MY TRIP :
I left Trivandrum on Saturday 8th of June by the Madras mail .I
reached Madras on Sunday morning 7.45 and then caught the Coromandel Express to Calcutta ( Howrah ) at 9.00 AM. The journey through Andhra was a miserable experience as the scenery was absolutely nothing : just miles and miles of eyesore land. There were some parts when the tracks ran parallel to the seashore and i could see the salt fields where they dried the sea water to extract salt. The Andhra portion continued till late night and I was a relieved person to wake up the next day in another state : Orissa. Then I reached Bengal : whic hreminded me a lot of Kerala with very similar scenery but only one difference: the abject squalor of the place , the dirt , the ramshackle huts,
the collapsing buildings and the obvious poverty when compared to the land from which I came. It had rained heavily the previous night and so it was a very comfortable journey till noon. I reached the Calcutta station at 2.15 and the last 5 kms were covered in abt 30 minutes owing to the pitiable state of the railway tracks it seems. After reaching the platform it took me another 15 minutes of walk to reach the gate from where I could get a pre paid taxi. I was carrying 2 suitcases and a shoulder bag all filled to the brim with the items I thought i will need for the next 4 months. I was travelling all alone ... my
argument being Am I not a grown up person enough to travel alone the 2700 or so kms?
The prepaid taxi counter had a queue 20 people deep and around us
we had touts offering to take us whereever by " Meter " . Thanks to a few of my
friends who had already reached the place I knew enough to go by the prepaid
taxi so as not to get fleeced. The train was scheduled to arrive at 1.45 and my
registration was till 3 pm for the day failing which I could register the next
day with a Fine of rs.500. I got into a taxi which would not have qualified to
run on the roads of Trivandrum and its maximum speed was about 30 km per hour.
Its speedometer, distance travelled meter, petrol level indicator were all not
working . The Taxi hummed and hawed its way through traffic and finally reached
Diamond Harbour road at 2.55. I was gleed as I knew IIM C was on DH road. But
it was just the start of a long wait. It takes about 8 km or so on the Diamond
Harbour road to reach Joka and my eagerness to reach slowly gave way to
impatience as I finally reached IIM C at 3.25 PM. I went to the PGP office and
to my shock was allowed to register without even a single question ( what I had
heard of IIM s I had thought even a 5 minute delay would not be allowed).
I then went to the hostel and registered where i was sent to a
preallotted room. Annexe : 146. The room, that has now been my home for the
last 1and half months is 10 ft long * 8 feet wide * 12 feet high. It has One
bed ( thankfully 6 and half feet long : one of my worries was whether I could
get a bed to fit my 6'2 frame ) , one table and chair : the table has 3 drawers
which can be opened and closed every time as an exercise to strenghten my
shoulder muscles; one almirah - wooden, one clothes rack , one mattress, a
power switch and Lan port for my computer, a fan , a tube , a bulb, a power
point, a back door that opens out to a lawn, the front view from my front door
is also a lawn nicely trimmed on which on rare occasions are played foot ball
and cricket and a shelf fixed on the wall where I can keep books - it has 3
layers each 3 feet wide , 1 ft deep and 1 ft high. There are wash rooms after
every 7 rooms : each wash room having 2 toilets, 1 shower, 2 urinals and 2
washbasins, tiled floors. The floor of my room is mosaic and walls are white
washed : with the problem of choona : whenever u lean on the wall the wall lets
you have a bit of itself. The interior of the almirah is painted using
distemper so clothes are better off. Most people here have got around this by
putting chart paper on the walls so that at least some protection is there for
our heads when we lean on the wall . There is also one window close to tht
back door . One cant open it at night owing to the bugs coming in and though a
mosquito net is planned it may take ages to materialise thanks to the
bureaucracy here.
One thing that stands out about the system here is the inefficient
bureaucracy : there are 500 students and for them and 100 teachers are about
250 staff. 3 buses go to the city every day to pick up staff. The Campus has a
faculty block, a hostel block, an academic block ( where are the class rooms
and lecture halls ) , administrative block ( where the bureaucrats reign ), a
library , an excellent air conditioned auditorium which on prime sight looks
like a tape recorder with 2 long speakers on the side, a State bank of India
branch ( more on this later ) , an ICICI ATM, 3 hostels : Old Hostel or
Ramnujan house; White House or Tagore house with an Annexe ; and New Hostel [
OH, WH, NH] ; a central school. And most visible of all in campus is the 7
lakes in it.
There are roads and it takes abt 5 min from annexe to the classrooms by walk
and 8 min from NH to classrooms. All the girls are in the OH and this is the
hostel for the dandys :in CET lingo for the Pancharas and in the IIM lingo the
Geelas. Strength is about 110 , 150 , 240 in the OH, WH , NH respectively.
There are trees on the roads and on these roost the birds. At night the roads
get whitewashed with bird shit and they STINK . The lakes with all respect are
now polluted and dirty and they too add to the stink. All aesthetics apart all
that is said abt the lakes is nothing : they are a monument more to the
dirtiness of the place rather than enhancers of pritine beauty. The remaining
campus is more or less ok with well kept lawns .
CALCUTTA
The city of Calcutta is a dirty stinking place. From whatever bit of it I have
seen the open drainage system makes is a city which is fully and completely the
Chalai market of trivandrum, at best. Roadside drains are everywhere and one
had better watch where one steps . Compared to this the IIM campus is heaven
with no visible eyesores. At parts like around the Auditorium and near the
management centre for human values the beauty is innate. I feel the basic
problem is the mindset of the people who have got accustomed to the dirt and
cant get it changed, and the bureaucracy which sucks big time : compared to
this what i felt was an overstaffed and underworking bureaucracy is kerala is a
dream. Both are communist states and these sightts reinforce a lot of feelings
about the difference between the theory the communists preach and what they
practice and for this sole reason they should be put to task. I had been
previuosly to IIM B & K campuses and when compared to either of them except
for the Audi, the place falls flat. A great example of the bureaucracy is the
letter delivery sytem : the post office delivers students letters to the admn
block where they lie in a box till the box overflows and some one dumps the
letters to the hostel from where it is put in a box at the OH and disappears
from the WH and NH. 2 weeks from date of postage is early arrival here. And if
u r in WH or NH getting a letter calls for a party. Couriers and speed post
comes to your room , and if u r lucky enough when you are there , else the
hostel office may collect it for you.
The SBI : supposed to open at 10 : on a day i wanted money for my comp I went
there at 9.55 and was first in queue when counter opened at 10.20. got my money
at 10.45 a transaction I would have done in 2 min max at my IOB bank in TVM.
Someone chews pan, someone comes late , the cash is not yet taken out ... silly
godddamn ways of not doing work. 2 days to get an account, 30 minutes to get a
checkbook no work will be done if u reach at 10 minutes to closing time ie if u
reach at 4.50 and bank closes by 5 they will say it wont be possible today ,
come tomorrow. No lunch break so everyone can take a 2 hr break as and when
they feel like in between their tea breaks. And the branch is computerised. !.
No wonder all my seniors have ICICI accounts.
But the people here are friendly : when you are asking for directions, asking
for something in a shop and shopkeeper doesnt understand : they do help out.
The basic good nature of the people is evident. Languages : Bengali, hindi,
English to an extent. Citibank gave all IIM students a free Credit Card ... and
sent the card to our home addresses in TVM/ Agra/ Jabalpur etc. ICICI also said
they will give free card but its been 35 days since i applied and no card.
The best thing about Calcutta i found was the transport system :it runs on a
mix of buses / autos / metro /trams/ taxis : and it works . i never had to wait
for over 10 minutes at any place for transport to anywhere. Firstly the pride
of the system : the metro or the underground railway : clean neat and
efficient. trains run in 2 directions only : from tollygunge to dum dum or vice
versa. trains every 10 minutes. fast and electric. 1 min travel half minute
stop. fastest means of getting thru city . all kinds of people travel . tickets
minimum 4 rs max 6 rs. Comparable with what I had seen in movies aby say US or
Paris metro. If anyone comes to Calcutta it will be a pity if he doesnt travel
at least once on it. NO dirt and well maintained. cant praise it enough. Autos
are not like Trivandrum sytem : a driver collects 4 -5 passengers and goes from
one junction to the next and back : there are routes and a driver can only run
in between them. Its a kind of shuttle service. All vehicles except the metro
look in horrible condition but they move. Engines are good and well maintained.
Buses have seats parallel to sides. cheap again as are autos and trams. I took
a 1.45 hr bus journey for 5 rupees ( nearly the time from kollam to Tvm and
half the distance) Trams : are majestic : run smoothly on the middle of the
road / damn cheap comfortable /electric powered/ slow but steady. Taxis are
costly and drivers do try to fleece you. They shift routes and the meter system
is meter *2.4 for old meters and meter *1.2 for new meters and for a first time
rider its damn confuding when meter reads 40 and driver asks for 100.But over
all : Hats off to the sytem of transport : it works.
HOSTELS
The oldest hostel is the OH and its the centre of activities cos of .. . the
girls. The smallest hostel but they hold the most chased after people. Senior
batch has abt 17 girls and we have 27. They are of all shapes and sizes and
ages. I have classmates 5 years older than me (f) and 13 years older than me
(m). There is a guy from IAF with 11 years work ex, A telecom guy with 8 years
work ex, A person who was working in Andersen ( wonder what he is doing here ?
? ? ) , A professional background singer in Telugu movies, national motorcross
racer , graduates from : Bsc Physics, Bsc Maths, MA economics, MA psychology,
besides the usual CA , Btech/ BE , B.com , BA Economics. The batch is over all
very tall.255 strong / 27 f ; Guys out here are fabulous : Rich ones ,
Goodlooking ones , Brainy ones : any type you want you have them. Supposedly 90
% of girls used to get married before they left IIM C at one stage of time ,
but now the ratio has come down . "Couples " are there and am accustomed to
seeing people in guys rooms at all periods of time : there are people who go to
their room only to change.
OH is also charcterised by Mohan da's : the shop there for all purposes . Each
hostel has a shop : others having Kamal Da' s and Kotler ( NH). Mohan d a was
the first and his is the widest net : food , biscuits, pepsi, water : bottles
and jars ; batteries, cell phones, phone cards, ticket booking for aeroplanes /
trains , buckets, stationery , sweets : U name it he has it : or will get it
for u.
The water here sucks : salty : even calcutta people find it salty : they are
accustomed to some degree os saltish water. Hence every one uses Mineral water
in 20 litre cans ( MRP 50 but charged 60) Kinley (OH), Bailley ( WH) and Aqua
Fina ( NH). Pepsi rules the land. NO COKE anywhere. there are 3 separate messes
in each hostel not the unified mess as in IIM B. there is a 24 hr night canteen
in the WH . food timings: 8 - 10 breakfast, 1-2 Lunch ,5-6 tea,8-9 dinner. the
shops close by 2 am and open at 10 am. There is also a kiosk in the acad block
for packet snacks and juices and cigarettes.
FOOD
Bfast : definitely : bread / jam / butter / tea/ cofee/ omlette/ boiled eggs
and one of : idli/ dosa/ vada/ puri/ paratha/ oothappam/ poka ( or aval ) /
upma with whatever curry. 2nd best meal of the day.
Lunch & dinner : Chapati / rice / sambar or rasam ( both called so but no south
indian touches it ) / dal of some type / pickle/ salad/ sugar / one or two dry
curries : mixed veg / ladies finger / brinjal/ cabbage / and MOST COMMON :
POTATO. Non veg once a day : chicken or fish; other time it is an extra. once
in a fortnight is chinese : with fried rice and noodles and chilly chicken.
only time when the food is enjoyable. Soups are there daily : but extra.
Pappad: once a month. there are sweets 4 times a week : gulab jamun / rasmalai/
shrikhand/ Ice cream / Misti dahi . there is a juice man in the canteen who
gives : musambi juice / banana shake / mango shake / milo ( 15/10 / 15 / 10 )
but problem is no ice : room temp stuff.
Tea : tea/ coffee/ cold drinks ( tang : mango / pineapple / lime/ orange ) and
a snack
ne of [ samosa/ katchori / cutlet/ bonda/ bread with cucumber or
tomato in it / bun with vegetables put in the middle ]{ no choice } or some
biscuits. The best meal of the day as the samosas or whatever are hot and juice
is cold and unlimited.
Morning time is an inactive one here at the hostels : people, esp seniors get
up in time for lunch unless there is something special. At night 3 the sight is
different : all rooms lighted up hum of activity the place is happening seniors
are working and usually people go to sleep btw 4 and 6.
SYLLABUS
Subjects for PGDM ( PG Diploma in Management):Statistics -I : Probability ,
binomial / normal/ exponential ditributions / continouos & discrete /
regression and a lot more. 1/3 is IQC or Statistical quality control of s7
syllabus. Teacher is Rahul Mukherjee : ex-head of Indian Statistical Institute.
Great teacher, ok subject.
Financial accounting : the hurdle for most engineers : accountants have it
easy here. started with balance sheets and profit and loss accounts. Teacher is
SG : looks like ol' M ayyappan. waste class , i feel, but paper is tough.
Behavioural Science -I : psychology based : easy to learn and get marks :
teachers SSS and LC : ok both ladies and both hus work in IIM C . text is
Robbins. Also called Organisational Behaviour ( S8 industrial paper)
Microeconomics : demand/ supply/ monopoly etal . Ok . AR & AS teachers .
Objective paper for exam. tough to get grades. kind of continuation from 2nd
year Humanities.
Qualifying Maths : Integration / differentiation / matrices : 12th std
portions. but have to know.
IEPH : Indian economic and Political History : story of economy from 1700 to
1947 ( up to midterms )
Then after midterms can choose btw : International Geo Politics ( asean/
nato/ saarc etc ) / Environment / IEPH ( 1947- 1991).
I chose IEPH.
PGDCM ( PG Diploma in Computer Management ) Students have last 2 papers
different: 4GL ( C and VB), Data Structure and Algorithms.
It is relative grading : top 5 % of batch gets A+, last 5 % gets F. Points are
alloted as per grade for CGPA ( Cumulative Grade Point Average ): A+ :9 to B- :
4 ; C+ : 3 and F :0. 3 Fs and you are out of IIM C. If first year Cgpa is less
than 4.5 repeat first year: one chance. if at end of 2nd year CGPA is less than
5 no degree : no chance of reexam.
SPORTS :
There is a badminton court and a TT table in each hostel , a common basket
ball court on which are also played cricket and hockey. Football is played on
one of 3 open spaces and all 3 are slushy : one played in ankle deep mud till
now partly due to the rains . Chess is basically non existent. Computer games
are more the rage. There is also a tennis court with 4 sides covered with metal
mesh. Most sports have their play time at night. there have been cricket
matches going on till 3.30 in the morning and tt has no closing schedule. the
good ol' 28 / 56 are unseen. Swimming is planned in a new swimming pool - but
the present lakes are unswimmable.There is also a gymnasium : pretty well
equipped.
General Stuff ( actually i do not want to classify the rest .. just paras in
random )
Each hostel has also a common room with sofas and TV and newspapers and
magazines : by and large rarely unvisited by the students. Also a lot of
students subscribe to economic times / times of india to their rooms. The TV
room is cramped for space when the cricket matches are on. people go and grab
spots 30 min before start of match for a decnt match. But come test matches its
empty. people are more contented to log on to cricinfo.com and get updates than
walk to the tv room. The main library is big and beautiful. lots of books.
magazines / newspapers / journals : again time crunch for it to be utilised.
The ruling students body is the students council. annual elections. 3 PGP
representatives. Each hostel has a mess secretary and a hostel secretary .A
general Hosatel affairs secretary ( GSec eqvt ) , then a sports secy , then 3
placement reps and 3 placecom members. Placements cell is the most powerful
unit. Summer placements start in september, final placements end of feb on.
Seniors will handle our summer placements and PGP 1 has to handle final
placements for seniors -a kind of trade off.
Tata has a presence in the campus c/o its Tata Hall which is a kind of guest
house to accomodate executives coming for training programmes. Students can
avail of the mess facility provided they give suitable notice : 60 rs for lunch
or dinner : but the food is much better than in the mess. Accomodation
facilities can be obtained for parents/ relatives :at concessional rates of
500 / room / day.
The main events of the calender year are the 6 exams : 2 per semester : 5
weeks of classes then exams. Then there is INTAGLIO the intercollegiate
management fest in november , eXCel in October where IIM C vs XLRI competitions
take place one year in XLRI and the next year in IIM C: events are in sports
and culturals. There is a World war for the first years which is basically a 4
day non stop publicity competition in which each hostel has to bring out a
theme and a mascot and popularise it: ie market it : make posters / banners /
slogans / give demos / make noise / skits / raids / in general a first hand
experience of marketing : a kind of 3 day long ad mad or brand wars
competition. This year WH had a theme of Balls and a motto of this ball is ours
with a globe on top. Also the main slogan was balls to u.
the night canteen has a better menu than mess: aloo paratha / plain paratha/
mooli paratha / bread / toast / omlette / channa / noodles/ maggi / chowmein /
tea / coffee/ pepsi / beer/ cigarettes/ sweets / cakes/ packet stuff/ milk
shakes / fruits/ etc room service also avail able. its a 24 hr canteen but is
called night canteen.
What might distinguish IIM C from others is a concept called tutes or tutorials
in which seniors take classes for juniors.These happen mostly at night at 9 to
2 at night depending on the convenience of the senios in question. a senior is
allotted 20 to 30 juniors and he or she is responsible for getting these people
good grades. They giive assignments which are supposedly more important than
the regular work and at times when 3 or 4 assignments come up one is dead : no
sleep just work and work.
The t shirts here are also quite interesting : Sack and crack is a motto : u
slack through the course but when the marks are out you have cracked it !!!. "
It is a tough job being smart , but someone's got to do it " " 7 lakes 6
semesters 5 blocks 4 lecture theatres 3 hostels 2 years IIM C "
The computers in the computer centre are IBM 1984 models with 16 bit memories :
so slowwwwwwwww that no one even goes there.Each person has a computer is his /
her room and the net connection is good. Downloads speeds of 150 + kbps have
been achieved but 20 kbps is more the standard. LAN is huge : each has 40 gb of
HDD at an average and so innumerable movies , of all kinds , games , project
reports, all songs possible and god alone knows what. internal messengers are
also there. There is something called a blue board in which students can paste
messages : this is the main medium of news in here : all details of schedules /
classes / birthdays / lost things / cribs etc are put here. On an average 50
-100 messages a day.
On birthdays the person has to provide sweets . He will be kicked at 00 am by
any and all and people are invited to come with Boots and before and after his
kicks his room sidemates are kicked. so a person will be kicked for his
birthday and for the birthdays of his "sideys". guys kick guys and girls kick
girls. There was one instance of a boy spending so much time in the girls
hostel room that for his birthday he was kicked by the girls.:-)
the lecture theatres are where the main classes are held. L3 is biggest and can
seat 250 people. L 1 is 100 , L2 is 120 , L4 is 150 seaters. Some lectures
taken by good profs are overfilled ie people from otehr classes also come down
and there might be people sitting o n the floor for the class. one of the small
LTS has : 42 tubes , 13 fans , LCD projector, OHP , screen , 4 panel
blackboard, cushioned seats , panelled desks , and all LTS are central AC.
Uncomparable to a college classroom.
I have been typing this mail in bits and pieces over the last 1 month and am
sure the paragarphs may not make coherent reading. I am quitting this on the
4th of August 2 AM and whatever is in is in and whatever is not is not. I have
tried to cover as much of the life as i could but i can see from a glance that
this is hardly comprehensive and even if i try to type more i may be able to
never stop :there is so much to write . At some stage I have to call it quits
and I am doing so now.
I would appreciate any and all queries , and hopefully i will accumulate a few
and answer to them in all. Hope fully I can be able to type out a IIM C story
Part 2 .. 3... etc . Will try but no promises. Ask for any specific details
you want to know to my personal email id : not the group ids. I am adding below
some mails / articles about life in IIM / Mba by some other people.Do not take
them at face value but be sure there is more than an element of truth in each
one.
4. IIM CALCUTTA from a girls point of view
It was just yesterday, after many days of reading many mails that the thought
struck me as to why dont i see any women participating in this discussion. And
if no other women are, then why dont I? Because, I, for one definitely have
very strong feelings about the whole issue...
And I think the reason i came up with was : How do i care??....i have lived
through that hell hole for two years and i really dont care toremember
it...really dont care to change it and really don't think any of this will
help....
Thank God for Nidhi...for her writing a mail and expressing her views....which
i completely agree with....and which make me feel that the discussion will
never be fair and complete as long as is it the judge, jury, defendents and the
witnesses only who speak...What about the plaintiff
here..what about the women....so i am going to volunteer my very personal views
on this discussion
I am not really sure if we (any of us) see the overall picture of what we are
talking about and about what happens with/to women as they go through IIMC.
Because these things happen in a fragmented way..spread over two years....to
different people (in varying intensities)and most of all the overall acceptance
and the lack of outcry is so huge...that they don't get noticed for what they
really are...gross injustice to a certain set of people...
Within the boundary walls of Joka, we have over the years created a place where
we feel that normal rules of society don't apply. Where civilisation as we know
it in the outside world ceases to exist in some ways...Morals don't matter and
basic respect for human beings is not really necessary...
I am going to just present a picture of some of the things i saw happen and
also went through some of them myself and i just want us all to take a minute
and think if any of us would have done of these things outside Joka at
all...and that if this was done outside the confines of Joka, what would have
been the repercussions of that....legal, moral and social....
A vey small fraction of the incidents that i saw at Joka in my two years there:
Putting up of a website which is the first thing which flashes on the screens
at the computer centre every time a person logs in and where a person can go
and vote for all the women in his batch and the junior/senior batch along
various dimensions...and no prizes for guessing that the dimensions were not
best smile, most intelligent person...etc..etc...
Putting up a well-crafted and witty poem in all hostels on two women colleagues
who are good friends with each other alleging lesbian relationships..just for
kicks and to show mastery at poetry
Not so 'Disguised' references to women in con quizzes and oaths linking them to
varied men on campus in extremely lewd situations and administering these
quizzes/oaths to the entire campus...do any of you men know how much effort it
takes to walk out of your room the next morning with your head high...when the
whole campus has read something like that about you the night before???
Commenting loudly (to ensure that the subject of the comment clearly hears it)
on specific parts of the anatomy of a woman player while a match is going on at
XL-IIMC meet??? Do you think anyone would care to still play a sport in a
situation like that???
A concerted effort by a guy and 30 people around him to continually harass a
woman until she finally decides to 'go around' with this person..doesn't this
person have a life of her own????
Photographs of women being ripped off/stolen from the common NBSM display...
Making sure that any woman who is wearing white during the dunking week is
actually dunked...
Each wing having a running rating of their women colleagues....reducing your
own colleagues to the level of sex objects???
Throwing of coins at the women while they are performing on the talent
night..by men who are drunk and have gajras in their hands...
Surfing through porn sites in the computer centre when there is a woman sitting
on the comp next to you or right behind you...
Trading and bidding for women during world wars,tutes....
etc.etc.etc....i hope you all get the picture....These and all other events
like these, i am sure, are punishable under sexual abuse, sexual harassment and
a number of other laws...then why do these things go unnoticed (or rather are
appreciated) in Joka...
Now this is not done to some unknown woman on the street...but to the person
who sits next to you in the class, who is in your own project group, who comes
from a respectable family, who is supposed to be one of the more intelligent
people in this country....what gave anyone the right to subject her to
something like that...
And why is all this done? Does she enjoy it? I am sure not...I shudder even at
the memory of such things...Are other people so devoid of entertainment in
their lives that this is what they need to resort to???? What happened to TV,
sports, comic books, literature, music, triple X rated movies, porn
magazines.....aren't those enuff for everyone's private entertainment that
people need to resort to stuff like this at whatever level and at whatever
scale....Why does even a single one of these events need to take place when
there are a whole host of other ways for everyone to have a good time..e.g. a
well organised con....or a fun dance party....or whatever...
IIMC has its benefits...The boy-girl ratio can make every woman feel like the
prom queen, Miss World or whatever else at some point of time or the other...
and then there are the pits...where you feel like society has stooped to i dont
know what century where women are just sex objects and nothing else....and i
personally would rather trade both of them off then have both of them exist...
however, if we all think about it...it is really possible to have one and not
the other....
So why does all/any of this need to happen..in the name of tradition???why cant
our traditions be clean and fun for all...why can't our traditions ensure that
not a single person gets hurt intentionally...why cant our traditions be within
the confines of the norms of normal society....Who gave us the right to create
an artificial society and at times a disgusting society within the walls of
Joka....when we all are actually a part of the larger world
outside...????????????????????????????????
Help
) etc. A fellow comes every 2-3 days to take your
)), dorm GBMS, dorm fundaes sessions!
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