CP

Before I landed up in this well known management institute in Western India, CP for me was a place in New Delhi where Ruskin Bond had spent a part of his childhood. For everyone visiting, passing by or staying in Delhi, CP a.k.a Connaught Place was the place to visit.
But a first look at the evaluation pattern in my first term of MBA, threw up completely new propositions. CP here stands for Class Participation and it effectively means “Don’t you dare to come unprepared for what is supposed to be taught in class”. From the folklores which are passed on to every new batch, it was discerned that CP is used as a tool by the professors to promote effective discussions over a topic or an issue. But considering that there are no free lunches in this world, it was probably assumed by the teachers that no one comes prepared for the class unless, there are some rewards attached to the preparations. And so barring a few courses, every course in every term has a certain weight age attached to CP, the value of which varies from 5-15% of the total evaluation.
For many of my classmates, CP is not only participating in the discussions, but also putting “thoughtful” questions to the teacher. In fact many a times, the participation actually takes a back seat. And therefore we have a first bencher waking up from a peaceful sleep (air conditioned class rooms do provide a perfect ambience), requesting the teacher to take him to the previous slide of the power point presentation and asking him a “thought provoking question”, leaving even the teacher stumped. The question answered, he goes off to sleep again, satisfied at his “victory “. (The question will probably fetch a healthy B+). The menacing face of CP is visible during the case discussions when all our animal instincts come to the fore. Imagine a section of 35 students shouting at the top of their voices to put a point across. Sounds like a market? That is precisely what the class room becomes then.
CP has also assumed some synonyms. For many, the “C” in CP stands for “Chamber” That is they don’t consider lesser mortals like me worthy enough to be privy to the thoughts which cross their minds. So they prefer discussing the nitty gritties with the teachers in the cool climes of their chambers in an intellectual environment. There is also a CP man in every batch without whose “valuable inputs” the discussions are never over.
There is also a variant of CP. OCP, outside class participation. This can be defined as something close to chamber participation, but the difference lies in the climate. It is held in the lounge of the class room complex with both the teacher and the student sweating and panting. Another difference lies in the fact that unlike, Chamber Participation it is not a one to one between the teacher and the student and many lesser mortals (no, not me) surround the two just to watch with blank faces and nod their heads at every word the teacher says. This is the method which is preferred by the students, who used to belong to the club of lesser mortals once upon a time, till lady luck chose to smile on them. They have not forgotten their modest beginnings and do give a benefit of doubt to other lesser mortals.
Hey its 11 P.M. See, how time flies? I have to get down to studying now, for tomorrow's lectures. One of the courses has a weight age of 15% for CP.