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Story of an Indian MBA Dreamer

Bored genius Balwant Padaki dreams of a career in distressed asset private equity and of roasting his friends' bums

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Balwant Padaki

It’s January 1996 and a math class is underway at St. Francis High School in Nasik, India. The math teacher’s gaze lands on a student at the back of the class who, oblivious to proceedings, is peering through the window to catch a glimpse of the cricket match being played on the school ground.

The teacher approaches the kid, who’s still lost in the game, and whispers in his ear: “What’s the score Balwant?”

“23 for two in five overs!” blurts Balwant, and then looks up to see his infuriated teacher standing next to him.

Balwant stands up - he’s used to the punishment routine - and leaves the room without being asked to. The class roars with laughter as he walks out to his favorite vantage point, a corridor spot where he can watch the cricket uninterrupted. “Amazing punishment this!” He smiles to himself.

He scrapes through school with mediocre grades.

Thirteen years later Balwant, now a man, is stuck in a particularly tedious meeting at the Mumbai IT firm where he works in the finance department.

He has a revelation: “I am not made for ongoing, continuous stuff. These are items for perfectionists: guys who take great pride in doing the same things again and again, but doing it better each time. It’s a different skill set”.

His cell phone beeps. It’s an SMS from his hot colleague, who’s sitting across from him at the table, agreeing to go out with him that evening.

“Whoa,” he thinks to himself, “Wait till the guys hear about this! It will roast their bums!” After a minute of gloating he returns to thoughts of professional fulfillment.

“I am a ‘Projects’ guy! I want new stuff, new tasks, with definite start and end points. I want to be able to get into a system, to study it, understand its intricacies, deliver a certain set of goals and move onto the next project, the next challenge!”

He loves the difficult, the impossible. Challenges bring out the best in him. Despite his mediocre school record, at college he took on three professional courses in finance and law just for fun. He cleared them with style, making the all-India rankings in each.

In his office he’s the “New Initiatives Man.” Any new areas, or areas that need major improvement, are handed to him.

Sitting in that meeting, bored out of his wits, Balwant experiences the revelation that he is made for a “Distressed Asset - Firm management Private Equity” career. Or maybe venture capital. Either way, he wants to work with new companies or companies that are getting their butts kicked. Companies that are underdogs like him.

Now he needed an answer to the question: “How do I get into Distressed Asset - Firm management Private Equity?”

He immediately emailed his Dad, his former boss, and some close friends. The most common response was: do a very good MBA. The MBA was perfect for a generalist like him. He would study a variety of subjects without having to perfect any one.

At the same time he’d get to specialize in Finance, and even in venture capital in developing economies, if he picked the right school.

He’d have access to a network of classmates and alumni, not to mention the prospect of meeting new girls and occupying the back row again.

He smiles. While he’s lost in his thoughts, someone at the meeting asks him a question: “Balwant, how do you think we should go about this? It seems like a structural problem, with interdisciplinary ramifications.”

“Let’s sponsor some of our guys to do MBAs!” Balwant retorts.

“Excellent thought” exclaims his colleague.

His latest crush smiles at him from across the table. Balwant gives her a see-how-good-I-am smirk and leaves the room, lost in thoughts of his MBA dream, the classroom, the back row and his evening date.

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Comments

21 October 2009

Someone please forward this article to his date!

Read: “I am a ‘Projects’ guy! I want new stuff, new tasks.... and move onto the next project, the next challenge!”