Abhyudaya on Abhyudaya: Reflections beyond the year-end report

Throughout my time with Abhyudaya at SPJIMR, people often smiled at the coincidence of my name. Over time, this coincidence came to mean much more to me because, like my name, my Abhyudaya experience became deeply personal.

At the end of the programme, each mentor had to submit a Growing Together reflection on their journey with their Sitara. In my report, I focused on the parts that fit within its scope: the mentorship, the journey with my Sitara, and how it helped us reflect on our emotional quotient (EQ). While writing the report, I relived the defining moments of the entire journey, which made me note, “And I find it fitting that the biggest gifts which Abhyudaya is taking away from Abhyudaya are the ones that don’t quite fit in a report.”

That line captured a realisation that has stayed with me long after the mentorship journey ended. Whenever I think about Abhyudaya, I keep going back to Hastantaran.

It was the middle of August, and like most of us at that time, I was completely consumed by internship preparation. It had become the centre of everything. In hindsight, that feels unfortunate, even though it is such a normal part of MBA life. We were all stressed, tense, and constantly thinking about what came next. Most conversations began and ended with internships.

And then Hastantaran happened, and I met my mentee, Sitara. For those few hours, it felt as if the noise in our heads had finally softened. It was not just a fun event. It felt like we had briefly stepped out of that narrow, anxious tunnel we had created for ourselves. There was laughter, there was ease, and there was a kind of joy that felt completely unforced. The entire acad block felt lighter. I still remember telling a friend that it was the happiest I had felt in the previous two months, and I could not fully explain why.

Maybe it was nostalgia for our own childhoods. Maybe it was the games. Maybe it was the energy that the Sitaras brought with them. Maybe it was all of it together. But I realised that the exact reason did not matter as much as the feeling itself. What stayed with me was the reminder that the moments which make us deeply happy don’t necessarily need to be tied to achievement, progress, or some visible milestone. They are not always the moments we are trained to chase.

When I got my internship, I was, of course, happy. But that happiness was mixed with relief, with the feeling of having finally reached something I had been running toward for so long. Hastantaran felt different. It was lighter and fuller, and somehow more honest. It made me realise the difference between being relieved and being truly happy. That stayed with me.

I have started valuing those small, objective-less joys more consciously. Calling an old friend. Sitting with friends over a board game. Watching my favourite IPL team play. Small moments that do not ‘lead’ to anything but somehow leave me fuller. I have been trying not to lose those parts of myself while chasing the bigger things.

So yes, perhaps this sounds a little philosophical, and perhaps it does sit slightly outside the boundaries of what an Abhyudaya report is meant to capture. But maybe that is exactly why I wrote that line. Some of the biggest gifts Abhyudaya leaves us with are the ones that are difficult to put into a report. They stay somewhere deeper. And honestly, it felt good to finally put that into words.