I thought life after Poseidon would be slightly easier than what it was. Not so much…! Have been flooded with assignments and what have yous, ever since. Its either placement preparation…or some case…or the agony of what’s going to happen in the future…to sheer lack of sleep (for stats knowledge…till about Tuesday my sleep count was 14 hours in the past 120 hours!!)

However…even with its share of fire fighting…poseidon was a sheer pleasure to handle. I am not quite sure whether I would want to go through the path again…it’s a tricky call. At some level you find yourself asking “at what cost”…and the very next minute you feel like abusing yourself for asking the question.

My learnings from Poseidon:

1. Never work with a tee shirt company whose name starts with an ‘e’…and ends with an ‘a’ (and has the alphabets t, a, n, t, r, a in between).
2. If you really have to work with them…definitely avoid a lady whose name starts with an ‘a’…ends with an ‘a’…(and has 4 other alphabets in between)
3. If you really have to work with her as well…DEFINITELY DON’T HAVE K in your team…otherwise he will surely blow her up…!

4. Never call a music competition…a music competition. Call it a rock show…if that’s what it is…or a soft music competition…if that’s what it is…
5. Even if you call it a music competition…check the profile of bands coming in. They might just not gel together…
6. Even if everyone turns up…please for god sake get a better sound system. You never know what happens ‘after death’…!

7. Ultimately…any fest…or for that matter any event…is not so much about what you ‘serve’ but how you serve it. Students from all b-schools left with such a wonderful feeling…I guess we managed to make them feel special.

The event pinnacled with the greek theme party. We had thrown it open to the ICFAI students as well…and much to our embarrassment they outnumbered us all through. However, the party was awesome…and A yet again did a remarkable job. I didn’t enjoy myself as much as I thought I would…maybe the physical tiredness settled in. And then something happened that shouldn’t have…which upset me…!

Overall…AWESOME EXPERIENCE…as K would put it…I have technically completed my MBA. Have learnt so so much from Poseidon…its intimidating to think back…and recognize the amount of effort and time everyone put in. hats off guys…!

Evidently…my academic front has slackened a bit. So had a lot of catching up to do…which took a lot of energy. Assignments were not forgiving…and the next 2 nights after Poseidon were spent awake….!

It was only yesterday…after so so long…that I spent some relaxing time. This weekend shall be busy though…have classes on Saturday as well…

Which brings me to the topic I wanted to write about. Anurag Gupta (our risk management prof) faced a tragedy last Saturday. His ma expired…from a cardiac arrest. Naturally his Monday class was cancelled. However, he turned up for the Wednesday class. And in a state that cant be explained in words.

He started off telling us about the tragedy…and how it was totally unexpected. And then he said something that shoke me… “till about Saturday I didn’t know how it felt to loose your mother. And even though I knew of people who had…I could never feel what they felt. But today I do…and its not easy to come to terms with it. so if you can…in any which way…please pray for me…”

I was in tears. On one hand I was feeling disgusted with myself to actually expect him to teach us. Here I was acting as a spineless capitalist…trying to maximize my returns over my investment…and here was this guy who had lost his mother for god sake…and was attempting to teach. Was attempting to speak. He was holding his tears…I could see it…I could feel it…and it was the most horrible feeling ever…

I can’t possibly start to imagine what all he might be going through. It takes a lot of courage to do what he is doing. I personally can’t imagine life without ma. I shudder at the thought that one day I will realize that I will never get to see her. For me…I wish to lose my senses before it happens…so that I can escape the pain of going through it all.

And here he is…back on his duty…3 days after the tragedy. Trying to act normal…trying to put up a brave front…!

I am sorry Prof Gupta for making you go through this. And in awe of your courage…! Thank you…

~a

PS:
1. life and death…! R became an aunt yesterday. Her sister-in-law delivered a baby boy…!
2. sorry for turning the blog into an emotional spill…!