Student’s Corner

The student corner is an exclusive section of LSquare which brings to you the literary creation, pen-craft, creative content contributed by students.

The Other side

“Group 1, you are up!” the Professor called out.

I was in nervous anticipation. Over the past few nights, we had been working hard on our group presentation, and we were all quite pleased with our end product.

I took the liberty of not presenting and rather gave the “opportunity” to my teammates. On one side of the screen, I pinned the Professor and our presentation on the other. After all, we wanted to gauge how he felt about it.

At around the 5^th minute of our “moment of fame” I noticed the Professor had leaned back and was gently rocking the chair as he looked at our presentation. Now, this seemed to me too casual an attitude for evaluating our presentation. Having spent a few nights over the preparation, this instance pinched me. And, I soon realized I wasn’t the only one. Some of the other teams that presented after us, also shared the same grouse. We all expected that he should have focused his attention and watched us in an upright manner as we presented. After all, this was a basic courtesy that we expected considering all our effort.

Later in the day, once this anguish extinguished, I had a chance to reflect. Many of us felt such strong emotions of dis-respect just because the Professor was slightly rocking the chair while watching us present. But then, weren’t we all guilty of much more? Do we uphold the same standards in class when we are on the other side of the presenting screen?

During these online classes, many of us are guilty of not turning on our Zoom videos. Even with the videos on – people checking at their phones, acting distracted, and not participating actively are a common sight. Where a subject doesn’t have grades for Class Participation, the situation only gets grimmer.

To deal with this, you may experience frequent reminders by the faculty to turn on the videos or confirming if we can follow, but soon our inertia prevails.

Anyone having experienced it first-hand, any presenter can attest that coping with the absence of visual and verbal cues isn’t easy. Now think, what if this has to be endured not for a short 5-15 mins but over 15-30 hours?

The pandemic has obviously been tough on all of us. Just like how we are adjusting to this new form of learning, so are our Professors. However, irrespective of the medium, each class requires significant effort before & during the class.

Being at IIMB, we are fortunate to have amongst the best faculty globally teach us. And their contribution is pivotal in the current standing of the institution. However, to get the most from them, we also need to give in our best.

The next time you are in an online class, I urge you just to give it the attention you would have expected from your audience. Just place yourself on “the Other side”. And I assure you, both you and the faculty will find the session even more enriching.

– Abhinav Goswami, EPGP 2021
abhinav.goswami20@iimb.ac.in

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Red 

Every month, I lie for a day – exhausted, exasperated, in excruciating pain.

As my own body turns against me, pulling me from the inside into this inescapable bane.

“You don’t handle it well like the others”. “You’re exaggerating”. “It’s just in your head” – just some of the things they said.

A sign of fertility, validation of my womanhood, heralder of maturity, blessed curse, not my ‘chum’, this foe in red.

Red. From even the Fort in red, it was spoken of. Yet the cheap black plastic hiding its scandalous contents makes it all taboo.

Red. The contents, emerging only in emergencies, like the stubborn splash of red on white trousers, from bags carried to the loo.

Red. Ah, that company with the logo in red allowed for some respite, and off they shot remarks – the oblivious, lucky women and the men who never bled.

Red. The color of power & passion but reduced to shame. You are forbidden to see these few days, the same colour that adorns the temple deity’s forehead. 

Period.

– Amrutha Girish, Mahatma Gandhi National Fellow
amrutha.girish20@iimb.ac.in

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If Shakespeare was an economist

Shall I compare thee to monopoly?

Thou art more elastic and more dead weight.

Estimating demand curves sloppily,

Where marginal revenues, costs equate

Sometimes over valued is the HHI

And perfect competition is unfound;

Anti-trust laws the firms do not comply,

Non-market intervention must abound;

So that a social planner can ensure

That consumer surplus is not destroyed.

Nor do firms to moral bankruptcy lure

Nor do workers line with the unemployed

    So long as the wealth of nations exists,

    So long lives this, and transaction persists

– Jyotesh Singh, PGP 2022
jyotesh.singh20@iimb.ac.in

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The Boundaries of My Room

Confined within the boundaries of my room,

I began my exciting IIMB journey by zoom.

Holding the head of expectations high,

Wore my business formals with a tie.

Amidst the stone walls which otherwise would have been,

Is only being made possible within the laptop screens.

Sad reality of virtual meetings is terribly striking,

Hope the distance suffices for the world to keep healing.

The iconic campus, beautiful classrooms, lush green surroundings,

Are all that breezes through flickering my mind’s wings.

Painting its image in my mindscape since a month,

I have lived it a million times in just my imagination.

– Shraya Biswas, PGP 2022
shraya.biswas20@iimb.ac.in

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