Life at SPJIMR

Date with Destiny: My encounter with Mumbai, and SPJIMR

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Kurla Express. I boarded this train in Bangalore with high aspirations of the days to come. I was embarking on a journey that was not only going to change my demographic identity but also going to officiate a change in orientation of my career, and probably my perceptions of life. Once inside the train, all my apprehensions and uncertainties lying before me collated into a virtual demon to haunt me of the numerous little blind spots in my persona. I suddenly started to wonder again, hopefully for the last time, if the decision for quitting job and chasing my MBA dream was righteous.

Time passed. Hawkers came by.. selling ‘Pani Bottles’ and what not. But, I remained glued to my seat and to my thoughts of what I really want in life. There are very few times when I’ve dated myself, and this train journey was one such rarity. All I wanted to realise was, “What kind of a person am I” “What I really want to become” and “How should I go about doing it”. After a fair deal of retrospect, I realised that I didn’t really know myself, queer though it may seem fact it genuinely was. I didn’t know when I fell asleep, for it was the chivalrous nudge from a eunuch, asking (ordering actually) for alms, that got me awake the next morning. I was in Maharashtran province... the train was keeping good speed. The sky was enveloped by the clouds and husky mist provided a nice canopy. A new chapter in my life was being scripted.

I was travelling with an E-Ticket, with no ‘original’ photo id on me. So, the TC got a reason to make me poor by 800 bucks, and gosh... he did make more than good use of it. I reached Kurla station by 2 pm, hired a rickshaw to Bhavan’s campus. I reached Bhavan’s campus, and searched for SP Jain College. Unlike other established B-Schools, SPJIMR has a miniscule campus. There are only two small buildings. I didn’t realize where the college started and where it ended.

My engineering college campus was huge and exotic, so I simply couldn’t fathom the fact that my two years will be confined to these two buildings. Well, this was only the first impression. I then reached hostel blocks. Initially, I had been allotted the girls hostel (which forms a part of the SPJIMR college building), but I unfortunately got it changed to boys hostel. When I reached the boys hostel, it was pleasant to note that the buildings were 8 floors tall. They were much more majestic than the college building, so it got some positivism back into me.

I collected the room keys from the caretaker, and reached my room. The hostel is constituted by 3 building. Each building has 8 floors. Each floor has 2 blocks. Each block has a common hall, with 6 rooms and bath complex attached to it.

My block was 302, and room was A. I was one of the early birds in the block. I entered my room to find my roomie asleep. My entrance woke him up, and gave me an opportunity for a noisy introduction. I said, “Hey Dude!!!” He introduced himself as Shounak and said “Hey, you know what, a girl has been allotted to this room. I said, “No way... though it’s too good to hear, it is simply not possible” Then a few more guys walked into the room, and Shounak repeated his hypothesis to others. I could then see envy in people’s eyes. I had not introduced myself till then (not even to Shounak), and as I was about to blurt out my name, Shounak emphatically said, “The girl’s name is Samira, I’ve seen it in the register below”. The legacy of my name, thus began.


My room has 3 occupants. Shounak, Saurav and Me. Saurav, comedy personified, brings life to our room. He has a quirky sense of humour and witty at thought. He often speaks his mind, so it feels awesome keeping his company. His ideas are genuine and innovative. So, at times the innovativeness rubs on to our shoulders too. As with many here, Saurav has a high quotient of ‘want’ for befriending the ladies here. Shounak is robotic in nature, and we affectionately call him Johnny Bravo (courtesy: his bold male looks). Thanks to his stunning looks, the female crowd in college goes ga ga over him, and he inwardly enjoys this limelight. When I said his nature is robotic, I meant robotic in literal terms. His timings, ideologies, words of speech and their sequences are all predictable and never change. He is the entertainment source of my room.

Many things happen here. Lot relationships get made and some existing ones break. But the experience of being in relationship if often, at least with some people, is worth relishing for a lifetime. And some others, myself included, introvertly resort to looking at relationships being made and unmade. Another friend (whom we consider a part time roommate), is in quest for his soulmate. So everynight, whether we reflect on the learnings in the classes or not, we make it a point to discuss the development of his love life. Some seek relationship for affection, some for company, some for lust and some confuse friendship for relationship, but here we get to see people from all these categories. So life becomes very heterogeneous and fun. It takes away all the stress that comes with the rigid and highly competitive academic environment. Talking of environment, it is worth a mention that there is a lake in our campus, which often serves a nice hangout place for birds and bird watchers (‘birds’ in the colloquial terms).

Coming from Bangalore, it was herculean to adapt to Mumbai weather. It was so sultry and humid here that I always felt sticky and hot for the first few days. But, with time, everything eased out and my body got adapted to the weather here. Mumbai, people say, is city of dreams and opportunities. And people say, no one ever sleeps empty stomach here. Before coming here, I always found it tough to comprehend this. But, one month of my relationship with Mumbai has changed some perceptions. This is a unique city. People are always on the run.. I don’t know what keeps them so busy or what keeps them on the run, but they never keep idle. There are millions and millions of people here. Everything has a queue, public toilets.. bus stands.. railway ticket counters... etc. There is no place where one could feel empty space.. because there isn’t any. If at all there is some place, it becomes a commercial building, an apartment or a slum. And everything can happen overnight, such is the speed. I have still not struck a chord with heart of Mumbai. The busy MBA schedule has kept me from venturing into most of the worthy areas of the city. I have only seen a few malls, and Juhu beach. Juhu is 4 kms from SPJIMR and is the best hangout place as yet. Beach wise, it is one of the dirtiest. But makes it famous is the people that come there. Romance is in the air, on the ground and often there is a lot of public display of affection that goes on. Juhu also embraces itself with some of the tallest buildings in Mumbai and many a times the night crowd at Juhu is worth a sight.
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SPJIMR, my abode

Foreplay
Before coming here, I never held this school with very high regard. I wanted to pursue MBA in IIMs, ISB or some top notch college abroad. I had written GMAT, had got a good score. I had admits from really good schools abroad. I had applied for the bank loan, had paid the first instalment of 1.5 lakhs, my visa papers were ready and I had already made arrangements for my accommodation abroad. Like most, I had also written CAT, and I hadn’t fared very well. But I was pleasantly surprised when I got an interview call from SPJIMR. The interviews were to be held in March, and I had decided against attending the interview as I’d already had good admits.

But someone ‘special’ asked me to attend the interview and this someone always held SPJIMR in high regard. It was basically for this person that I attended the interview. I was clothed in jeans, colourful half shirt and woodland shoes. I stood out in the interviews as everyone else was smartly clad in business formals or suits. I had no preparation for the interview, whilst others had taken formal trainings. My interviews weren’t great either (but my previous experiences of giving interviews to schools abroad were instrumental when it came to answering some weird questions). Robert Frost has quoted that, ‘The Best Things happen when they are least expected’ and something similar happened to me. For, exactly a month after the interview, on 22nd April to be precise, I got a message on phone from SPJIMR that I’d been selected. I was having lunch with my friends in Bosch, and couldn’t withhold (contain) the ecstasy. I still remember the jolt of surprise I’d got when I’d seen the message.

And thus I landed into SP Jain. Btw, SP Jain is ranked 21 in world and 6th in India by FT and QS global surveys.

SPJIMR

Even before we landed here, we had a pre-foundation course. It consisted of 3 subjects, 2 were online and one was a text book that was dispatched to our residences. We were notified of the syllabus and we had online classes on two weekends. The subjects were very unlike those I’d studied in my graduation, but the text material so well crafted that comprehension was not a major problem.

When we reached SPJIMR, we were given an extraordinary welcome. The first thing we were asked to do was to write the pre-foundation exam. The implication of this exam was such that, if someone were to fail in this, they had to pack their bags and head home. So, my date with SPJIMR started with a bang.

I did reasonably well in the exam. That night we went to Juhu beach..saw PDA for the first time in India and reached hostel very late. Here we have restriction on entering the hostel after 11 pm. But, like all rules, this rule is many a time bent.

Some things about SPJIMR really startled me and continue to enthuse me.
1. Gorgeous Gs: The 42% female ratio. It is the highest ratio thus far at SP. And it ranks amongst the best in India. My roommate often says, ‘Man, some girls here are so so so cute that SP doesn’t feel SP without them’.

2. Talent’a’galore: The immense pool of talent. There are so many IITians and NITians that to find a mediocre like me becomes a rarity. Yes, they all study well, and are smart thinkers, but what I like here is that people know to live, not just to exit. Be it dance, singing, drama, debates, whatever... There are people here who’ve mastered it all. I mean... people have done courses in Tango, Salsa, Bharathanatyam etc. Have learnt classical and Hindustani music for 12 to 13 years. Girls play drums, sing rock and dazzle the floors with their hip hop. Some guys here have directed plays. They’ve acted with known actors in Bollywood. Now it’s not hard for me to digest the fact that Siddharth (Boy’s Hero, who’s also acted in Rang De Basanti is from SPJIMR).

We had one of the best and the most innvotive ragging I’ve ever come across. It is a part of SPJIMR folklore and is a tradition carried over from batch to batch, so I don’t want to mention the details.. But I only want to re-iterate that the ragging drills and a grand finale was the best ever. After the ragging we had a fresher’s night, where all the talents were on exhibition, and oh bouy... what a show it was. Spellbound I stood, watching people singing and dance... feeling how I ever got in here and how lucky I have been. Just for statistics... in a week we rehearsed and performed 23 dances.. 14 songs and 3 dramas.

Oops!!! I forgot to mention the MACHINE DANCE. This is a new form of dance created by SPJIMR students in second year. It is supposedly adored for its innovativeness, creativity and perfection by all the people in theatre and film industry. When I witnessed it, I was truly bowled out. I didn’t quite understand how anyone could get so innovate.

3. ADMAP, We run the college: The college is run by the students. All the process, admission to placements, academics to student welfare.. anything and everything actually is controlled and facilitated by students. This is called the ADMAP programme, and is also evaluated for the student. I have been selected for entrepreneurship committee, whose primary responsibility is to develop interest for entrepreneurship, network with entrepreneurs.. hold international events and competitions and if possible, start a new venture.

4. Social Orientation: Another programme called DOCC forms a core component in year one, where every student reaches out to socially backward people and implements a program which improves their quality of living in measurable terms. Typical areas where we do the projects are Ladakh, Assam and other backward areas. Last year, students won huge awards in US and Europe for their work done in DOCC. The social entrepreneurship works that are done in DOCC projects typically get showcased in social workshops and awareness programs throughout the world.

5. Mentorship: This year another project, called Abhyudhaya has been initiated where in 2 students (one boy and one girl) are give the responsibility to mentor a bright kid of 8th standard. This kid is typically from a financially backward class, but is so immensely talented that we often get a complex to near them.

6. Club Culture: There are so many clubs here that one feels to urge to say ‘too much, this ain’t possible. It’s too good to be true’. The photography club, Biker’s Club, Dance Inc, Novel’s Club, Theatre club, Books club.. n on n on n on...

Well, all this was the shiny side of SPJIMR. But, like everything in life, this college too has some flip sides. Firstly, the infrastructure. It’s not even 1/20th of IIM Bangalore, but nothing much can be done about this. Mumbai is a crowded city and provides absolutely no avenues for land. And SPJIMR is a part of Bhavan’s campus, which also shelters 2 Engineering colleges, 1 Arts and Science College and 1 school. There is a football cum cricket field in the campus, but all sports buffs and gymmers make greater use of Andheri sports complex. The alumni network of SPJIMR is really really strong, but we don’t have the network as strong as some of the IIMs. This is because SPJIMR started in 1986, so it’s a still in its youth when compared to IIMs.

The dean is from Harvard Business School, and is the pillar behind SPJIMR’s success. Thanks to him, SPJIMR has AMBA accredidation (its a prestigious European accreditation) besides NICTE recognition. There are several tie ups with American and European universities and there is an exchange program during the start of second year.

Love is in the air: Part of the curriculum is an outing called the PG lab (personal growth lab). The intention of this lab is to develop inter-personal skills and facilitate self realisation, but this lab is more famously known for developing soul mates. This lab is conducted in Khandala, and comprises a lot of extra-curricular and outdoor activities. I recently had this lab, and it was one of the best days of life.

So, this has been my experience. As yet.