I am missing college a lot! As I stand on the doorway of the big bad corporate world (for the second time) remembering about the experiences of possibly the last college life, here are the memories that make me the most nostalgic about JBIMS, its people, and doing an MMS there.
The red building:
The Audi -
It won't be an exaggeration when I say that every one of my classmate has experienced all emotions right here in this hall.
From the agony of the announcement of a new assignment, to the ecstasy of the knowledge that we can leave earlier than anticipated due to an unforeseen circumstance.
From the pain of having to remain awake even after getting only 2 hours of daily sleep for a few weeks during induction; while simultaneously trying to make the head from the tail of the dozens of facts being thrown at us relentlessly; to the enlightenment of understanding a concept in the first go.
From the tense anticipation of a result, whether it is the semester exams or the 2 recruitments that are concerned, to the relief of having cleared the hurdle when the announcement is made in here, whether in the first go or after a few trials.
From the politics being played out live in front of the red chairs, to the trust found in the person sitting next to you who is either playing a kiddish game on a paper with you or complaining or praising (both in a hushed voice of course) the same thing as you.
It has been a venue for all the three Ps of MBA (courtesy Arbit mba):
Presentations, Parties and Placements.
And after the summer of 2009, even after it lost its status as the only room in the building capable of providing 120+ people simultaneous relief from the heat, it will remain in the annals of JBIMS history forever. Some will remember it for the cold blast of the ac in the first row and the struggling cushions and screws, while others will remember it for the "disco" lighting, and there will be a set that will remember it for the short movies we saw during lectures. Thank you, batch of 2001 for this wonderful gift.
15 and 21 -
Thanks to the coordinated efforts of 1983 & 1984 Alumni and administration, we were gifted these two monumental additions to the infrastructure. These swanky AC rooms full of modern lighting and furnishings are favourites of Professors and guest lecturers. These rooms just took off the pressure from Audi on hot summer afternoons. The rights to book these rooms on a Sunday will be fought over by the full time and part time students for years to come.
The Gate -
It has seen it all, the candid group photo sessions, the organised reporter interviews, the fervent wait, the tomfoolery of the "adult" students. It has hosted many events. It also prides itself as the starting point of various treats. So is it a surprise that it features prominently on photos associated with JBIMS everywhere?
The Tub -
Everyone who has been a part of the Bajaj family has accepted the Tub as a part of his/her legacy. It is like an ancient relic that is inherited from the generations above you. You adore it, you clean it and decorate it on special occasions (Prayaag/Placements), but you don't have a clue in hell about its original purpose.
During Nostalgia 2009, our hosts asked the alumni from previous batches as to what is the Tub for, and no one could offer a satisfactory and complete answer. Its significance seems to be lost in transition, among the older generations in the passing of time.
But it still holds its place in our hearts, appearing frequently in the various photos uploaded on Facebook.
It is not the perfections but the imperfections in life that form the most intimate memories and give the most fond experiences. The next time I am shivering from the cold ac on a winter day or after getting drenched in the rain inside a perfect swanky corporate building and I just want to take a break from sitting on my PC or attending meetings the whole day by sitting on the staircase or going to the hot verandahs or the canteen, I will miss college.
Canteen:
Vada Pav -
Our respected professor works a hard day at his office and still comes to teach us after 6:30 pm on a weekday. After much coaxing and whining from the students, he gives us a break at 8:05 pm. At this time there is no other venue open nearby that would kill the hunger beast. So 50 eager mouths rush together into the canteen to get some Tea and Vada Pav. No guarantees that the Vada Pav will be hot though, even if the CR of the class has told Shiva beforehand about the possible break timing.
Friendly Whispers -
The plastic tables and chairs that seem like they were once white in colour, that have witnessed every facet of the students' personalities; from furious finishing of assignment PPTs, freshers being instructed to keep secrets from "second year faculty" and "corporates from the nearby bank who visit our canteen" for reasons they don't quite understand even now, to the jokes, stories, updates and the behind the back politics and the "brainstorming sessions" strategising the next "event" and "elections".
Khau Galli -
The chat wala who used to give "hajmola" (a mixture of puffed rice, sev and potatoes) complimentary with every bhel. The idli wala who gave an ever-changing coloured Sambar. And the juice wala with his coloured cocktails (only the brave wandered to that territory). Many a lecture breaks have seen us thronging there.
The menu on the wall -
Those out-of-this-world spellings of the dishes. Sample a few masterpieces before they repaint them, or worse, a new caterer takes over. Chiness Bhel, Szewan rice, Veg Franky.
Whenever I visit MacD/CCD or a friendly neighbourhood restaurant, and I see those swanky glow signs with their artistic food photography and their perfect spellings, I miss my canteen.
Lectures:
Professors -
A big thanks to all the Professors who took so much of their time and made the biggest sacrifices in life to teach us. It can only be moving when someone of such stature leaves the comfort of his house and dedicates so much of his time with us instead of his family.
We have seen them all, rigid, flexible, practical, emotional, sensitive, eccentric. We have given them enough troubles and faced enough episodes of our own.
Duration -
It is possible that only Mumbai University has 3 hour lectures. Some are considerate enough to allow a short break after 90 minutes to let our grasping remain alive, while others go on relentlessly. At some point of time we all have tried to record lectures, but hardly ever played them back.
Roll Call -
Whenever I will hear anyone speak "sixty", I will miss college!
Sports:
Promises Promises -
Like Bipasha says in the advert, "hum sab fitness ke baare me sochte bahut hain, par karte kuchh nahi". And just like that, hum JBites sports ke baare me sochte bahut hain....
Many a times we pass Oval maidaan after a lecture, on a lazy Sunday afternoon or another morning when school and college kids are busy playing cricket and football, we contemplate and make plans of playing "the next time we are here". Some of us do play on a handful of days, but a good participation is limited to a week before the annual NITIE fest (separate mention in next section).
When it comes to forming teams, we use only the most rigorous analysis and perfected processes such as the following:
X-"Mujhe bowling aati hai, maine college me mast bowling daali hai". Captain-"Ok, 2nd over too daal".
NITIE -
Blessed are our b-rivals of the far suburbs, for they have a residential campus hosting acres of lush green grounds and arenas. (Of course we are blessed with the location of our college). They hold an annual sports festival that also serves the purpose of being the only occasion, apart from the almost daily rush to clamber on local trains, where we JBites get to use our muscles. Ok ok, due credit to a few hostelites who get to play TT throughout the year, and to a few other junkies.
The event coincides with the exams of the second year-ites, but even then the enthu make it. But whatever be the case, even after 2 years of being together we barely know the strengths of a particular person in a particular area of the sport.
And although the chances of it happening are far and few, I will miss college when the corp I work for hosts an inter-department cricket tournament.
The league -
As with most walks in life, we have some similar interests and different tastes within those. With football following in JBIMS, just like in India, the niche is limited to English Premier League, in particular, to the traditional "Top 4". So the usually peaceful following of the routine is occasionally disturbed whenever there is an "Arsenal vs Manchester United" or a "Liverpool vs Chelsea" weekend. Apart from the verbal banter we also get to see some bright displays of loyalty in those who choose to wear club t shirts on some days.
I will miss college, when instead of the red t-shirt proclaiming "Fly Emirates", I will have to wear the same old formals on the Monday that follows a historic Arsenal victory on Sunday night.
Red Tapism:
The accounts section -
They have processes straight out of a central Govt office from the socialist era, whether it is the yearly admission process or a simple procedure to get a refund of your library's "caution money". They have their own version of Lay's original tag-line of "No one can eat just one". It is "No one can visit just once". After visiting them thrice in the space of 1 month in order to get my 1000 rs cheque, I am informed happily that "bade saab" is on leave and I won't get the cheque till he signs it. And when I ask them if I can call a number, they inform even more happily that the board of phones is out of order for the last 4 months.
For any other automated requests or bank transactions in my life when I get an sms within seconds of the electronic transfer, I will miss all the furious form filling activities of office.
People:
Friends -
They were our partners in crime, our confidantes, our company for the 2 year long journey. We did everything together, well almost. We spent night outs on the pretext of exams, projects, Strategym, or simply to watch a movie or play cards and ended up talking the whole night. We travelled in the train together and bored other people with loud high context talks.
We pulled their legs, teased them with the idea of a member of the opposite sex, shared secrets, went to lunch, danced to bollywood songs at parties and made trips in those groups. Now as many of us are thrown into a different city and are coping with the setup, we are sorely missing our friends.
Words will not do justice to the feeling of the missing bond that my classmates are already experiencing.
The stalwarts -
The professors, guest lecturers and corporate honchos who are rich, both in experience and otherwise. The storehouses of knowledge, the powerhouses of achievement, the people we all look up to.
While it is only expected that the corporate world will not be short of such stalwarts, I can be sure that I will never have an opportunity to learn directly from so many of people of quality in such a short space of time.
The Talented -
One only needs to look around the other 119 in a different way to restore his/her faith in humanity. You will find a host of blessed individuals who don't get many chances to showcase their talents. Some are singers, some musicians, some dancers, others are painters & photographers, many are writers and mimics. Perhaps there is a need for an annual cultural festival in the free part of the academic year to unearth this treasure of hidden creativity.
There is a whole segment of talent of a different kind as well. We have a few who have expertise in deriving fun from things as seemingly harmless as personal habits and figures of speeches of people from both the above categories. Then we have the often "considered shady" but sometimes useful "of a different kind" skill of anonymous hacking.
I already miss the rapport and the chemistry that I shared with you.
The "takeaways":
Career -
A boost to it. A change to it. After all that's what we all came here for.
The dawning -
We all realised at some point in MMS that it is entirely different from the picture that we painted before getting in. Things aren't always as they appear, even if lakhs of people can testify to seeing the same thing. Only after you go through the process does the truth become clear.
The parties and trips -
Countless stories and memories abound these trips and parties.
Partner -
Room partners, project partners, some even found life partners (hey they were inspired by some of our teachers no less).
GAS -
Also known as "Globe" in other B schools. There are two popular full forms of it in Mumbai.
Garbage Analysis System (used by our Western Suburb rivals' school), and
Generally Accepted Statements
Any statement made by anyone, that doesn't have any data/fact/emperical study/analysis/research is deemed GAS by the listener. Few question papers are known to have the ability to generate enough GAS to pollute the entire south Mumbai on exam days.
PPX -
The abbreviation PPT never held a more important place in our lives earlier.
One leads to "lack of questions" or questions in the line of "sir can you tell a little more about the profile?". The other leads to labeling people as "NPAs". No there is no one who is not an NPA. It is all relative, i.e., for one person the other is an NPA and vice versa.
PPI and PPO
People work hard all summer to get these magical 3 letters on their CVs. Some by their hardwork, others by luck, the rest by sheer bad luck. The latter, also fondly called "Pappu", is like an Olympics high jump bar. Once you get over it, you can't go "lower".
The inspiration -
The wise words that first greeted us when we began our journey in this red building were "The Mercurial Energy of the mind with its ceaseless capacity of cyclic Creation, Sustenance, Dissolution... Always New, Always Different, Always Explosive, Always Amazing." How inspiring. Portraying the potential inside each one of us in such a simple way.
As we continue the journey of life, and our brain makes way for new learnings, we will eventually forget almost everything that we learnt here, but the inspiration that we got from our guides, friends, the surroundings and the situations will surely continue keeping our flame alive for the rest of our lives.
The red building:
The Audi -
It won't be an exaggeration when I say that every one of my classmate has experienced all emotions right here in this hall.
From the agony of the announcement of a new assignment, to the ecstasy of the knowledge that we can leave earlier than anticipated due to an unforeseen circumstance.
From the pain of having to remain awake even after getting only 2 hours of daily sleep for a few weeks during induction; while simultaneously trying to make the head from the tail of the dozens of facts being thrown at us relentlessly; to the enlightenment of understanding a concept in the first go.
From the tense anticipation of a result, whether it is the semester exams or the 2 recruitments that are concerned, to the relief of having cleared the hurdle when the announcement is made in here, whether in the first go or after a few trials.
From the politics being played out live in front of the red chairs, to the trust found in the person sitting next to you who is either playing a kiddish game on a paper with you or complaining or praising (both in a hushed voice of course) the same thing as you.
It has been a venue for all the three Ps of MBA (courtesy Arbit mba):
Presentations, Parties and Placements.
And after the summer of 2009, even after it lost its status as the only room in the building capable of providing 120+ people simultaneous relief from the heat, it will remain in the annals of JBIMS history forever. Some will remember it for the cold blast of the ac in the first row and the struggling cushions and screws, while others will remember it for the "disco" lighting, and there will be a set that will remember it for the short movies we saw during lectures. Thank you, batch of 2001 for this wonderful gift.
15 and 21 -
Thanks to the coordinated efforts of 1983 & 1984 Alumni and administration, we were gifted these two monumental additions to the infrastructure. These swanky AC rooms full of modern lighting and furnishings are favourites of Professors and guest lecturers. These rooms just took off the pressure from Audi on hot summer afternoons. The rights to book these rooms on a Sunday will be fought over by the full time and part time students for years to come.
The Gate -
It has seen it all, the candid group photo sessions, the organised reporter interviews, the fervent wait, the tomfoolery of the "adult" students. It has hosted many events. It also prides itself as the starting point of various treats. So is it a surprise that it features prominently on photos associated with JBIMS everywhere?
The Tub -
Everyone who has been a part of the Bajaj family has accepted the Tub as a part of his/her legacy. It is like an ancient relic that is inherited from the generations above you. You adore it, you clean it and decorate it on special occasions (Prayaag/Placements), but you don't have a clue in hell about its original purpose.
During Nostalgia 2009, our hosts asked the alumni from previous batches as to what is the Tub for, and no one could offer a satisfactory and complete answer. Its significance seems to be lost in transition, among the older generations in the passing of time.
But it still holds its place in our hearts, appearing frequently in the various photos uploaded on Facebook.
It is not the perfections but the imperfections in life that form the most intimate memories and give the most fond experiences. The next time I am shivering from the cold ac on a winter day or after getting drenched in the rain inside a perfect swanky corporate building and I just want to take a break from sitting on my PC or attending meetings the whole day by sitting on the staircase or going to the hot verandahs or the canteen, I will miss college.
Canteen:
Vada Pav -
Our respected professor works a hard day at his office and still comes to teach us after 6:30 pm on a weekday. After much coaxing and whining from the students, he gives us a break at 8:05 pm. At this time there is no other venue open nearby that would kill the hunger beast. So 50 eager mouths rush together into the canteen to get some Tea and Vada Pav. No guarantees that the Vada Pav will be hot though, even if the CR of the class has told Shiva beforehand about the possible break timing.
Friendly Whispers -
The plastic tables and chairs that seem like they were once white in colour, that have witnessed every facet of the students' personalities; from furious finishing of assignment PPTs, freshers being instructed to keep secrets from "second year faculty" and "corporates from the nearby bank who visit our canteen" for reasons they don't quite understand even now, to the jokes, stories, updates and the behind the back politics and the "brainstorming sessions" strategising the next "event" and "elections".
Khau Galli -
The chat wala who used to give "hajmola" (a mixture of puffed rice, sev and potatoes) complimentary with every bhel. The idli wala who gave an ever-changing coloured Sambar. And the juice wala with his coloured cocktails (only the brave wandered to that territory). Many a lecture breaks have seen us thronging there.
The menu on the wall -
Those out-of-this-world spellings of the dishes. Sample a few masterpieces before they repaint them, or worse, a new caterer takes over. Chiness Bhel, Szewan rice, Veg Franky.
Whenever I visit MacD/CCD or a friendly neighbourhood restaurant, and I see those swanky glow signs with their artistic food photography and their perfect spellings, I miss my canteen.
Lectures:
Professors -
A big thanks to all the Professors who took so much of their time and made the biggest sacrifices in life to teach us. It can only be moving when someone of such stature leaves the comfort of his house and dedicates so much of his time with us instead of his family.
We have seen them all, rigid, flexible, practical, emotional, sensitive, eccentric. We have given them enough troubles and faced enough episodes of our own.
Duration -
It is possible that only Mumbai University has 3 hour lectures. Some are considerate enough to allow a short break after 90 minutes to let our grasping remain alive, while others go on relentlessly. At some point of time we all have tried to record lectures, but hardly ever played them back.
Roll Call -
Whenever I will hear anyone speak "sixty", I will miss college!
Sports:
Promises Promises -
Like Bipasha says in the advert, "hum sab fitness ke baare me sochte bahut hain, par karte kuchh nahi". And just like that, hum JBites sports ke baare me sochte bahut hain....
Many a times we pass Oval maidaan after a lecture, on a lazy Sunday afternoon or another morning when school and college kids are busy playing cricket and football, we contemplate and make plans of playing "the next time we are here". Some of us do play on a handful of days, but a good participation is limited to a week before the annual NITIE fest (separate mention in next section).
When it comes to forming teams, we use only the most rigorous analysis and perfected processes such as the following:
X-"Mujhe bowling aati hai, maine college me mast bowling daali hai". Captain-"Ok, 2nd over too daal".
NITIE -
Blessed are our b-rivals of the far suburbs, for they have a residential campus hosting acres of lush green grounds and arenas. (Of course we are blessed with the location of our college). They hold an annual sports festival that also serves the purpose of being the only occasion, apart from the almost daily rush to clamber on local trains, where we JBites get to use our muscles. Ok ok, due credit to a few hostelites who get to play TT throughout the year, and to a few other junkies.
The event coincides with the exams of the second year-ites, but even then the enthu make it. But whatever be the case, even after 2 years of being together we barely know the strengths of a particular person in a particular area of the sport.
And although the chances of it happening are far and few, I will miss college when the corp I work for hosts an inter-department cricket tournament.
The league -
As with most walks in life, we have some similar interests and different tastes within those. With football following in JBIMS, just like in India, the niche is limited to English Premier League, in particular, to the traditional "Top 4". So the usually peaceful following of the routine is occasionally disturbed whenever there is an "Arsenal vs Manchester United" or a "Liverpool vs Chelsea" weekend. Apart from the verbal banter we also get to see some bright displays of loyalty in those who choose to wear club t shirts on some days.
I will miss college, when instead of the red t-shirt proclaiming "Fly Emirates", I will have to wear the same old formals on the Monday that follows a historic Arsenal victory on Sunday night.
Red Tapism:
The accounts section -
They have processes straight out of a central Govt office from the socialist era, whether it is the yearly admission process or a simple procedure to get a refund of your library's "caution money". They have their own version of Lay's original tag-line of "No one can eat just one". It is "No one can visit just once". After visiting them thrice in the space of 1 month in order to get my 1000 rs cheque, I am informed happily that "bade saab" is on leave and I won't get the cheque till he signs it. And when I ask them if I can call a number, they inform even more happily that the board of phones is out of order for the last 4 months.
For any other automated requests or bank transactions in my life when I get an sms within seconds of the electronic transfer, I will miss all the furious form filling activities of office.
People:
Friends -
They were our partners in crime, our confidantes, our company for the 2 year long journey. We did everything together, well almost. We spent night outs on the pretext of exams, projects, Strategym, or simply to watch a movie or play cards and ended up talking the whole night. We travelled in the train together and bored other people with loud high context talks.
We pulled their legs, teased them with the idea of a member of the opposite sex, shared secrets, went to lunch, danced to bollywood songs at parties and made trips in those groups. Now as many of us are thrown into a different city and are coping with the setup, we are sorely missing our friends.
Words will not do justice to the feeling of the missing bond that my classmates are already experiencing.
The stalwarts -
The professors, guest lecturers and corporate honchos who are rich, both in experience and otherwise. The storehouses of knowledge, the powerhouses of achievement, the people we all look up to.
While it is only expected that the corporate world will not be short of such stalwarts, I can be sure that I will never have an opportunity to learn directly from so many of people of quality in such a short space of time.
The Talented -
One only needs to look around the other 119 in a different way to restore his/her faith in humanity. You will find a host of blessed individuals who don't get many chances to showcase their talents. Some are singers, some musicians, some dancers, others are painters & photographers, many are writers and mimics. Perhaps there is a need for an annual cultural festival in the free part of the academic year to unearth this treasure of hidden creativity.
There is a whole segment of talent of a different kind as well. We have a few who have expertise in deriving fun from things as seemingly harmless as personal habits and figures of speeches of people from both the above categories. Then we have the often "considered shady" but sometimes useful "of a different kind" skill of anonymous hacking.
I already miss the rapport and the chemistry that I shared with you.
The "takeaways":
Career -
A boost to it. A change to it. After all that's what we all came here for.
The dawning -
We all realised at some point in MMS that it is entirely different from the picture that we painted before getting in. Things aren't always as they appear, even if lakhs of people can testify to seeing the same thing. Only after you go through the process does the truth become clear.
The parties and trips -
Countless stories and memories abound these trips and parties.
Partner -
Room partners, project partners, some even found life partners (hey they were inspired by some of our teachers no less).
GAS -
Also known as "Globe" in other B schools. There are two popular full forms of it in Mumbai.
Garbage Analysis System (used by our Western Suburb rivals' school), and
Generally Accepted Statements
Any statement made by anyone, that doesn't have any data/fact/emperical study/analysis/research is deemed GAS by the listener. Few question papers are known to have the ability to generate enough GAS to pollute the entire south Mumbai on exam days.
PPX -
The abbreviation PPT never held a more important place in our lives earlier.
One leads to "lack of questions" or questions in the line of "sir can you tell a little more about the profile?". The other leads to labeling people as "NPAs". No there is no one who is not an NPA. It is all relative, i.e., for one person the other is an NPA and vice versa.
PPI and PPO
People work hard all summer to get these magical 3 letters on their CVs. Some by their hardwork, others by luck, the rest by sheer bad luck. The latter, also fondly called "Pappu", is like an Olympics high jump bar. Once you get over it, you can't go "lower".
The inspiration -
The wise words that first greeted us when we began our journey in this red building were "The Mercurial Energy of the mind with its ceaseless capacity of cyclic Creation, Sustenance, Dissolution... Always New, Always Different, Always Explosive, Always Amazing." How inspiring. Portraying the potential inside each one of us in such a simple way.
As we continue the journey of life, and our brain makes way for new learnings, we will eventually forget almost everything that we learnt here, but the inspiration that we got from our guides, friends, the surroundings and the situations will surely continue keeping our flame alive for the rest of our lives.
