Back to pavilion after hitting it out of the park during my internship at Reliance Infrastructure -By Palash Surana from IIM Indore-Mumbai Campus

After the two months of internship, when it was time to return to college I felt like I was returning back to Pavillion after scoring a century. Like Rohit Sharma, who scored 5 centuries in the World Cup! My internship at Reliance Infrastructure was extremely rewarding and fulfilling.

A batsman never rests! 

In swinging yorker like deliveries were waiting for me back at college. Things like PPO (Pre-placement offers buzz), placement preparation anxiety and tasty(not) mess food off course. Here I was thinking that after my internship at Reliance Infrastructure, I would return to the pavilion to rest. But boy was I wrong! A wrong as a human can ever be.

My special bench at the Pavilion

To be honest returning to my own den, my own territory, my own college was an awesome feeling. Amidst the excitement and the sense of familiarity, the feeling that this is all there just for a few months kept tugging at the strings of my heart. March 2020 and I will bid goodbye to all of this. My pitch, practice ground, locker room, shower, pavilion, and not to forget the goofballs that are my batchmates. Last and not least are our coaches aka the professors! How can I forget them.

Consistent run rate and along came a bouncer delivery!

Reality hit hard when I realized that the burden of assignments, submissions, meetings, competitions is what the next overs are going to present. It was akin to Jasprit Bumrah is staring me in the eye and ready to pitch his infamous in-swinging yorker! And this point I was missing my internship at Reliance Infrastructure. The schedule was relaxed. I was able to get the recommended 8 hours of sleep in a day.

Sadly I also realized that my reading speed of case study articles has reduced (due to the gap of two months) and my body was now accustomed to 9 am- 6 pm job! My mind during these two months was rewired to think "Target Achievement" instead of assignment submission and theory focusing. Not to mention, my taste buds got used to the delicious office food. Every great sportsman needs to take care of their mind, body and soul. At this stage of my MBA I felt out of place. A huge shift in the environment made me feel lost in my home away from home aka my pavilion!

It takes time to get used to the pitch 

I was caught sleeping in class, not reading full cases became very common for me during the initial days of college and it took me some time to realize the fact that my internship was over and now the most important event of any B-School is right around the corner i.e. placement season.

A reality check came in the form of my teachers asking me to pull up my socks! This made me realise the key difference between the relaxed days of Internship and the hectic one at a B-School. It is only at B-School people will notice that you have fallen off the wagon and will guide you. They will help you get back on. The beauty of my B-School is that professors will help you. All one has to do is ask! I won't deny it took me a little bit of time to get back on track and to handle the pressure of it all. Though It required a lot of determination.

Celebration after the big Win!

Everyone in the college was sharing their internship experiences so it was like getting to know about the real working culture of the various corporate industries. The noticeable difference was that all my peers started to think, analyze and observe things differently. We all were behaving like professionals! Everyone seemed to be enthusiastic about repeating their internship success in the final placements.

This article was submitted as an entry to Become an Author with Dare2Compete.