“Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic far beyond all we do here!”
~ Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
If music is magic, as JK Rowling so lucidly expresses above, my journey of more than three months here at SPJIMR, has been nothing short of magical!
In the extremely talented batch of ours, having a musical inclination is a norm. We have a dozen of guitarists, couple of drummers, two violinists, and instrumentalists for classical Indian instruments Tabla, Veena and Sitar. This, over and above the plethora of both trained and untrained singers we have on the campus. Such is the profile of our batch, that as future leaders, while still excelling at our work, we would also be in constant touch with the more humane side of life, thus making us more empathetic.
We have a music room of our own with many an instrument, which we recently upgraded with faculty support. As a musician, I have always dreamt of having a full-fledged music room where I could take time out to practise and meditate in my musical escapades. And here I got just that!
Above all, we have a management which not only encourages us but also facilitates our creative pursuits wholeheartedly. This support is the manifestation of SPJIMR's core belief - the belief that an individual is not defined only by his CGPA or scores, but also by his holistic personality, empathy and courage to be true to himself and the society at large - something that the entire SPJIMR family prides itself upon.
For an untrained singer and amateur guitarist like me, this management institute has been as much a music school. Despite several stage performances before SPJIMR, it is here that I got the opportunity to collaborate with such a talented bunch of musicians for the first time. I must say it is a lot more difficult to give a collaborative performance. In the process, I get to learn something new each time I practise with others.
The first time I had this opportunity was during our Personal Growth Lab (visit to a nearby hill station), where we were given barely a few hours to connect and create a collaborated musical performance. For the first time, I had seen and performed live with a violinist. And the audience's roaring response to our performances was tremendously encouraging. That gave an amazing start to my musical journey here. After this, there has been no looking back.
Be it the Independence day, where we sung our hearts out in patriotic zeal or be it Teachers' Day, where we collaborated with our beloved professors, music forms a vital part of every celebration in the campus. Music from different cultures and regions of India makes the scene all the more colourful.
Moreover, in collaborating this, we have created this lively community of musicians where we share diverse kinds of music with each other from across the country and world music, thus helping one another grow and learn further. Thinking about all this, one wonders what life would be without music be it in management or life at large!