The night of 14th July, 2016 brought a precursor to the many subsequent feelings of belongingness. An intimation from one of the seniors is all it took for the MMS batch of 2016-18 to up their antennas and start preparing themselves for the aspirational journey they had been waiting for all along. Speculations began flying around all us newbies about the nature, intensity and purpose of the induction program which was long under anticipation. Our exuberance was at its peak, and conscious efforts were being made to avoid faltering on our first interaction with the institute.
The eagerness also brought with it a sense of content and pride with respect to one of the biggest achievements in the lives of all aspirants. This feeling, common to almost the entire batch, gave rise to a multitude of expectations from the institute to an extent that we already felt like a part of the legacy before we had even entered the college.
Amidst all the complacence came a shocker – an assignment!
(Time for fun-fact #1)
At JBIMS (and it took an embarrassingly long time for us to realize this), there is no such concept as a pattern. Be it with respect to lectures (about which we are intimated anytime up till 11PM a day prior) or assignments (with the famous 3AM deadlines), JBIMS will more than successfully teach you how to render obsolete the one thing you hold very dear to your heart – sleep!
(Fun-facts will be back soon)
The magnitude of the assignment and the quality of our contribution towards it compelled us to challenge our definitions of smart and hard work. The assignment made us feel violated for some reason (strong word, I know), especially because of the comfortable month or two which all of us had spent living our kingly lives at our discretion. So with a heavy heart, we (more or less) got ourselves through the task, and managed to elevate our recently shaken pride.
Then dawned the day that we had conveniently assumed to be the beginning of a life-changing era for all of us. Who knew it would take less than a few hours to turn a life-changer into an eye-opener? Our individual and mass conjectures were brought down with a series of reality-checks, and it didn’t take us too long to realize that the journey ahead was far from being the comfortable dreamy one we had reckoned it to be.
Induction had begun! Leisure, food and sleep (remember fun-fact #1) stopped being necessities & started being luxuries. Social interactions got reduced to probably liking some close friends’ pictures on Facebook while they enjoyed their weekends. College became life, and life was (quite literally) mostly spent in college. Home was the alternate work place where laptop was our primary companion. At such a demanding time, parents were supremely helpful and understanding, and quite often sacrificed their sleep & comfort for assisting us in adhering to our drastically changed timelines.
Deadlines became even more stringent, with every passing day reminding us that one needs to take hard work to a different level to be in one of the most prestigious institutes in the country. But more importantly, they taught us that it takes conviction to survive through the two years which we expect to perpetually change our lives.
(Fun-fact #2)
Remember the adages like “You need to earn it to value it” or “You don’t value it till you have earned it”? If you haven’t understood them yet, JBIMS will ensure that your mind, body and soul are put to a test which will determine whether you have earned your place in the institute. Getting into the college is the first (and the easiest) of the challenges.
(Apologies for the spoiler)
The way it started, induction ended with a bang! Memories amassed throughout the time of the induction started being cherished, and the importance of the program was sinking into us as regular activities and lectures began. Idols started being created in and around the campus, with professors impacting us not only on professional, but also on personal levels. This ushered the first “real” feeling of belongingness towards everything related to the institute. We proudly started being a part of the college just as we started considering the college to be a part of us.
As of now, a month has passed, but the goosebumps which pop up with thoughts of the induction still don’t fade away that easily. With many fresh memories and aspirations, we now find immense pleasure and consider ourselves lucky to be a part of the rich legacy!
Hamara Bajaj!
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About the Author:
Omkar Patil is an MMS-I student (Batch of 2016-18) at JBIMS, Mumbai. Connect with him at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/omkar-patil-7439b915?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile