It was a normal day at the office, with an ever-growing schedule of calls but one thing that stood out that day, was the surprise mail from IIM Nagpur, announcing my admission into PGP 2019 - 21 two year course. I was anxious about the results, I have been counting days to the result every night before going to bed. Finally, it was here!
The feeling of happiness, joy, and nervousness was a heady mixture. The celebrations quickly followed because the deadline to join was too close than I had anticipated. I had congratulations pouring in, work assignments to complete, forms to fill, shopping and packing to be done.
The past weeks just flew by, and in a blink of an eye, here I was, standing outside the institute that was supposed to be my home for the next two years. I reached IIM Nagpur a day before the registration to attend the welcome dinner arranged by our seniors and the faculty members. I must admit that I had an interesting time meeting and interacting with seniors, batch mates, and faculty. The feeling that I have arrived where I wanted to be had eluded me until now, but being here on campus made me realize that I had arrived at the starting point of an amazing journey.
On the first day, we had the registration process which went smoothly, followed by an Induction Session, where we got to hear insights and helpful advice from Prof. Thiagu Ranganathan(who by the way teaches economics to us now) and the Guest Speaker Mr. Nitin Bawankule(a former student of our Hon'ble Director Prof L S Murthy, previously a faculty at IIM B) followed by dinner and interaction session by the SAC (Students’ Affairs Council), including some fun interactive activities arranged by the seniors.
We were given a timetable for the week, with interactive sessions by various faculties informing us regarding the infrastructure, policies, and processes at IIM Nagpur. Every evening, we had induction sessions carefully curated by various clubs at IIM Nagpur.
Every student participated in these club events, and all of us found these sessions intriguing and engaging. These club sessions were unique to each club and were cultivated by seniors to instil in us the essence of each club, and each one of these was a resounding success.
I was very excited to participate in all these evening sessions of clubs and competitions which usually flowed late into the night, somewhere till 2 am or 3 am. Each time we were assigned a group of a different set of batch mates to work with, and this helped us immensely in improving our teamwork and people skills. Each of these sessions was also an amazing opportunity to interact with our seniors, who were immensely helpful and fun to interact with.
My personal favourite was the Quantquest - a themed treasure hunt planned by Predixion, the Analytics Club. Nexus, the Media & PR Club, a team that also handles admissions – popularly known as The Adcom among B-School aspirants, conducted a competition on branding and campaign designing, which was fun wherein we were supposed to develop ads for different brands and promote them. Marx, the Marketing Club organized an innovative competition where we got to experience and learn first-hand, the thought process and the elements that are used in marketing. The Cultural Club of IIM Nagpur – Abhyudaya, gave us a glimpse of the exciting times ahead through a fun-filled evening of dance, music, poetry, and more!
As a part of the Induction week, we had a full-day workshop by ‘Team Breakthrough’, where we were engaged in learning the nuances of the ethical and personality aspects of an MBA life through several fun activities. It was a truly enriching experience!
The next day, we had a day-long workshop by Ms Aruna Gopakumar, a leader in leadership skill training. We were engaged in team activities that made us understand our peers better. It enabled us to connect with our peers with a deeper level of understanding.
On the last day of Induction, we had a community outreach activity with Slum Soccer Team, an NGO based out of Nagpur, which engages slum children in education and ethics through football. It was a wonderful experience playing and interacting with those amazing kids and organizers.
All in all, my first week at IIM Nagpur was an amazing start. It was a wonderful roller coaster ride, with surprises at each bend and memories that I will cherish for a lifetime!
About the Author
Aiswarya is an Electronics and Communication graduate from SRM University, Chennai. She worked as a Data Analyst for Honeywell. She loves reading different genres of books. She likes playing chess, swimming & cycling during her free time.