Why am I here?

I was talking to a friend from Keane (ex firm) and he said “You are having a tough time at Paris”. That night I thought about the statement. Became a little philosophical too and asked myself the question “Why am I here”. Why did I come here? I had never consciously thought about it. Was it the French Girls (Ajay’s reason ;) No. Was it the Chocolate based pastries in Patisserie here? No. Was it the French Language? May be. I like the courses here, but that is not the reason too.

Let me digress a little about the courses. The teachers here are very free about giving their opinion. They don't try to be politically correct. I have heard statements like “Indian government has rejected any foreign aid for tsunami to show that they are a great nation and take care of themselves”. “USA has become unilateralist.”. Actually I don’t remember, but I am sure there are better examples. That’s why microphones or recording devices are not allowed in most classes.

Coming back to “Why I am here?”. Finally I had the answer to why I am here and it has something to an experiment I told my mom sometime back.

A number of people were given darts and dart board and asked to play. Some people stood too close to the dartboard and hit the center almost every time and they got bored soon. Some people stood too far and missed most of the times and they got bored soon too. Now some people stood at a distance where it was difficult to hit the dart. So they had almost half hits and half misses. This is the group who was interested in the game for the longest duration.

Now what is the significance of this? Well I have always tried to challenge myself to keep me “Not bored”. That is why I love consulting and say that I am consultant at heart. I want a new challenging role every six months. In all my projects, I started thinking of getting out of the project (if I could) after six months as the work became too easy and boring. At Infosys, I asked to be moved out of my project after eight months. At E*Trade, I asked to get out of Project after six months. At CPS, six-month mark was when I started planning my next step. That is why I am here - to challenge myself. That is why I did my MBA - to reinvent myself. That is why I came to Chicago from Bay Area; I got bored of Bay Area. I had my friends and my life had become routine. I wanted out of the routine and came to Chicago - a place I didn’t know a single person.

Change is always difficult. It's correct that I had problems initially. My productive has dropped as I take longer to do things, but it is an experience for me. This is an experience that will surely enrich my life and reinvigorate me. These small problems that I will solve in due course will keep me interested in my life. Because of my problems with train system here, I guided a group of 10 exchange students back to campus in time.

Travelling Tip for Future GSB exchange students: The last train leaves Massy Plaiseau at 11:18 on weekends so you have to take at least 10:45 RER B trains from Paris.

When I talk about experience, I mean the people I meet on the street, I have made friend with some of them. The HEC students as well as the exchange students; the students from France, India, US, South Africa, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Korea, Japan, China, Swaziland, Vietnam, Argentina and a lot of other countries. I have and will form friendships with many of them. The experiences that I have had till now have been great and I expect more such in the next two months.