The so called night at the campus

I reported at the Ramanujam Hostel, or OH as it is fondly called. This is the first hostel that you come across when you enter the campus. We sent the cab away, carried the luggage into the hostel office and realised that I was allotted to New Hostel or NH for short and that was a good quarter kilometer away.

Luckily, some one (Aditya Pratap) saw me, got himself introduced and we discovered lots of common friends. He helped with my luggage. Not to forget the suitcase strap that came off during the walk. I used this strap as a key chain for the next two years. For that matter, I still have it with me. Haven't got any plans of changing it in the near future.

We reached my room on the ground floor. Staying on the ground floor has its share of advantages which I was soon to discover. For that moment, what I found was a pretty shabby room, not broomed since what it seemed to me like a life time. The next one hour was spent in fetching a cleaner and getting it cleaned. (Wow! Its possible to get a cleaner even at 10 PM).

By this time I was hungry, possibly I can't get hungrier than this. I launched my self on to the night canteen and Started gulping paranthas. I guess I ate enough food for a week. Or so I felt. Chetan was with me and he seemed to get the same impression.

The next stop was the common room. It was full. Actually, it is the crowd that pulled me there. We barged into the room, found a place for ourselves to settle on the carpet. There was some Soccer match going on. It was Euro-2004 semis (or something as important as that).

People were sharply divided into French and English support, the two teams competing. That was the first time I watched soccer live and had no clue whom to support. So I decided to support the team that was leading. And, the score line read 0-0. Wow! That's luck.

Everyone around me was speaking Hindi. For someone born and brought up in a telugu-only environment, I thought this needed some adjustment. But, it was far easier than I thought. I don't even remember putting an effort into it. It was full time, the score was still 0-0. I could sense the tension building up in the room. Every act on the field was being cheered and jeered by the respective support groups.

I thought the room was full when I entered. But, now the viewers doubled in number and people were still streaming in. I noticed Suraj there among the crowd. Though it was the first time I saw him, I have heard enough about him to be able to recognize straight away. We discovered that we had half a dozen friends in common and have known about each other for atleast ten years by that time. Incidentally, we live in the same colony in Hyderabad. Have our cuppa chai at the same cafe......

The extra time is now drawing to a close. The scoreline still read 0-0. I once again looked at the people around me. They seemed to be at home in this place. May be, I was the only one feeling insecure. May be all of them are seniors!!!!

This thought struck me like a thunderbolt. I have had really rough experience, caught alone admist a large group of seniors in my Undergrad. And, it wasn't even remotely funny. I cursed myself for entering the room in the first place. Luckily, everyone was absorbed in the match and there seemed to be no imminent danger. But again, I thought that was UG, this is PG. May be things are different in this world. I hoped that they would be.

Even at the end of extra time, the teams were still strandled at 0-0. I was curious to know what was to happen next and asked my neighbour. He gave a rather unkind stare and told me that it would go to penalty shoot out. 'Penalty!!'To whom? For what? This is one wierd game. The guy who enlightened was my batch mate. In fact, as I discovered slowly, everyone out there was a fresher. Seniors were apparently busy with some exams.

I can't recollect who won the match. But, that was supposed to be an epic match. (Why not, afterall I was there watching it). The post match discussion went on and on. Lots of introductions. Frankly, I forgot most names right away. The one thing I remembered was IIT.

Mentally, I had written these letters on the for head of anyone who claims to be from one of them. Some voice was warning me from with in to be careful about these folks. After all they are IITians, done a lot more things in life than we local collegietes. But, every guy around me is from some IIT or the other. Aren't there colleges other than IITs? Or, was I here by mistake.

It was 4 AM. So, I didn't have enough energy left in me to worry about how they might trouble me. But, this peace didn't last too long either. We will get to that in the next post... till then I was in the dreamland, making my plans of getting into McKinsey.

Kolkata Here I come

That was June 23rd 2004. I had a grand send off, nothing short of what a politician going abroad would get. And then I boarded the Falaknuma SUPER FAST Express. My ignorance started at mocking me the moment I entered it.

I knew I had to go to Kolkata, someone advised me to board this train and I took a ticket till the last stop, called Howrah. Once on train, my first doubt was how do I reach Kolkata from Howrah. How long will this train take to reach Howrah. In a sense, my long term planning was only till the next 20 hours and had no clue what was to happen after that. All this was on the Net at the click of a button. But, for the Computer Science Engineer that I am, I never really browsed and had no clue that this information is searchable. That was me, my self about two years ago.

The journey was really long, twenty seven and half hours to be precise. The pantry food was bad. Rather I picked up the wrong ones from a decent collection. That is information at act once again.

I made a few friends, a couple of them who are going to be my batch mates for the next two years. Unfortunately, their knowledge levels weren't any better. Like-meets-Like effect. We managed to find a taxi, paid him about twice the regular fare with our superior bargaining skills and ventured into Kolkata. ( By this time I had figured out that our campus was reachable by cab from Howrah. Wow! What a discovery!)

For the first three kilometers, I thought Kolkata was in fact liveable. There were buildings, some really tall ones, not to forget the Tata Steel building in Esplanade and I thought this City is like any other city. Slowly, the buildings become older, the exteriors gloomier. Most buildings didn't have a dash of paint for at least two decades. The streets became narrower, the tram tracks more pronounced, so did the addas held on them. The streets got busier, the hawkers louder. One word to put it all - Crowded.

For a few minutes, we sang "Yamaha nagari....". Despite the bad first impression, there was a bond already gaining strength. This is the place that is all set to make my career and put me amongst the most sought after people of this country. A couple of names like Behala appeared on the sign boards and we reassured ourselves that we are on the right road. At that time, I didn't know that the Kolkata Cab Drivers never take you through the wrong route.

An hour of this smoky stretch and we saw a HUGE blue colour board with 'Indian Institute of Management Calcutta' written in bold letters. My eyes closed instinctively and tears rolled for a moment. And we entered a campus, that reminded me of Indira Park at first sight. The cab twisted and turned, finding its way to the Hostels on a narrow driveway bordering a few huge water bodies. From that day, this is my home, a 130 acre home.

Kolkata Beckons

Those were the days of ignorance. The weeks I spent after getting an admit from Joka bring a smile to my face for a lot of reasons. First, I thought I was the best incoming student and that the institute is privilaged to have me joining them. Though I never used these words, my behavior for that one month reflected it in no uncertain terms.

There I was taking classes and distributing gyaan like a retired military general narrating tales of his heroics. I believed, I got this time to help others. Little did I realise what was in store for me. The days I spent worrying if I would be thrown out of this insti. The days I spent, fretting over my decision to enter a B-School, leaving a decent job offer. And the so many days when I didn't have the time to think of any thing else but survival.

I had my share of fun at Joka, may be more than a fair share. But, I was expecting it. What I didn't expect was the fear, fear of survival, of rejection and ridicule. Today, I think that is the best thing that I picked up in a B-School - survival instincts. Nothing else matters more.