Unlikely Winner

“Are you going to present your half-page CV to corporates?” These words sent a chill down my spine and woke me up from a dreamy slumber of getting into an IIM. Though brutal, it was honest. My CV was half-page with a major part of it filled with some random certifications done through some websites, whose answers can be found easily on Google Baba.

Getting into an IIM was a dream of mine which came true with IIM Kashipur offering an admission offer. I thought life will get easier from here, after all, I had an IIM tag on my LinkedIn profile. How wrong I was!! The game was just getting started. Not only was the pressure of studies, projects, and quizzes on top of my head but also, I realized I had nothing to write on my CV except the marks and an internship, while few students were making their resumes two pages long.

Among several long, monotonous, and repetitive zoom meetings and preparation sessions, I got to know about case competitions held by corporates and other B-schools. Some companies used case studies to recruit students for their organizations. In the beginning, I wasn’t excited about them because why do anything extra when you already have so much mandatory to do. So, there went the first few case competitions, with making effort only because Placement Committee sent a mail. So, I along with my team members submitted a few presentations which didn’t get selected in any further rounds.

Gradually, I realized that since these competitions required minimum eligibilities to appear and everyone started from scratch to find the solution for the case, this might be the place for a person like me who does not want to be let down by my past and is ready to do anything in my present to achieve my dream.

A big change came when our submission got selected in the Welspun Disruptor Case competition. Our idea was among the top 100 selected among 10,000+ registered teams. Apathy changed to enthusiasm. Lethargy to action and indifference to interest. I along with my team members, worked hard to present our idea simply to make sure that evaluators can better understand the idea. Again, to our surprise, we cleared the semi-finals and reached Finals with 20 odd teams. During this time, my team cleared another Case competition named “Steel-a-thon”, among the top 40 teams from 5000 odd registered. This was a surprise. To be a fresher and still be able to present ideas along with Work-ex peeps, who already had an idea of how the industry works and its intricacies, was a boost to my confidence.

During all the case competitions, I realized that case competitions are less about frameworks or some jargon to be presented, but more about common sense. Thinking about it, people have been doing business for thousands of years. They didn’t have Porter’s five forces or Swot analysis. They used their common sense and did what made the most sense at that time. Common sense about how to research, interview, write and present. The same can be applied to MBA studies. Beneath all the frameworks, is common sense presented as a mumble jumble of corporate jargon. After this, I was better able to understand the curriculum cases, how to approach them, research about them, and present them. Case competitions are a wonderful opportunity to present your ideas and vision directly to the senior executives of a company. It is likely that they are facing the same problem themselves and have a certain inkling about how the organization is going to tackle that. What we must do is use our common sense and think about how we can do the same. There is no single correct answer, but every answer has assumptions, which must match those mentioned in the case.

To common sense.

 Thank you.

PS. – My CV got filled.

Nikhil Jain

Nikhil Jain is a second-year student at IIM Kashipur (Batch – 2021 -2023). He is a B.Com graduate from GGDSD college, Chandigarh. He is an active member of The Finance Club of the institute. He has keen interest in sports, reading and writing. He is a firm believer in hardwork and aims to achieve excellence through it. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

The sense of belonging: A requisite in MBA

“In this room full of people, do I belong here?”

These are not just random thoughts of a typical girl. It is something each student who does MBA confronts one day or the other. Nothing and no one can answer this though. The sense of belonging cannot be generated. It is felt. This experience is what differentiates a person struggling to fit in and a person who is naturally comfortable. And MBA as a course makes sure to teach us that even in difficult times, the show must go on.

When I first decided to go for an MBA, my ambitions made the way forward somewhat blurred. I could not see the challenges, waiting for me in eagerness. But as I put my first step into the campus, finally it hit me that I am doing this. The classes have been going on online till now, and it was easier to be productive in the comfort of home and family. But now came the real experience of an MBA being a course in which there is no vacation.

As a student of management, I was required to manage my classes, case competitions, live projects, Position of Responsibility, and at the same time friends, events, sports, and fun of MBA life. But was that going to be that easy? It seemed like an uphill battle to me. It started great. I was able to give my full potential to the work which was delegated to me. When my work was appreciated, the sense of satisfaction I got was another level.

But things do not go easy all the time. There came situations when I was exhausted mentally. I wanted to work but could not. Hours were spent procrastinating and overthinking everything. Each decision that led me to this place was questioned. Is this degree even worth it? Will I ever be able to reach that level I see myself one day? Such questions filled up my mind. And I could not get any answer anywhere.

There is a saying that when things go as wrong as they can, there is only scope for improvement. It became evident in my life too. Things started to become streamlined as time passed by.

This started when I looked at the things according to the priority. Being a human not everyone can do everything with full potential every time. But prioritization helps in keeping track and maintaining the flow of work. Secondly, apart from prioritization, not having attachments to the work I am doing helps a lot in keeping a sane mind in this chaos. We all work hard at the projects we are delegated but not every time there is a positive response or appreciation given to you. This might be disheartening at times but is a necessary part of the process we are bound to go through as an MBA graduate. To look at all this as a learning phase keeps me motivated to move forward remembering past lessons and avoiding already made mistakes.

There have been some chapters that closed after I came here and some new ones which opened. Similarly, there are many more chapters waiting to be opened. Hence having patience is a must to see through this journey I started. Sometimes things do not work out the way we think they would, but it is okay. At last, not only the destination but the journey and the experiences we have makes all the difference in the quality of life we lived.

Aarti Singhal

Aarti is a first-year MBA student at IIM Kashipur from Batch 2021-2023. She is a B.Sc. Hons in Mathematics from the Delhi University. She is an active member of the Media and Public Relations Committee of the institute. She has keen interest in dancing as well as reading and content writing. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.

IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL WELLBEING

“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” — Gautama Siddhartha Buddha

Emotional well-being is a crucial component of human life. It affects one’s perception of life, relationships, and health. Being emotionally healthy, will helps an individual manage different aspects of their lives and cope with a variety of emotions without losing control. When faced with hardship and stressful events, emotional wellbeing will guide their ability to develop positive emotions, moods, thoughts, and feelings, as well as help them adapt to new emotions. This will assist an individual in building stronger bonds with people around them. One of the pillars of emotional well-being is resilience, and it helps people recover from difficult events in the job, furthermore, having a stable state of emotional well-being also helps with the development and growth of an individual. Being resilient will help shape the way one would respond to and manage the stress of changing surroundings.

Emotional wellbeing is a quintessential aspect when considered within the paradigms of an individual’s growth, understanding, empathy, humor, and compassion. One must always prioritize emotional wellbeing, on doing so an individual can keep a healthy mindset, which allows them to be open to feedback, both good and bad, discuss difficult situations with anyone, have conversations and build strong bonds with others.

Emotionally healthy people are in control of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It allows them to cope with life’s challenges and prepares them to bounce back from setbacks. When we consider emotional well-being from an essential perspective of a corporate scenario, we cannot overlook the unavoidable pressure that one feels in the initial phase of their career. Having a stable mindset is not just helpful to the individual as a human resource but also to the company which employs them. Investing in the well-being of an employee can lead to increased resilience, better employee engagement, and overall growth in the performance and productivity of the individual.

Benefits of emotional wellbeing for a management professional:

Emotional wellbeing enhances interpersonal relationships and creativity. A good relationship built on a healthy mindset goes a long way toward productivity and growth, we all understand that happy people are more approachable, more likely to get along with other employees, and have a positive outlook towards any problem thrown at them. Emotional well-being is an important tool in the defense against the cumulative effects of stress. A positive approach helps an individual recover from stressful events much faster as compared to someone emotionally unwell. In addition, research also shows that emotional well-being may have a direct effect on other aspects, for example, some studies have shown individuals with positive emotions are correlated with more effective immune system functioning which in turn could help reduce absenteeism and sick days.

Finally, emotional well-being leads to greater job satisfaction. It helps in lesser burnout of individuals and fewer intentions to leave the job. People who are emotionally well tend to emit fewer negative emotions. The effect of emotional wellbeing on job satisfaction is thus essential for the growth of the individual and any institution which they serve or intend to serve.

We’re all more mindful of emotional wellbeing right now, following a few years in which the nature of human subsistence and co-habitation, in the social milieu has been majorly challenged. Several people have experienced the shock of a sudden vacuum of human interaction and the incorporation of an isolated, sedentary lifestyle. Taking care of your emotional well-being has never been as important as it is now, however, emotional well-being is always a wise investment

Dipti Sarkar

Dipti is currently pursuing MBA from prestigious IIM Kashipur. She is honest, hard-working, patient, reliable, and disciplined. She likes working in a team, being open to ideas, and always enjoys good company. Her hobbies include swimming, gardening, and learning and is passionate about the things she does. She wants to influence people by inspiring them.

How I kicked out FOMO using Live Projects

Learn to see, Learn to Hear, Learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you become an expert “ – Willam Oslar

As soon as you enter an IIM you see yourself surrounded by 300+ with diverse experience in all imaginable disciplines. Your colleagues could be commerce graduates, CAs or CFAs, or industry veterans with extensive expertise in a particular domain. You may find yourself surrounded by folks who have settled on their specialty and career path. While taking on this new endeavor amid all this craziness, it’s easy to be confused and overwhelmed.

MBA life begins on the first day of the induction program, with a flurry of activity all around us and a persistent “Fear of Missing Out.” For someone new to a demanding schedule, it is natural to be stunned by the pace of life at IIM. But you need not worry, because no matter what you do, “Bunny life mai Kuch Na Kuch reh jaata hai”. So just take a deep breath and try to grab an activity that would help you hit the ground running in your MBA life. To help you with the FOMO we encourage the students to pursue a Live project.

A live project is similar to a mini-internship that you can complete in addition to your studies. It provides you with hands-on experience with real-world management issues and challenges. Depending on the deliverables, projects can last anywhere from 15 days to two months or even longer and you need to devote only 2-3 hrs a day to the project depending on the work.

Aside from enhancing your overall profile, live projects allow you to apply what you’ve learned in class to real-life issues, such as time management.

Eligibility for Live Project:

  • If you are a fresher and want to explore different domains like Marketing, IT & Analytics, Strategy & Consulting, Finance, Human Resources, Operations & Supply Chain
  • If you are a student having worked in one of the domain but want to explore opportunities in different domains available
  • If you are a student having work experience in one domain and want to gain further expertise in the same domain by working with different firms on diverse projects

So basically Live Projects are for all!

Speaking from personal experience, I have always been motivated to apply in Live projects related to the Supply Chain & Analytics domain because it piques my interest.

What I learned from the live project:-

1. Recommending without first putting it into practice is futile: Live projects not only broaden your knowledge base in your field of study, but they also teach you how to practically approach any topic and overcome diverse hurdles.

2. Given that you learn and improvise, few organizations allow you to celebrate failure.

3. Listen to and learn from others (everyone in the team) – Consider different perspectives.

4. Last but not least, competitions will benefit from experience gained via live projects

Benefits I received through Live Project:-

  • Networking:- Working with different organizations for a short period will help you earn one of the most important skills of an MBA i.e Networking
  • Domain knowledge:- A student throughout an MBA can take multiple Live projects in different domains to get an idea about the job opportunities in that domain thus to get an idea is that sector for him/her considering the career perspectives
  • Internship Opportunities: If you perform exceedingly well in your live project, you will be given a Summer Internship opportunity from the organization itself. That’s cool, right!
  • Stipend:- Last but not least, most Live Projects are paid opportunities, so the stipend earned can be used for parties, Late night Nescafe coffee & Maggie’s cravings, and so on.

Thus Doing LPs is a good way to enhance your knowledge and support your Pocket !!!

Once you join IIM Kashipur, from the first month itself you will be provided ample opportunities to participate in Live projects across various domains which will in turn help you alleviate your stress level and counter FOMO. I hope this information will help you to understand the importance of Live projects and encourage you to take multiple live projects throughout your course

Hoping some of you guys to see soon at our Lush Green Campus of IIM Kashipur !

Ciao !!!

Kaustubh Deshmukh

Kaustubh Deshmukh is currently pursuing his MBA from IIM Kashipur. Prior to this he worked as a lead process engineer in an Agrochemical MNC for 34 Months. He’s an avid trekker and loves listing to podcasts in his free time. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

IIM: A Place which never sleeps

Once upon a time, there lived a king who wanted to show his supremacy in his kingdom. To do so, one day he declared that from now on the day would be considered as night and night would be considered as day. People were supposed to work at night and sleep all day.

It seems like a funny story to hear but comes close to reality when you are doing MBA from an IIM. This place never sleeps. On the campus of an IIM, you will never find a time when there is silence all over. Be it the classroom or the hostel, library or the sports ground, people seem to be enthusiastic everywhere at any hour of the day. In one place or the other, students are seen to be lively and passionate about the life they are living.

When I first came to campus, I heard this as being the norm here. But I could not relate to it as much. Being a person who keeps her sleep on the top of the priority list, I could never imagine facing this in reality. A girl habitual of sleeping for a minimum of 8 hours a day could not get comfortable with even the thought of surviving on 3-4 hours of sleep. But isn’t this how life unfolds itself?

Keeping up with the classes, projects, committee work, case competitions and numerous other responsibilities, I gradually started to blend into this culture. The deadlines were said to be sacrosanct and the limited number of hours could never fulfill that. Submitting the projects by the end of the day and getting to Nescafe after that for the coffee became a ritual which we followed every night. I believe as I was walking further in this journey, MBA started to grow on me and I became more and more suited to the ways here.

If in any case I had a day off from the requisites, and I slept for more than 5 hours, it seemed like I missed out on so many important things. We called it having FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and wanted not to miss out on anything from this ‘once in a lifetime experience’ which we are having doing MBA. Everyone has their eyes on the goal of living and enjoying each moment and learning the best from this process.

In this course of management, the first thing I learned was to manage my own life and prioritize what to do and when. The process itself requires us to be proactive at all times of the day. I learnt not only to manage my sleeping schedule but also how to manage my emotions regarding this lifestyle.

There were times when I struggled to keep up with this kind of positive approach towards everything. And I could not fulfill my obligations and was disappointed with myself. But as the course of MBA is, it does not give the time to cry, and things move very quickly here. Day by day, bit by bit I became accustomed, and things flew seamlessly.

This journey not only taught me to be at my maximum potential but to give my best to everything. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and inspired me to become better with each passing day. Not sleeping did not seem a big deal when I got the satisfaction of getting a good job done. It traveled me to that salvation when these basic things did not matter much. In an IIM, the famous lines of poet Robert Frost become more evident,

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep,

 and miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep.

About the Author

Aarti Singhal

Aarti is a first-year MBA student at IIM Kashipur from Batch 2021-2023. She is a B.Sc. Hons in Mathematics from the Delhi University. She is an active member of the Media and Public Relations Committee of the institute. She has keen interest in dancing as well as reading and content writing. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.

Action-packed year at IIM Kashipur

All the images I had formed in my mind as an MBA candidate were about to become a reality. And then came an exciting moment in which formal e-introductions with seniors and peers began to circulate on the official WhatsApp and Facebook groups. My eagerness to share the learning experience with my friends increased as I became more acquainted with the outstanding profiles of many of my colleagues.

The journey here started with a 10-day long induction program. Being a fresher, this was my first experience of the world of case studies, presentations, and hours-long virtual meetings. Now when I am into my third term, and I look back to those hectic induction days I realize that the reason behind those long days was to prepare us for the actual challenge that we were going to encounter throughout our MBA journey.

The first term of business school is usually the hardest, as we become accustomed to lengthy and intense lecture sessions and deadline-bound projects. Students are also exposed to a critical component of B-school pedagogy, the case study, in which we learn not only about firm evolution strategies but also about managerial issues. When we looked at the world through the lens of management metrics, subjects like economics, marketing, and accounting began to fill our heads, and our vision of the world began to alter. The surprise quizzes necessitate prior preparation for each lesson. A manager is supposed to talk a lot, and the system of class participation marks reflects this. Group projects aid in the crystallization of specific concepts, such as Porter’s “five forces analysis” or the BCG matrix in the real world. The addition of lectures by famous people and domain experts is the icing on the cake.

Student-run bodies in various fields such as marketing, consulting, operations, and investments provide numerous possibilities to conduct and participate in various events that encourage us to apply what we study. Then there are cultural bodies, such as those for singing, dancing, and theatre, which play an important role in adding a parallel track to the academic work.

Aayush Aggarwal

Aayush is pursuing his MBA at IIM Kashipur, one of the most prestigious B-Schools in the country. He earned a bachelor of management studies with a major in finance from Ramanujan College, Delhi University. He is a motivated management student who is eager to work in a fast-paced, difficult workplace and continue to give impact to the organization he represents and serves. Aayush is a diligent, conscientious individual with excellent analytical skills who loves Finance. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

How to maintain Mental Hygiene during MBA?

World Mental Health Day

The feeling of excitement and happiness that we got after seeing the shortlist mail for our dream college is something that cannot be told but can only be felt personally. The emotional outburst after long hours of a hectic schedule, late night mock tests, hours of preparation for the Personal Interview questions
as well as the anticipation of waiting for that shortlisting mail for months is something that gives us a different view of achievement. Although we are on cloud nine when we enter the new phase of our lives with the onset of the MBA program, what we tend to overlook is taking care of our Mental Hygiene. Yes,
there is a different portion in our life that is as important as physical hygiene, and that is “Mental Hygiene”. This is the practice of taking care of our own mental health as much as we are characterized to take care of our physical health using different measures.

Choosing MBA with a concrete decision for a long-lasting impact on our career and our lives is a big decision that involves a lot of strength and rational decision making. After we dream of all those campus scenarios that can act as memories years later, and step into our new lives, the first week of induction is something that punches our emotions with the rigorous schedule amidst a pool of students that share the same vision and passion for life while pursuing an MBA. Throughout the struggle to adjust to the hectic schedule by delivering the tasks, we find people with different backgrounds and life stories that often intrigues us to know more of them in depth. The onset of the classes results in heavy loads of presentations, markings, endless assignments, time-bound quizzes, mid-term examinations, end-term examinations as well as student body selections. This gives no space for us to even look at mental health
and take measures to improve it which has drastically fallen at the beginning of the induction. Be it the day when we cried alone in our rooms looking at the laptop screen at the decision of taking MBA while doing the presentation with odd strangers at the starting of the induction process to feeling demotivated
when we are not shortlisted for our favorite company during summer placements, this has tremendously impacted our mental health. As society functions with the thought belief that crying is for the weak and that we should be oiled enough to face rejections and failures in life, we are still hit by the rejections, be it in our favorite student body. We tend to compare our lives and our failures with the success stories of others in the same batch because that has been the social stigma that sticks to generations passing this to
each other. From parents comparing your marks to your cousins or friends to the society taunting in case we are unable to clear the entrance exams, this is a permanent tradition that follows a particular hierarchy. This is something that creates friction in our minds when want to improve our mental health.

The feeling of competitiveness, comparison, the feeling of outcasting others in any task or presentation or interview is something that has been fueled in our minds throughout the process. But what we tend to forget is that everyone is different from the struggles and the investment that they have put in while reaching this place. This impacts not only the self-confidence but also it starts a battle of doubting the self-worth which results in a self question, “Do I even deserve to be here?”. The answer to this question should always be YES. This is the point when we should pause for a moment to breathe and take extreme care by following Mental Hygiene. Taking some time off to boost ourselves so that we are able to deliver quality content and not just burn ourselves is something that should be given utmost importance. The eating habits, which just include rushing to the mess and eating as fast as possible because we have pending tasks should be improved, and eating healthy by enjoying our favorite meal
instantly lights up our mood. The mental hyperactivities that are instilled by hour-long classes and day-long MBA schedule can be amended by having an organized schedule where we can cheat out some time for ourselves and we can do our activity which is our mood lifter, be it talking to our favorite person
or just scrolling through music playlists or dancing our heart out or in fact taking a small nap. This maintains emotional health and helps us in the motivational factor which will act as fuel in the protracted journey of MBA. Indeed taking some time while maintaining the balance of the quality of work that is expected from us and watering the flowers of our mental peace and health to influence Mental Hygiene is something that needs to be preached and practiced.

About the Author

Author Profile Picture

Ayushi Kulthia is currently pursuing MBA from IIM Kashipur from Batch 2021-2023. She is a Finance and Accounting student with 2 years of experience in Content Development and Research. She is also actively engaged in the Media and Public Relations Committee of the college. She is a drama enthusiast and loves exploring life by making memories as she is a part of various social service clubs as well. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.

Journey of the Best-All Rounder – MBA 2019-21

IIM Kashipur is not just an alma mater but a memorable transition phase in my life. My journey can be described as an enchanting process where an undergraduate introvert walking into IIM Kashipur sans experience of the corporate world and the fear of competition in some corner of the heart. Eventually, I became an enthusiastic extrovert MBA Graduate walking out of the campus full of confidence, zeal, and the ardour of competing with anyone, anywhere. I would consider IIM Kashipur as a platform that teaches cogitative knowledge, discipline, pragmatic solutions for complex problems which helped to prepare culturally sensitive, tolerant, ethically, and socially responsible manager in me and changes the view to look at real-life business problems and associates yourself with the society. The stimulus culture teaches you the concept of “self-development” through case studies, group discussions and peer learning sessions, B-school competitions, POR, group projects, sports, clubs, presentation, fun with friends, constant race against time and comfort prepared me for the real fight-the so-called Corporate Life. Indubitably extracurricular activities including clubs and sports were tranquilizers for me. It imparted team building and never give up attitude in me unknowingly. Discussion and tête-à-tête at mess or canteen with your peers not only increases your network (net worth) instead of gets you to introduce a variety of prospects, people, and stories. I am grateful to develop a network with world-class faculty and learning from them. IIM Kashipur also taught me learning is not just from doing but observation can also be a big friend. The talented seniors acted like the best mentor and guide anyone dreamed of. Every team be it a competition, fest, club was one of the best teams I have worked in ever before. This conversation cannot be finished without talking about the lush green campus life of IIM Kashipur in the womb of nature which makes it the best place to live.

About the Author

Hemraj Bairwa is alumnus of IIM Kashipur. He is the best all rounder of MBA 2019-21 Batch. He is currently working as Management Trainee – Logistics and Supply Chain at Tata Steel BSL. He was one of Dare2Compete Top 10 College Champions 2020 from IIM Kashipur and has aced a number of coveted corporate and b-school case study competitions.

You can connect with him on LinkedIn

( We thank the Alumni Relations Committee of IIM Kashipur for serving as a bridge to beget  valuable insights about the journey of becoming a gold medalist from our erudite alumnus. )

Journey of Bronze Medalist – MBA 2019-21

Indeed, I still remember the first sight of the entrance of IIM Kashipur, the glimpses of lush green campus and being lost in the similar-looking hostel blocks on the first day. The thought that I would be an MBA graduate from an IIM was exciting and I was looking forward to it. One month into the program I had realized that this journey is not going to be easy. A lot of lectures, assignments, projects, nights out and networking were involved. Ultimately, the continuous and consistent efforts paid off and helped me achieve the Bronze medal. I am overwhelmed by receiving the medal, but a medal was never the aim. I believe that focusing on the process is more important than expecting the results. I would like to express my gratitude to the professors for helping me in the process. A special thanks to my friends who definitely had a major role to play in the process. Now, I can say with confidence that through various experiences over the past two years I have gained good skills and improved my personality. Finally, one simple piece of advice for the future batches – ‘Focus on what you want in the long term rather than what seems good in the short term’. Wish you all great careers ahead.

About the Author

Kaipa Guru Charan Reddy is alumnus of IIM Kashipur. He is the bronze medalist of MBA 2019-21 Batch. He is currently working as the Senior Analyst at EY-Parthenon. He has also been a business consultant at Decimal Point Analytics and has interned with Larsen and Toubro on a project to evaluate hedging decision of MGO, required for operations of L&T subsidiary. He has also worked as a senior manager at Tata Motors in Sales & Marketing department.

You can connect with him on LinkedIn

( We thank the Alumni Relations Committee of IIM Kashipur for serving as a bridge to beget  valuable insights about the journey of becoming a gold medalist from our erudite alumnus. )

Journey of Gold Medalist – MBA-WX 2018-20

While I was posted at a small village in West Bengal, on a fine evening, my husband called me and said- “I want to do MBA from IIM Kashipur and classes are held at Dehradun, will fly down to Dehradun, will enjoy the chilled weather away from city hustle bustle”. I was taken aback and reaction was like- “Are you insane!! you will fly from Mumbai to Dehradun for enjoying chilled weather, you can do your MBA from Mumbai also”. But he has his own logical reasons and somehow he convinced me to join him in this journey to fulfill my dream to have an MBA from IIM. In the process, my transfer took place from rural village to Mumbai, the city of dreams. Then the journey from Mumbai to Dehradun started. The airports became my second home where I took some rest after office, and airplanes became my study room on weekends especially during exam, the backseat of the car became my bedroom while travelling from Delhi to Dehradun, no matter how hostile the weather is. The travelling in shivering chilling weather and sleepless nights became part of our life on weekends. Then, at Dehradun, green blanket at FRI was so soothing to our tired exhaustive sleepless eyes. During the course, we learnt management and was practically implementing management as well, that credit goes to my husband, Nitesh. I believe “where there is Will, there is Way”. It was the determination and focus that made this exhaustive journey thrilling. Every success has its own recipe, the recipe of my success of becoming Gold Medalist is my late father’s blessings, mother’s support, professors’ guidance and above all my husband, who is my strongest motivation, inspiration and his belief on me make this challenging journey complete with a gold medal.

About the Author

Bithika Karmakar is alumnus of IIM Kashipur. She is the gold medalist of MBA-WX 2018-20 Batch. She is currently working as the Assistant Manager at Punjab National Bank. She is Skilled in Management, Banking, Financial Analysis, Team Management, and Retail Banking. Earlier at Union Bank of India,she has handled operations in the branch, looking after the loan department domain and other regulatory banking affair relating to payment remittance, handling and resolving customer

You can connect with her on LinkedIn

( We thank the Alumni Relations Committee of IIM Kashipur for serving as a bridge to beget  valuable insights about the journey of becoming a gold medalist from our erudite alumnus. )