The Group Presentation

When artists’ see a stage, an unbridled passion to perform seeps through their body and without a second thought they run to grab the spotlight! Presentation for MBA students is somewhat like that, it’s an art. And our classroom is our theatre!

When I mentioned this thought to someone dear to me, they gave me a wider perspective about it. The whole activity is in fact like a theatre. You are right up there on centre stage, soaking in all the spotlight. All eyes on you. But in MBA, both the spotlight that blinds you and your critic are the same - your professor, with a gaze that pierces through your soul! Sometimes you freeze because of it, but, that validation from the professor is everything! And that’s what you and your group worked so hard for, right? Or wait, did they?

Have you ever felt like reaching inside your body and pulling your heart out? Have you ever had this urge to crush it with your bare hands? Have you felt that wallowing pain that made you scream louder than that annoying kid you meet on a local transport?

If not, you’re that person in a presentation group who just existed, and did nothing!

But if you ever felt that scorching pain, you have been an integral part of a ‘group’ presentation which you worked on, ALONE!

We all grew up watching the immortal TV series called Friends. Well, we watched it after turning 15 or so, and in a month’s time, but let’s pretend we grew up watching it. So we all had a certain image of how our group of friends would be - our GANG! A well-knit, rock-solid foundation based on trust. A bond so strong that you’d feel the world is jealous of your togetherness. You wouldn’t do anything without each other until death did you apart. (Or so you thought!)

In life, there comes a time when everything you believe in goes through a test. Your friendships are no exception. In your B-school, this test of time will rip apart your GANG in pieces. And this test is nothing but the Group Presentation!

You’ll be all excited when you get the opportunity to work with your own Gang for the presentation. More time to spend with them. More fun. Well, nope! All this, it is a scam. These Group Presentations are schemes created by God for his own entertainment. The drama it causes is way better than a YRF or a Dharma movie.

You’ll have your protagonist named Rahul. Rahul is a jack of all trades. Brilliant, plays sports and good with the ladies, but he miraculously falls ill when the deadline approaches. With every Rahul comes an Anjali, who’ll act like she does everything in the presentation. She’ll just pretend to be stressed out and keep pressing the panic button. This is the girl who inspired Kanan & Biswa to start Pretentious Movie Reviews... she’s so good at pretending. Then we have Tina! Well, she’s just there. She just has to show up and deliver the baby. Nobody expects anything from her.

“Kaun hai yeh jisne ne Poo ke ppt ko dobara mud ke nahi dekha?” You would think Poo is the best because she made a presentation all by herself, but no, her work will make you gouge your eyes out. You literally can’t take another look at her work. Rohan then walks in to clean the mess that is happening in the group. He will calm people down on WhatsApp groups. Add back the ones who left the group after a heated argument. Rohan is the glue that keeps the group together in these times. But, even he won’t work on that presentation. So who will work on the ppt? Enters, Raj Aryan.

Ek Ladka tha deewana sa

Ek ppt banane ke liye night maarta tha

Chori chori chupke chupke slideshare se woh download kar deta tha

Kuch kehna tha shayad usko sabse

Professor se woh darta tha

Jab bhi milta tha group meeting mein sabse yehi pucha karta tha,

‘ye part kiska hai? Ye part kiska hai?’

Parampara, Pratishtha, Anushasan. He fights for these three pillars of his Gang. Saving them from the humiliation in front of the whole class. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. (HP is life!) Life isn’t easy when you have to face your best friends & call them out for something. But that’s what MBA life is about, to manage people with compassion. And your B-school teaches you exactly that, letting you learn by managing your own friends.

At the end, when this turmoil passes. You realise one important thing. Your life is not really a YRF film, but it is directed by Sooraj Barjatya. Because through thick and thin, and through Group Presentations, your friends and you’ll know, whatever happens, Hum Saath Saath Hai!