Thursday, April 05, 2012

Day 1 @ IIMA!

Well, finally I am here @ IIMA Campus.. Its been quite a journey (Nope,
not the getting admission here part but the actual travel from Bangalore to
Ahmedabad…J travelled about 34 hours by train from Bangalore and what a
journey it was!). I cant remember when was the last time I took a long distance
train but in retrospect this seemed like a pretty good decision. It gave me all
the time in the world to read a book, ponder over things and wonder over how
Indians live/behave…I tell you, no place better than a train to have that
analysis done..:)

First impression of the city was actually pretty sober..:) Nothing
great or nothing spectacular (but what can I say? I travelled at 8AM and that
too for what looked like few kms)… It looked like any other city to me except
that its going to be my home for the next 1 year (atleast?!?)
After heavy negotiations with my porter and then with my Auto
driver I ended up in IIMA. Reaching the campus was kind of an overwhelming
feeling. The journey was indeed long, eventful, exciting with many twists and turns
(nope this time not the train journey, but the actual journey of getting
admitted here..:D). And I hope the future will be few notches above of what it
was before. There are so possibilities and so many opportunities (or so I presume!)
that right now I have no clue where I would be 1 year down the line.
At the reception, I got the keys to my dorm room. The room
unfortunately happens to be on the top most floor! As soon as I enter the room,
I could feel hot air blowing on my face and had to just run out to the safety
of the outside cool air. At 8 in the morning if the situation is going to be
like this, I can imagine how it would be the rest of the day. Also, imagine the
next three months when the peak summer hits Ahmedabad! The only solace was the
AC in the room but then I think I will have to start borrowing money from
friends and relatives to pay its bill…:)
Apart from the heat, today has been great so far - meeting my
batch mates and getting to know them. Quite a few of the people I met today are
already Entrepreneurs or are kind of stalwarts from different industries. So
the interaction has been great and it kind of makes me feel excited to be here,
to be part of this group and to hopefully survive together for the next year.:P
My registration eventually happened around 5:15 PM without much hassles.
After getting my internet setup I went for a jog and got lost in the main
campus. Couldn’t believe the faculty quarters was that huge or for that matter
had so many twists and turns..(maybe they have tried to simulate the life in this
campus :))
After a good dinner with some of newly formed friends we went on a
long walk again. Exploring the place took its times as we were more talking
than walking.:) Found the gym, sports complex and the jogging tracks. Most of
us showed interest but lets see how many actually find time for these things.
Because when it comes to sacrificing something to manage time, these are the activities
first in the list to be scratched..:)
Anyway for now some of us plan to run at 6:30 in the morning, lets
see how it goes..:)
There is an unofficial kick-off party on Saturday evening (day
after tomorrow) arranged by my enthusiastic batch mates, but the official one
is on Sunday evening (arranged by PGPX - was supposed to be on Monday but maybe
they thought why waste a day, so they pulled it to Sunday..:)). Looking
forward to both these events..
I am happy so far and I hope I remain so for the next year..
Cheers,
Dilip

PS: I thought my blog has been dead for the last few months and
would be so for the next year. Though there have been quite a few
trips/activities/events there has been not much time/mood to update the blog.
So thought was losing my interest in blogging. But after coming here I hope to
keep it alive throughout the coming year. Hopefully it will become a small
chronicle of my journey here. I am not sure how many posts (it will be more
like twitter updates I think) will actually come out of this resolution, but
then one never knows..:)