Harbus

Issue date: 11/3/08 Section: Viewpoints

Mohinder Rajput with Section A mascot

I have had some terrific experiences both inside and outside the classroom during my first three months at HBS. A few months here has been enough to blow away all the myths that are associated with this great institution and the people who make it what it is. I really hope I don't wake up one day to discover that this amazing experience has all been a dream.

My first memories of childhood are those of growing up in a Steel Plant township. The ubiquitous bells and whistles along with the humming chorus of steel mills are the sounds I woke up to every morning. My schooling began in Chandigarh at St John's high School, a convent school run by Irish Catholic missionaries. Chandigarh was a great place to grow up. One of independent India's first planned cities, Chandigarh was clean, quiet, peaceful and, most importantly, not crowded.

If I remember correctly, in my entire ten-year tenure there, I was pretty average. Number one at nothing! Oh yes, it hurt. The only thing for which I was (hopefully) noticed was that I got along pretty well with almost all types of people - trouble makers, egoist spoiled brats, hefty bullies and academic geeks.

Dreaming about the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) occupied most of my time in grades eleven and twelve, but in the end, attending ITT remained a dream. Luckily, providence managed to make me the last guy to be admitted to the metallurgical engineering course at Punjab Engineering College (PEC) in Chandigarh.

Living up to my reputation, I wasn't a scholar at PEC either, but I soon discovered that public service, management and networking came naturally to me. So, in addition to being a student leader of the university, I served as an Indian Youth Ambassador to the Commonwealth for two years. Four years at PEC went by quickly, and soon the recruiters came knocking.

After college, I chose to take a job at an integrated steel company instead of IBM, and I landed in Toranagallu. If you look up Toranagallu in Google maps you probably won't find it. The sprawling 3,000 acre steel plant was located in practically the middle of nowhere, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The nearest cosmopolitan city, Bangalore, was 500 kilometers away. By chance, I mentioned to my HR General Manager that I had seen over 90 big and small steel factories in the last four years, and I landed in the CEO's office where, after a long interview, I was immediately appointed as Technical Aide to the grand old man himself. After a year in that position, the owner-chairman noticed my work and had me transferred to his office as his Aide in Mumbai. Initially, I had a tough time adjusting to my new boss and just couldn't manage to morph from my previous "slow and steady" mode of operating to the "hustler" mode that was newly demanded of me; however, I eventually found a middle path and was able to develop a great professional relationship with the chairman. After some time, I decided I wanted to see some front line action, so I left my job and moved to a smaller steel firm just before coming to HBS.

Continued...

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