By Fouz Khalid KHAN (2011 MPP, Pakistan)

At first he was baffled. Over the noise of people drinking and being merry, he laughed aloud “Why me, man! Do you have nothing better to fill a page in the magazine?” He was only partly right. For if we had a mid-year contest of the most popular student and a certified “character” in KDI School, Dishnu Jagmohan would have won hands down.

He came to Korea on a Global Exchange Programme for the Spring Semester as part of his Masters in International Trade at the ISCID Business School, France. As happens in every multicultural setting, we all were a bit shy in immediately making friends; only after the initial hesitation would we open up to people from different backgrounds. But not so for this fun-loving guy. With his jovial persona combined with the fact that he only had a couple of months to go here, Dishnu stepped up his friendship drive and in no time had everyone liking him. Affable, jolly and ever ready to go out, Dishnu could be counted on for joining in a rain-drenched tour-de-Yoeido cycling or showing up for a boys night out party at 2 in the morning at a shady Ittaewon club.

His exuberance on the campus was amazing. He was ever ready to don his heavy black jacket and explore with his friends yet another part of Seoul. The fact that during all this he took 7 courses, cleared all of them, attended to all the group projects and kept up his spirits in the class room too speaks volumes of his boundless energy. We all celebrated the birthday of our Korean Language teacher, Mrs Lee, Sunja in class. But it was left for Dishnu to go out an hour before the final exam, have the group photograph printed, framed and presented to Professor Lee much to her surprised delight.

He chose Korea because he had never went out of Europe and wanted time to “…go around the world and fulfill myself.” He terms his whole experience at the KDI School as being enjoyable and rewarding. He was especially appreciative of the Professors from whom he sought to learn leadership skills. Dishnu is currently on an internship and has plans to do an MBA after he completes his Masters degree. Knowing him as we all do, who would have thought that this bubbly young party-animal would love to play chess and list mythology and antiquities among his favourite subjects.

He has left KDI School but not without a bang. We all put up a huge poster for him to take along, wishing him well and signing our names. And a large party was organized to bid him adieu. As he asked me that question once more, I simply pointed to the huge number of people who came to attend that happy and noisy party. On a week day. He smiled and went away to have his pictures taken this one last time. Dishnu may well have flown to Rotterdam but no one misses his quips and quotes because he is with his KDI School friends 24/7. On facebook.