First Day @ IIM-A

20 June

Here I am, finally! At the Mecca of management, at the best B-school in the country, the place where lakhs strive to get in every year and very few finally make it…..the hallowed portals of IIM-A.

The time had finally come when I had to move out of the house into a hostel. I had always wanted to experience the hostel life and have finally got the chance, and what a place to get it at! Let me first give a brief description of how the institute is organized.

The entire residential area at IIM-A is divided into dormitories. There are 27 dorms in all and each dorm contains about 30 rooms, with single occupancy in each. Three dorms are reserved for girls and the remaining are guys’ dens. A new campus has been under construction for quite some time now and contains 9 dorms, some class rooms, seminar rooms and few other things which are yet to be completed. The old and the new campus are located on two sides of the main road and are connected from inside the campus via an underground tunnel. The tunnel itself is a sight in itself and contains huge pictures of life, culture and history of IIM-A. The old campus is all open brick construction and the new one is all open concrete. I am no civil engg and hence can’t go into the details, but the crux is that there aren’t any plasters/distempers on any of the buildings and such a construction is very unique and extremely difficult to maintain. This construction is a rich heritage of IIM-A. I will post the link for few snaps of the campus shortly and will explain the other details of the campus in my further posts, as and when I explore the campus fully.

OK, now I reached the campus in the afternoon, and from that very instant, all I encountered at the institute was sheer professionalism. At the beginning itself, I never expected the security guard to be so cordial. He smilingly guided me to the SAC (Student Activities Committee) office in Dorm 4. After few formalities, I was given the room keys and the programmes officer himself addressed me personally and ensured that I do not face any problem. I was given a bag there itself that contained a telephone instrument and few other essentials that I would require in the room. Then a person accompanied me to the room and carried the luggage as well.

I have got a room in the new campus, dorm 23, room 30. The room is located on the second floor. The room is really good, with all basic facilities provided including a phone and a balcony. It indeed is very comfortable. Each dorm has a TV, washing machine, pantry and our dorm also has a TT table, though am not sure if I will get any time to use that. Initially, I thought that a room in the new campus is not that good as I would be a bit away from the buzzing life at the old campus, as everything apart from few dorms and classrooms is located in the old campus. The old campus symbolizes the actual traditional IIM-A and the new campus is till under construction. But I can’t help it as the rooms have been fixed for each student. Hope I get used to it soon. I met the seniors (henceforth referred to as tucchas, in IIM-A jargon) of my dorm and they have been extremely helpful, guiding me about the basic fundae of the life I am about to start here. What I have seen and been told here is that the dorm culture is very strong and your entire dorm becomes your family.

The actual registration of the course is day after tomorrow. Once all first year people (henceforth referred to as facchas, in IIM-A jargon) are here, then we will have dorm meetings in which our formal intro etc would take place. We have been given handbooks that describe the entire schedule of the next two years in detail and give other required info abt the institute that we need to know. The actual classes start from Monday.

I will be posting the events of the forthcoming days here as and when I get an opportunity to. The internet connections in our rooms have not been activated as yet and will be done in 4-5 days. Hence I will have to go to the (CC) Computer Centre to access the net. I don’t even know where the CC is. Will find that out tomorrow.

Its an awesome place and though I have not even completed 24 hours here till now, I can already foresee the great time I am going to have here. They say there is no life in first year. All u do is study as you have absolutely no time for anything else. So am already gearing myself up for that. Lets see whats in store as the days unfurl.

PS: I got the opportunity to watch the entire Eng-Sweeden match today in the dorm J Seniors said, dekh lo abhi TV, baad mein pata nahi kab mauka mile once classes start.
Its already 3:40 am…..a prelude to the night outs ahead in store I guess