© Priya Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM Kozhikode. Views are personal.

This article narrates the story of my academic journey, and my admiration for my teachers at IIM Ahmedabad, and was first published in Writing on the Wall (Issue 5, May 2023, page 53), the annual students’ magazine of IIMA. The full magazine is available at IIM Ahmedabad’s LinkedIn post here.

Caution: The article contains an inordinate number of references to I, me, and my, and is best suited for fans of Priya Narayanan!

Late in the summer of 2009, I officially became a Wimwian by enrolling in the PGP and received the keys to my room in the “dungeon” of Dorm 3, where the sun hesitates to enter and a sweater is needed even at midday in the peak of winter. What followed was a hustle of classes in the gallery seating of b-school classrooms – for the first time ever in my life, I was not on the first bench! – and a life packed with activities and placements. Later, the place felt home enough to return for a second stint, this time for a doctoral degree in a topic that had become my favorite over the years, consumer psychology.