MBA Blogs @ Manchester Business School

<Note – I had written this post soon after Brathay and had posted it on my personal Blog; however now that I have access to MBS Blogs, thought I’d post it here as well. Enjoy!!>

It’s been merely two months since I came to Manchester but it seems as though I have been here since forever. Maybe it’s just me and my ability to adapt quickly to a new place or if I was to be honest, I’d say it’s just the city – Manchester has certainly grown on me. After the hustle and bustle of New Delhi, living in Manchester is definitely a wonderful experience as it offers the joys of living in a small town while enjoying the vibrancy of city life.

Enough of raving about Manchester – it does fall short in comparison to the Lake District and I’m sure a lot many of my colleagues could vouch for that. That brings me to Brathay, which is clearly among the most memorable experiences of my life. I remember the moment as our bus pulled into the parking lot at Brathay and we stepped out only to be enthralled by the scenic beauty – lush green fields stretching right onto a lake adorned with swans. This divine place was to be our home for the next 3 days.

There was obviously a lot more to Brathay than the beauty alone. It actually played a pivotal role in transforming our rather fragmented class into a cohesive unit. The numerous photo albums that have flowed since our return are a testimony to the fun times that we shared and are a precursor to the several memories that we will create during the course of our MBA.

I returned from Brathay with a never to be forgotten memory, one when I was – “Naturally close to Nature.”

Instantly my thoughts take me to this extremely dark and wet night when I walked back from our team classroom to my nice and warm room after an exhausting strategy formulation session with the members of my group. Having tucked in a nice meal followed by a couple of pints, hitting the bed was the sole thought that came to my mind at that juncture. Obviously I was quick to change into nightclothes and head towards the bed. I can tell the story is getting monotonous and you’re most certainly about to move on (assuming you haven’t already).

Well, hold your horses for a bit, without any further ado, I shall introduce the twist to the seemingly nice and simple story. Just as I was heading to bed, I realized that I had run out of drinking water. That’s when I decided to step outside and quickly grab some water. I stepped outside the door only to realize that I left the key behind. The wretched self lock caused the door to snap behind me, leaving me marooned in a pair of rather skimpy shorts and a shoddy t-shirt.

Fortunately I was sharing the room with a colleague who hadn’t returned as of yet. I thought that it would be as simple as calling him up and asking him to let me in using his key. But alas, my mobile phone was also left inside as I stepped out of that door. Seemingly at a loss of options, I decided to shed my inhibitions about the rather inappropriate attire and venture out to the common room in an attempt to seek someone who could help. As luck would have it, virtually 30 percent of the class was sitting in the common room and I received a warm welcome partly because of my rather exclusive attire. Fortunately one of the guys had my roommate’s number and I heaved a sigh of relief. However, with luck definitely not by my side, the cellular network played spoilt sport and I couldn’t reach out to him.

While I received several generous offers from colleagues to share their rooms, I was inclined to go back to the warmth of my bed and therefore I decided to look for my roommate. I donned a raincoat (which had generously been left by someone) and rather foolishly headed out to look for him. I must add, it was freezing and the rain made it worse however my determination to find him took the better of me and I scaled virtually every inhabitable nook and corner of Brathay. Clearly I did not find him as I did miss out on that one place where he was busy strategising with the members of his group.

By now I was flustered and shivering with the sole option of waiting till he arrives. Fortunately, my neighbour was passing by and invited me in. I attached a note on the door for my roommate and piled on in the adjoining room. Approximately an hour later, my roommate returned and I finally got my much deserved sleep.

Though embarrassing for me, the incident was popular the following morning as quite a few people laughed at my expense over breakfast.

I leave you with three valuable pieces of advice

- Post your MBA, once you start minting money and decide to build a nice house/ apartment, please ensure you avoid using a self lock. Having had bad experiences at more than a couple of occasions, I can safely render this advice.

- Always maintain an up to date telephone directory/ contact list. You never know when someone might come in handy (though it didn’t work in this case, in normal circumstances it will definitely come to your rescue).

- Always wear decent night clothes! You never know when an emergency might pop up.