When Nostalgia Hits....

What would I not do..



To go back to those college days again
To take another walk in that picturesque campus
To share those wonderful times at hostel ramp
To go on unplanned treks with amazing friends
To be emotionally strong and vulnerable at the same time
To dance uncontrollably in CultCom parties
To celebrate special birthdays in unique ways
To stare at the main gate from flag post and wonder..
To go to PB for unplanned lunches and dinners
To feel hope, passion, ambition to the fullest
To get high and talk my heart out to friends
To photograph overwhelmingly beautiful landscapes
To enjoy those never ending night long discussions
To savor that fresh rain in campus grounds
To hit the ball over the boundary again
To feel the craziness of footsteps again
To express myself in a batch address
To fool around with that golf club again
To appreciate different opinions of 104 souls
To fight, yell and make up for your mistakes
To cook in hostel mess again with friends
To pursue perfection in tasks close to heart
To plan a few more photo shoots around the campus
To hold a friend who needs a hug in bad times
To share the happiness of getting placed
To enjoy that late night Maggi and Pasta
To have another group meet without much to arrive at
To participate in another competition with zeal
To appreciate weather and nature like never before
To enjoy the MBA Gyan from seniors
To be enthralled on saving that goal in BPL
To wait for that night canteen mail
To organize another toatmasters session and see people grow
To interact with juniors on variety of issues
To solve puzzles of life with intellectual friends
To learn from a batch mate while having a random talk
To relish watching shooting stars one after the another
To enjoy that morning parantha and poori after a night out
To curse that bad internet connection and yet download movies
To experience pressure and performance at the same time
To travel from Guwahati to Shillong and stop at Makhan Bhog
To discover more about myself in challenging times
To experience unconditional love of friends
To live that mundane yet fulfilling life day in day out
To celebrate a life full of experience­­­s – good and bad
To earn a few more friendships for life
To say a few unsaid sorries and appreciations
To share a few more laughs that will always remain
To experience countless memories once again, if only for once….


What would I not do to get a short go at that life again? A life, that for all its ups and downs, was the best at being new; being fresh; being challenging; being lively; being full of laughter; being full of pressure and yet, being fulfilling to the core.

This is dedicated to each and every individual with whom I have interacted at IIM Shillong. Walt Whitman wrote, “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse”. The play of my life will go on but it has been influenced and enhanced by the contribution of every individual I have interacted with at IIMS. Having said that there will always be those who had a larger share to contribute, influence and change. Those people have left their footprints in my life and have made me feel special in their own ways. Some of these people are:

Ankita Shah, Apoorva Shukla, Chandan Gupta, Mayur Kumar Lakhmani, Nidhi Agarwal, Nimesh Nair, Neetisha Arya, Priya Agrawal, Rahul Singh, Shantanu Mital, Shubhi Bansal, Sonal Jaju, Sushil Shwetabh, Sunayna Agarwal, Swati Nidiganti, Vishal Goel, Urvashi Roongta

(Spare me if I missed some name)

My dear friends, this is for all those unsaid things, to tell you how much you all matter. Without your presence and support, these memories would not have been as beautiful as they are. Thank you for being a part of my life.

Half way through the Journey@IIMS

The memory, of the day I walked in at IIM Shillong campus, is still afresh in my mind. Even though it was a welcome change from a corporate life of unfulfilled desires, I had my apprehensions. ‘What and whys’ of those apprehensions were ambiguous. The only thing that was clear in my mind was the expectations on the fun quotient of my life. And it was really simple, nothing extraordinary. I wanted to meet some amazing people, find some critical few to hang on to, get drunk, shout, dance, party hard, use a few cuss words, go out on lots and lots of treks, do random things, study a bit and enjoy each and every little moment of student life. Because this will, in all likelihood, be my last shot at it and I did not want to miss out on any single moment.

If I look back, nearly half of my time at IIM Shillong has passed. And the questions that I ask myself today are: “Did I make the most of it?” “Were there any moments that took my breath away?” “Did I find a critical few?” When I close my eyes to reflect, I can feel a wave building inside me which is about to defy my composure. I open my eyes only to realize that they are a touch weary and probably a touch moist. There is a realization that whatever ‘Chris McCandless’ found out after travelling the whole of Alaska had made a lot of sense back then and is perfectly true even in today’s world. He wrote:

“Happiness only real when shared!!”

Of course, sharing is one of the best ways of expressing one’s joy. I remember asking for a critical few with whom I can share ups and downs of my life at IIMS. Half way through life@IIMS, I have got many more than that. I expected a few special moments but got tons and tons of them. And it is not a matter of saying. A lot of memories were created at a frenetic pace. I did not even realize the time as it went by. Come to think of it, I am happy that I have a folder named “IIM Shillong pics” that has all kind of subfolders that have names such as ‘Shillong Peak and Elephanta falls’, ‘Mawphlang Sacred Grooves’, ‘Cherrapunji Trip’, ‘Double Root Trek’, ‘Bonfire’, ‘Diwali’, ‘Independence Day’, ‘Kopda Cup’, ‘Cloud9 after effect’, ‘Sustainability’, ‘Morning Errand’, ‘Outing Bistro and PB’, ‘Winter Campus’, ‘Cult com party’, ‘Ice breaker and PDP pics’, ‘IIMS Bdays’, ‘Golf cup’, ‘Freshers’, ‘Footsteps’, ‘Talent show’, ‘River Island’, ‘Liatlum’, ‘CulCom Super 93’, ‘Guwahati’, ‘Convocation’, ‘Farewell’ and ‘Random’. Of all these memories, the last one is probably the most unplanned, the most unexpected and the most cherished one. These are the ones that constitute time spent at ramp; on the roof top; while campus walks; with best buddies; in stupid fights; in discussing the goods and the bads of relationships; in discussions of deeply sophisticated and yet simple issues; over a cup of tea; in preparation of frustrating exams; in unplanned night-outs; in preparing a PPT for a competition; while playing TT or during a trip to PB for nothing. These seemingly commonplace and mundane activities never get the credit they deserve and yet, they are the ones that make any student life special. I am happy that my time at IIMS was no exception and I got a fair bit of them. Credit goes to ‘Super 93’ and ‘Incredible 106’.

After a two month stint at corporate life, my journey of IIMS life will resume. This time there will be a realization that journey will finish soon. Interestingly, this is something that means different to different people. For some it would be a signal to go out raring to conquer the mighty corporate world. For some, it would be just another step in an always moving life, a step that would improve their lives economically, in all likelihood. Some would like to hold on to this time without realizing that they cannot stop the sand from slipping through the fingers. For me, it will mean some more memories to cherish, some more time to spend with people who are really special, some more time to crib about how life is not fair and some more time to appreciate life at the same time and some more time in the heart of nature in a wonderful place. For there will come a day when I will have to say good bye to my friends at IIMS and close the chapter named ‘IIMS journey’. There would be a void. But hopefully, I will have an interesting and challenging chapter to fill the void. Whatever that might be, the new chapter will never be an isolated one. As always, it will have the best of footprints from a reminiscent past. It will have a few more characters, a few changes in the outlook of the protagonist and a fresh story. In the bigger scheme of things, the chapter of IIMS will definitely rank among the best ones and that is what makes me look forward to the rest of the journey @IIMS!! Hopefully, some things will sort themselves out and speed breakers or the potholes will not be big enough.

Signing off for now,

Tarun

One month down the memory lane

It’s been nearly a month in IIM Shillong and I am just in love with the green campus we have and the natural beauty of Meghalaya, especially that of Cherrapunji and the areas nearby. I visited Cherrapunji along with my batch mates on the very next day of jaunt to MawPhlang forest. Undoubtedly, Cherrapunji is among one of the best places I have been to. The highlands are as lush green as they can get and their power to transcend you to another level is truly exceptional. Then there are smoky clouds which seem to converge on you and make you feel majestic. The journey itself epitomizes a tourist destination. And the most amazing thing about the trip is that I can still see those exceptional views when I close my eyes. I can see the lush green hills, extremely deep valleys, a beautiful garden, several waterfalls, forests, beautiful wavy roads and those clouds. It is as if somebody has painted the canvas of life with different shades to bring out the best nature can offer. I can just visualise myself looking out of the window of our bus and the breeze rustling through and making me feel free. The very view of a clear sky, untainted by any amount of pollution can be liberating. Those were the emotions that I don’t have the words to describe. I can just feel them. And that was a high of its own kind not experienced by this writer before.

Anyways, I will come back to my campus and will shed some light on the special events of the last month. As expected, none of us missed an opportunity to have fun at any point of time. We had the birthdays of many of eminent personalities of our batch and we celebrated them like anything. But what transpired at Kush’s birthday cannot be discussed on this blog. Nevertheless, more than any single event, it is more of a combination of small-small moments that make life special here. It can be as simple as fighting to get hold of a badminton or table tennis racket or taking a walk in the campus when everyone has gone to sleep or the long discussions. The discussions tend to range from heavy to extremely stupid and silly things. But the essence is in the belongingness rather than the subject of discussion. It has a beauty of its own.

By now, the reader must be wondering that IIMS is all about fun and all is cool here. But let me just tell you that they make you feel rigour instead of just putting it in a brochure. We have days where sleeping looks like an activity of past. Even the shortest possible amount of sleep looks unachievable. You have got assignments, clubs and committees work and other commitments to honour. Loss of sleep and changes in behavioural patterns is directly proportional to the speed at which a course goes. And the expectations of the instructors should not be talked about. Amidst all this chaos, many of us did not even realize that at least one fifth of many course books have been covered and we are expected to know everything because a surprise quiz or random questions might be round the corner. And it does not end here. A lot many of us wait for the weekends to finish the backlog, only to find that it is already booked with corporate visits, guest lectures or knowledge sharing sessions. In a short span of time, we have had the honour of interacting with chairman of ISRO, Minister of DONER and Chairman NEC, President of HCL, CEO of Hammer communications, Chairman UPSC etc. to name a few. These interactions have a charm of their own. And being a part of an academic legacy, you would not want to miss out on those interactions. So the result is more sleepless nights.

In a nutshell, you need not go to an amusement park to find what a roller coaster means, come here to experience it first-hand. It will be exciting, humbling, encouraging, thought provoking and worth every bit of effort you put in. That is what life is made up of at my Alma Mater. This is Life @ IIM Shillong.

Life @ IIM Shillong

It’s been nearly three weeks since I first stepped in at IIM Shillong campus to become a part of the fourth batch of PGP participants at IIMS. But it seems like a thing of distant past because a lot has happened in these three weeks. I don’t know from where to start. The very first day I spent in hostel was filled with palpable excitement. We were getting to know each other and the topics for fluent conversations were scarce. But first week changed everything. I had heard the concept of hell week at many IIMs but what it takes to experience the same is a different thing all together. Just imagine yourself being bombarded with sessions, assignments, presentations and senior-junior interactions for twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. All you talk about is the next case study or article review or a coming presentation and the constant anxiety of what the future has in store. Sleepless faces were omnipresent so it never took a flash of genius to figure that out. But amidst all the chaos, there was something that was changing every one of us and was making us better at what we need to do. We were actually shedding our inhibitions and it was the time when belongingness and care for one another was being seeded in our minds.

I still remember the days when I was extremely apprehensive about joining IIM Shillong. I had calls from IIMB, IIMI and XLRI in addition to that from IIMS. I was not able to convert the first three and needless to say, I felt devastated. I was in a dilemma that I did not want to handle. But looking at the present moment, I feel happy to be part of IIMS family. I used the word family because this is the feeling that I have observed in the air of IIMS. We are not just a bunch of individuals who are here to compete. We are here to learn from one another and to help one another in becoming the best we can. We are the Incredible 106. Yeah, that’s what we call ourselves - ‘The Incredible 106’.

Destined to do great things in times to come, we have already announced our arrival at the Talent show that got concluded on last Saturday. We had very talented participants in almost all the areas. Dancers did a fabulous job and were backed strongly by the singers and guitarists. Then there was Apoorva, who got a standing ovation for his extremely talented mimicry. The surprise package of the whole event was a fashion show that got the audience really excited. To top everything, we had the batch video made by Rajan. I cannot describe the feelings that the video evoked in our batch. That goes to reinforce my belief in power of movies to evoke emotions. The incredible 106 did not stop at just the talent show. We have been to journeys together and have shared wonderful memories. The time spent at the Badminton court, Common room, Old boys’ hostel ramp and at the birthday parties will probably be the one giving us most cherished of moments in years to come.

Wise people say that in order to appreciate peace you need to experience chaos. Well, I could not just agree more. Three years in one of the most chaotic parts of the nation and now I could not just help appreciating the beauty of Shillong and the peace it has to offer. Today was one of those days when I experienced a profound sense of peace and beauty in one package, all because of a faculty organized excursion to “Sacred Groves” of Mawphlang near Shillong. It was ‘Pandora’ personified in the real world. The clan taking care of the groves have a hierarchical system of their own. Their belief in the deities and spirits of the forest has endured the tests of the time and sustained itself. There is so much to write about these groves that it might require a new post but even then I might not be able to do justice with the actual experience. One has to actually go to the forest and experience it in order to understand how profound untainted natural experiences can be. I just want to experience it again before I die. I want to sit there uninterrupted, close my eyes and sit in silence. Silence can be liberating as well as haunting. Today, it was liberating. I am really hoping for many such experiences as life moves on at IIM Shillong aka IIM ONE (IIM Of North East).