either coz they have seen/experienced a lot in their 2 year life period which makes them seek a higher purpose. But it’s to such a high degree that even the sages of Himalayas might feel insecure seeing the passion of these young fella’s. And yea, as the quote goes, ‘Its not in the idea but its execution which actually matters’, the students actually perform the Tapas (Meditation) most of the time.

They get good support from student administration who schedules the classes’ at a heavenly time appropriate for Meditation (Morning 8am). It’s becomes more convenient for the students to enter the class, sit in their places (depending upon the acoustic of the classroom) & enter the tapas mode in search of the Nirvana. There are also two different categories in this namely the inexperienced and the experienced ones. The inexperienced folks who are yet to master the secrets sit in the first-second rows & depend on external support (the Prof’s lullaby) to enter the Tapas mode. The more experienced ones detached from the external environment choosethe last row and enter the Nirvana state on their own accord. It’s amazing to watch a class after say 30 minutes of its start, and one can see ample amount of students in their steady, meditative state focused sincerely on a single minded focus to achieve enlightenment.

2. Job hysteria

This shouldn’t be hard to guess for any MBA grad. After all the main purpose why many left their well paying jobs and entered a two year Vanvasa was to ensure they get a good plump offer at the end of 2 years. (It’s a different matter altogether that what they expect and what happens is similar to intelligence and beauty quotient in girls aka Beauty Brains Paradox). Still, come the final term and it is the time when all things come to a standstill. 99% of the academic related activity whichever a student undertakes willingly would be for this factor ‘A Job’. May it be CV (Curriculum Vitae) preparation, CV submission, CV review, CV re-review, the fear factor ensures that you end up doing all of it and still wonder if the CV is good enough to feature in a company shortlist. Also, a new expert group emerges (who have been lucky enough to have pocketed a PPO (Pre-Placement Offer) assisting out the poorer souls to help them conquer the Mountains of NoJobPhobia (read No-Job-Phobia).

3. Virtual Corporatization of the Institute

Few may argue that this activity should fall under the previous activity. While I completely accept the argument that it is more or less qualified to be a sub category of the previous heading, this has enough strength (qualities) to stand on its own. Let me explain why. While the frenzy over the job makes the students run around haplessly, this activity is undertaken by most of the student batch whether they have an option or not. And yea, the expert PPO groups aren’t left to choice too. It is a common belief that the orchestrations of all this is done by a special group aka You-Know-Who or They Who Must Not Be Named… Well, so the Virtual Corporatization refers to the corporate culture which the campus finds itself in. Hold on, don’t mistake that all of us evolve and start behaving like professionals which is hoped for in a corporate culture. Na, Na, far from it. What I refer to is the visible phenomena which could be seen as in a corporate place. Yea, iam referring to the suited Men & Ladies who run around helter-skelter to attend the company ppt’s, company interview, group discussions etc… The whole scene looks like hordes of suited people moving around. So for a person who might venture into the scene out of nowhere might wonder if he has entered a corporate office (excluding the jungle setup). I personally feel that the students deserve some Bravery award just to admire their courage to brave the bitter cold and live to attend the next day’s ppt too.

4. Awakening of the Explorers

Many of us seek inspiration from others who have achieved something great. In this case, one person to whom many look up-to would be Ferdinand Magellan (Yea, he wasn’t the first person to circumnavigate the world, rather it was his slave Enrique, yet going by popular belief & well known names, let’s go with Magellan).

I wonder how many of the MBA grads would have gone around the campus once, so going around the world can’t be thought of at all. In that case, the only option left to the so called explorers is to circumnavigate all the places in the nearby vicinities. So, gathering inspiration from Magellan or Columbus (If you like him), there arise a group intent on covering all these places. Well these places aren’t that well known to raise a second glance, yet to name few places near Lucknow, it would be Dudhwa national park, Khajurao (quite a distant 380 kms away), Agra, Delhi, all the religious bathing sites (Haridwar, Rishikesh, Kashi etc), Nainital & some places in Uttaranchal. So as soon as we get a free weekend, the explorers set to conquer these less well known places and derive satisfaction at the end that their adventurous appetite has been attended to. For the others who don’t prefer to wait for the weekend time, they ensure that they circumnavigate the inner areas of Lucknow almost on a daily basis.

5. Entertainment Marathon

This last activity is something which is indulged by almost every living soul in the campus. The time which we get excluding the time spent on Nirvana meditation and the Job run is exclusively devoted to this aspect called the ‘Entertainment Marathon’. This is nothing but the continuous watching of movies, sitcom’s, drama etc etc… It’s as if the life on the earth is about to come to an end, and every person has an unfulfilled commitment to watch a certain set of movies before time runs out. Few common conversations which could be heard would be suggestions on the movie names from the so-called movie experts. You might say what about the Bollywood flicks which release on a frequent basis, yet gauging from the failure of the recent flicks of Bolly movies (Tees Mar khan, ToonPur ka Superhero etc) to fulfill the student expectations, many have resigned to the fact that it’s better to see better movies in the comfy of their rooms rather than venture out. But there are still those who believe that their commitment to maintain the legacy of watching all the movies in theatre has to be continued and that their expectations will somehow be fulfilled by at-least movie.

Whatever happens, one thing is for sure… The life goes on. May it be the acads, competitions, events, a common thread unites most of the students and that is the intent to enjoy the best of remaining few days in the institute and to imprint few evergreen memories. Suited or not suited (where we really don’t have an option), one thing is for sure, as Barney in the well known sitcom ‘How I met your Mother’ says

“Its gonna be Legen… (wait for it)....Dary" for the remaining days.

P.S: If you are still scratching your head over intelligence and beauty quotient in girls, the axiom says that intelligence is inversely proportional to beauty, or that beauty varies inversely with intelligence, or that people (read girls) aren’t typically endowed with both beauty and brains!