my initial impressions of my new home

the keyboard can never replace the pen for me but the situation i find myself in makes it mandatory for me to resort to this medium. my posts in the past have been few and far between. but among the many things i have promised myself i wil change, the regularity of blogging is one of them.


my arrival at Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad is a story of pure chance- something that i have realised now is common among a lot of past and present students of this institution. when i arrived here on the morning of... i really have lost count of the days.. i dont remember when exactly but i think around ten days ago... chance continued to play its role. i happened to be the first student of my batch to set foot at the institute. whats more, i was allocated room number 1 (they had pre-allocated the rooms and hence it had nothin to do wid my coming in first). whats even more, the name of the hostel was Palaash- the name of one of my favorite singers. i found a lot of joy in the fact that i was the first person to enter the place. dont know why. but the moment i set step, i felt i belong here. that i can call this place my home- the way i did to Narsee Monjee college for 5 years.

about 10 days have passed since then and they have been very eventful. its not as if we are inundated wid lectures and assignments and studies. but i havent really had time to sit back and dwell. its because i was busy taking in the atmosephere. making sense of all that the seniors, professors and alumni had to say- but most importantly what the place itself had to say about it. what i have realised is that i have reached just the kind of place that suits me. it suits me not only in its positives but also in its shortcomings. i have a weakness since childhood that whenever i encounter something too grand, huge or magnificent, or atleast is perceived that way, i tend to become uncomfortable and ovedrwhelmed. lets face it- this place is no IIM or Harvard. which suits me just fine. it feels more homely and friendly. i have realised that my aspiration here cannot be just to take all that this school can offer me- if thats the case then ill recover only half of the monetary and emotional fee i have paid. what will complete the deal is to give all that i can to the school. and i strongly believe i have a lot to give and mica has a lot to take. all my peers have asked these questions to the seniors and profs- how is mica vis-a-vis the IIMs? oh come on now! lets face it. u r here coz u cudnt get thru to an iim. so its obviously not as good as them albeit in the traditional sense of the term. mica is many more things- its a lazy resort for some and a place for purely creative pursuits for others. both of them are misconceptions which need to be corrected. but why demand answers from the school when you can be its answer? i feel the power here to change whats wrong bout this place- something which i wudnt have in a bigger b-school. i feel the the heart of this school is in the right place. it knows its direction and how to get there. this is all one can ask from its teacher. and this is all im askin from mica. but one thing thats much more true here than anywhere else is the fact that i hold the power to decide how much i take away from this place in the 2 years. freedom is a threat and an opportunity. i havent handled it in the most perfect manner in the past but im willing to try and change that in the next 2 years.

the lush green grounds which extend in every direction, the warmth of the air-conditioned library, the coolness of the summer-heated hostel room, the sound of the seasonal birds, the nocturnal stillness. its all is so very intoxicating. i have liked a few profs and found others to be below par. but i can live with that. the extent to which i learn in the classroom is anyways limited. but i love PAT (professor atul tandan)- he always asks the right questions and is a master story-teller. he reminds me of my grandfather who passed away 3 years ago. there is that glint of mischief, that youthful quality of reslessness in his voice. the same booming quality that made my Dada a darling of the entire family.

i havent made a lot of friends here in the deep sense of the word. there is always someone to accompany me at the dinner table, or to play table tennis or to go to the chhota canteen. but nothing more than that. but there is this acquaintance from my college who has also come here nad we have become very good friends. we tend to connect at a certain level. its not as if we talk very often but there is this assurance that she is around. to be frank i havent felt the need to make friends bcoz im findin as the days go by that im very good company for myself. im lovin spendin time wid myself- roamin the lawns by the day and the night. reading books and observing people. im loving the evening football and thenight volleyball. im go to bed every morning at around 3 or 4 totally exhausted and find myself totally awake by 8 in the morning. somehow sleeping seems an unnecessary chore here.

i remember something my friend had sms-ed me few months ago. nothing beats this- lying half naked in the middle of the field after a vigorous game drenched in sweat and totally exhausted. this place has provided me that joy. the privilege to experience it everyday.