Class Participation

I saw her... she was pretty... Suddenly, this place was not that bad..
The PGP office allots every student a particular seat in the classroom. The seat will have your name on it even before you attend your first class. This is the seat/place that you will adhere to for the rest of the year... Basically, you can't sit as you wish , or where you wish... You are confined to your seat for the next 10 months...
If you ask me why, for most hours of the day, I will say - cos it helps the Teaching/Academic Associates to assign grades.... However, for a few hours everyday, I believe that all this is an evil trick to prove that at IIMs, we do things so differently, that it becomes a different things altogether!!!... In my case...a bloody joke !!!

Anyways.. she was pretty..and she was going to sit next to me... Suddenly, I thought there was hope after all in this world ..
On the first day, we didn't talk much.. in fact we didn't talk at all...
Second day, I tried to overcome my emotions.. but nope.. still no talk...
Third day.. I really tried my best to talk to her ...I mean, I really focused on my controlling my emotions... but all in vain...
On the fourth day... I gave up...
You know why ? ... Cos the Girl just wouldn't stop talking in class!!!...
Welcome to the world of Class Participation... CP as it is fondly called..
CP is a concept that once upon a time, formed the cornerstone of Case Based study approach..
Today, it is basically the 10 % weightage that is given to students while evaluating a students performance...Do note, not all subjects give weightage to CP... Only a few subjects where the prof is a someone you don't want to mess with... or the when the subject is something you don't want to bother with .... often its both...
So, back to our heroine... This otherwise specimen, would just not understand that CP was limited to 10 % at the max!!.. and not all subjects needed a CP!!!... But noooo...she would just not stop... She would "like to add on the point made", or she would like to bring "another perspective that might have been overlooked" or she "believes that the class could concentrate another aspect of the case". She is consistent in the superfluous content of her CP, she is dedicated to the concept of CP all kinds - so you will have senseless,arbitrary, eccentric, global - all types of CPs coming out of her mouth and lastly - she is loyal to all subjects..So,even if the subject does not have CP marks, she will still be ready with her CP....
and I think " OH... MY.... LORD !!.... Heeeellllppppppp"


Now, most of you who know me- also know two facts about me
a) I usually finish my backlog of sleep IN CLASS...
b) I really like and I really mean it - I like talking to people...
Ever since, my existence has been the host to this unique organism...
a) I CANNOT SLEEP... cos the Prof is always looking here...
b) I CANNOT TALK to her or anybody for that matter....

90 places in the whole class.. and I get one of the two seats Bang next to her !!!... what are the odds??

This is my first painful lesson in Positioning... For no fault of mine, I will have to suffer the pains of someone else' sins.... Why is it a sin ? .. Well, participating in the class with a comment or two is one thing... but competing with the Prof for getting in more words - well, that plain criminal!!!...

The optimistic lining of positioning is I getting stuck in a lift with Warren Buffet for 45 minutes...
The other extreme is I getting stuck in same lift for 15 minutes with the girl I have just written about...

In the end, I believe that CP is the most effective weapon to destroy all people sitting besides you . As you stand there beaming that toothy smile of yours and others around you die. They die becuase of the exasperation since you started a discussion on elasticities of information 24 seconds before class is supposed to end !!!!....

Death to all CP makers...