You don’t disturb me and I will not disturb you

• You are about to start your post-grad course
• You get told that the first class is at 8 am
• You are in a hurry to correct people’s perception – you thought you spent last 12 months learning other skills and they think you wasted precious time
• So you go reach the college at 7.50 am to attend the first calls of MBA
• Someone directs you to sit in a room, you figure out that the room you are directed to belongs to ‘psychology’ department
• You wonder, you don’t dare to ask, you go and sit there
• You find no one
• Slowly, by about 8.20 am, class gets filled – with all of 12 of people
• You don’t talk to anyone but talk quite a lot within – is that all? 12 people. Where did I come? Let me wait? I wish I had put in better effort for the entrance exams of other colleges
• Then someone comes to you, says Hi and start talking. You say Hi and keep silent.
• Slowly people talk to each other – some to make a statement, some to show they have social skills and some genuinely interesting in making their name known very first day
• Most, anyway, either are talking to or wanting to talk to women folk – all of 2 people
• 8.50 am – in walks a tall guy
• Easy to guess that he is a lecturer
• At last, you tell yourself and you think now is the time to make a statement
• He wouldn’t let anyone else make any statement, he opens his mouth
• ‘I am your psychology lecturer and I am so-and-so’ (now I figure out why we were made to sit in ‘psychology’ dept). ‘In Psychology there are only 10 questions and you need to answer only 5 in a exam. So NO need for daily classes. I will tell you all 10 questions and give you notes for all of them. You go figure out which of the 5 you want to answer in the exam’ (He actually said all of this in Telugu, I translated)
• At this point, one of those enthu-cutlets in the class stands-up and asks ‘can you refer us some good books to read?’
• This lecturer gets really angry and says ‘I have already told you there are only 10 questions and I will give you notes for all the 10.’ And goes on to add his final punch ‘You don’t disturb me and I will not disturb you’
• 9.00 am (scheduled end time) class ends, psychology course of 1st year completed.
• We still used to meet this lecturer daily – more for a tea, snacks, some crooked jokes and an occasional cigarette.

Now, that was my first MBA class experience.