The alarm went off at 6 am and I nearly jumped out of my bed!
6 am.
It was the time.
Getting dressed in formals at early hours was a part of my life since the MBA interview season began in February’18. But this time it was different. I had made it to one of the prestigious IIMs in the country and today was the start of what was going to be a scintillating journey of 2 years and beyond.
We reached our Orientation Hall at 9 am and were overwhelmed by the aura and dignity of our Director sir, Prof. MP Jaiswal. His address to the newly inducted batch was reassuring where he goaded us to consider this opportunity as one of a kind. We were impressed when he laid down the vision of IIM Sambalpur on the pillars of innovation, integrity, and inclusiveness. Our chief guest of honour Mr. Ashish Garg, MD & Partner, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) galvanized our batch on the importance of risk-taking and how it is imperative for young leaders to seize the right opportunity at the right time.
It was an enriching experience to hear out such eminent stalwarts of the industry and our first day drew to an end on a high note.
The next day, Prof. Jaiswal welcomed us back and provided us with the opportunity to interact with our esteemed faculty members. The rest of the day continued with Prof. Niva Bhandari from MDI Gurgaon, who flew all the way to take a session on Business Communication. She emphasized the importance of honing good communication skills and relayed the same with excerpts of motivational videos and movie clips. The day after, turned out to be my favorite. Being a strategy veteran, Prof. Saurabh Pandya from XLRI was in campus to introduce to us the underpinnings of analyzing and solving business cases. Prof. Pandya and his vast repository of knowledge was instrumental in garnering stupendous enthusiasm amongst the batch by lieu of his unique approaches and principles. The second half of the day witnessed a lot of accounting and financial jargons being thrown at us by Prof. Vinay Goyal who is an extant faculty at IIM Raipur. A dynamic personality himself, Prof. Goyal spoke more like a college senior than a teacher per se! At the end of the day, we were left with a zeal to learn more and read voraciously.
The next day, which looked like any other normal Thursday morning, turned out to be a visit to our old friend, Statistics. Prof. Sayantee Jana, an erudite statistician, introduced us to the world of modelling and managerial computations. Being an analytics aficionado, I was excited when I came to know that Prof. Jana is going to preside over the entire course of quantitative techniques in our first term.
The second half witnessed the charismatic academician and IAS officer, Mr. Sourabh Garg who enlightened us on the scope, challenges, and conundrums of the agricultural community of Sambalpur and India as a whole. His eminence and rich pedigree of success spoke volumes, and we were humbled when Mr. Garg expressed his renewed enthusiasm for mutual collaboration with IIM Sambalpur in solving real problems ailing the agricultural economy.
The following and penultimate day turned out to be a test of mettle and endurance as we welcomed Step Consulting to the campus. It was a life-changing experience in the form of strenuous group exercises and outdoor games. We got to learn the benefits of building trust amongst ourselve, working in teams, learning the art of listening and planting in us, the seeds of an empathic leader. We were left pleasantly surprised to have IPS Officer, Mr. Sanjeev Arora, Sambalpur Division among us. Mr. Arora had an informal discussion on the importance of maintaining a secure online presence and warned us against the perils of cybercrime. Lunch was followed by the “valedictory” session which witnessed the dynamic Vice Chancellor of Sambalpur University, Prof. Deepak Kumar Behra along with the Vice President of HR and the Head of Vedanta Ltd, gracing the occasion. With an inspiring note on cultural development and seeking new avenues of excellence, we held our heads high, ready to take on the gamut of challenges these two years were going to inundate us with. After a cultural program and a delicious dinner, the grand Induction Week came to an end which left us a little pensive, to say the least! I feel lucky to have come to a place which is so unique and diverse in its own taste. All throughout the week, the PGP-II fraternity prodded us with reassuring smiles and benevolence which made us feel at home. I am convinced that we, the torch bearers of our institute, are ready to write history that shall forever remain etched in the hallowed portals of a magnificent place called ‘IIM Sambalpur’.