5 Things I Couldn’t Do in The Last Quarter
(Plus a blog that I didn’t publish. I wrote it when I Covid19 stole the last quarter of my MBA school. This was in my draft from 2020, but I never pressed “publish”. Doing that today!)
I was never charmed by MBA in the true sense. In the last 2 years, not even once I have used #MyKellogg hashtag. Nor was I regular with updates on Insta. In fact, when my girlfriend asked me whether I am excited about the last quarter, I said I’m more excited about my first paycheck. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t miss it when I leave.
It’s just that Business school happens late in life. Unlike undergraduate when you are young and naive, Bschool is a carefully calculated pitstop in life. Nonetheless, I never expected my last quarter to be gone like this.
I had plans for this quarter. Some stupid ones. Some interesting ones. Now they are just ever unchecked todos.
But I have decided to put them down on paper. Someone wise once said well written is half done. Sorry, it’s well begun …, but who cares. Here are five things I wanted to do in the last quarter, but I couldn’t:
Attend TG for one Last Time
Frankly, I don’t know what TG stands for. May be ‘Thank God’. TG is a place to get free (unlimited) beers with people who don’t have better plans on Friday. It’s the ultimate gossip place at Kellogg masquerading as an MBA networking event.
With the covid crisis, the TG has gone virtual. People just hop on a Zoom call with a green tea poured in a whiskey glass. At least that’s what I do. I wish I could attend a TG in person and just laugh at random jokes.
Soak in the Sun on the Purple Chairs
In the Kellogg lobby, you could see extremely comfortable, purple colored chairs. But it’s not the design or color that makes it the best chair for me. It’s how it’s placed.
The chairs are placed just beside the glass wall. In the early afternoon, sunray falls directly in these chairs, and as a result of the greenhouse effect of glass walls, it’s warm inside without the cold and wind of outside. Plus, you get an amazing view of Lake Michigan in case Mcbook’s retina display with billions of color isn’t the best thing in the world for you.
I have spent countless hours there with my laptop working on a blog or random personal projects. I was earnestly looking forward to spending more time on those chairs this quarter.
(I will write in some other blog why chair placed in my room with windows on two sides is the second-best place for me. )
Enjoy Free Food Yet Again
Kellogg’s infatuation with free food with a bit crazy. As per a recent survey, three things on top of mind for first years at Kellogg are free food, dating, and internship. Probably not in that order. One of my friends at Kellogg has enabled notification on slack for just two-channel — ‘#FreeFood’ and “#KTech”.
When I joined Kellogg last year, I was surprised by access to free food and liberty with which people recruiting in tech eat food offered by MBBs (an acronym for Mckinsey, Bain, and BCG — considered pinnacle of human growth and wisdom) and investment banks. Some noble soul would post the location of free food, and then it takes no time for food to disappear. Sometimes there wasn’t even food left for these poor consultants and investment bankers who have to network like crazy. That’s why the Kellogg administration has to come with a flag system to signal when it’s okay to take food. From what I remember, “Green Flag” was a signal that it’s okay to take free food.
Although there is nothing like Indian food for me, the close second best is free food. Had we continued with business as usual, I would have more agile in seeking free food this quarter.
Raise Hand to Just Crack a Joke
It’s not like I don’t crack stupid jokes. It’s just that sometimes I felt it wasn’t the right time. Other times, it didn’t click. I’m always handy with nerdy jokes. Here are a few I could think of at the moment:
- Why did Microsoft win? Maybe the competition wasn’t hard enough!
- Why did Tesla struggle? Supply and demand had a hell of a fight.
- What’s the marginal cost? One that looks small but is the biggest source of trouble in any economics equation.
I came close to cracking in the competitive strategy class last quarter. That has been one of the most entertaining classes at Kellogg. In the first lecture, professors said, “In surveys over the years, it has come across that MBAs want concrete examples. I don’t have a concrete case here but close.” And the slide said “Location Model in Cement Industry”.
If there was an in-person lecture this quarter, I would have certainly raised my hand just to crack a joke.
Dance like no one is watching me
That’s been my to-do since school. I want to stand in front of the class with 2–3 batch mates doing all-out dancing. Somehow I am pretty clear what steps I would do (hint — it’s typical Bollywood)
I wanted to do this in 10th, in 12th, at IIT, and now when I graduate. Sadly, I couldn’t do it even a single time for one reason or other :(
That’s it :) Those are my todo items.
