2019 for sure is going to be a year of transformation , given that I was turning into a full-fledged 21 year old who was leaving home for the first time in her entire life - to join a B-School. Since this was my dream, I was excited. But I was also nervous wondering if I would be able to manage myself away from home and my native city. But nevertheless, my first week at IFMR GSB, Krea University has been really exciting.
Post the registration process, I was eager to see my room and my roommate- who unlike me had work experience. I was glad that I could learn from her expertise. The next day we had our inauguration, where we got to meet our Dean - Prof V. Anantha Nageshwaran, who also happens to be one of the 40 economists with whom the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi had interacted with ahead of the budget. We were addressed by the Chief Guest T Kannan, Chairman of Thiagarajar Group of Companies. He shared a few valuable words and told us to always stick to ethics. Later, we were addressed by Prof M Nagarani, Ms. G Janaki Ramachandram and Mr. G Ravi Shankar. The rest of the day and the next day we were given an overview of the various facilities provided by the university. All of us were very happy with the facilities and the various developments that the university was envisioning.
Parallelly, we as students also interacted among ourselves, excited to meet batchmates from diverse backgrounds. Students here are literally from every nook and corner of India, composed of different age groups and are a mix of freshers and experienced professionals. The diversity is like a breath of fresh air. It is beautiful to see how we bond with each other even though we were complete strangers until a couple of days ago. The forty-acre campus only aids the process, as we take long walks and play sports.
The professors exhibit great passion. There zest and diligence make the induction sessions extremely engaging. We are looking forward to the actual trimesters ahead where we will be covering more subjects relevant to our course. There is an environment of great interaction and healthy competition in the classrooms which really makes the classes something we look forward to. The dining area is filled with the energy of 170 first-year students as we interact, debate, sing, pull each other's legs and along with all this also eat food prepared with a lot of effort and care. As someone who is new to hostel life, I couldn’t be gladder. Hostels are well equipped and have friendly staff.
All I can say is that it has been a rollercoaster ride. If five days could be this memorable, I wonder what the two years ahead hold for us. Yes, it will get more hectic as we move ahead, but that is what makes it challenging and gives us that extra pinch of happiness as we tick our checklist of goals, one-by-one, having lots of fun all along.
Hansika Kalluri
1st Year MBA student at IFMR GSB Krea University