Mumbai, also known for its liveliness, depicts the place that is always up and the City of Dreams. I had never liked the city, in fact, I’m not sure I like it, even today. During my CAT preparation days, the mere thought of sky-scraping buildings, bustling local trains running across and the humongous population of the city gave me goosebumps. Because for a boy like me who comes from a very small city surrounded by coalfields & forests, whose entire population is half the population of Dharavi, I was always afraid that I’d be lost here. Lost in the sense, that I would never be able to leave an impact, the sheer magnanimity of the city shall devour me, and I’ll just be another drop trying to reach the shore of the Queen’s necklace. Call it my ambitions or a dare taken in a jiffy, I decided to go for NITIE Mumbai after my results were declared. I was pretty sure that Operations is the thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and if it even meant living in Mumbai for the next two years, I was ready to give it a shot. Because it’s not hard to decide what you want your life to be about, what’s hard, is figuring out what you’re willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about.
With this thought, I landed on to the footsteps of the hill, at which God’s own campus starts. It was drizzling, and there was a cool breeze which touched me and left away, somewhere in the verdant campus, lost between the echoes of cuckoos sitting on the treetops by the side of the legendary NITI Sarovar. But wait, this wasn’t Mumbai? Or was it? It was for me to find out. While I sat in my room by the window and looked beyond, I saw a view which made me awestruck. A campus located at the heart of Powai, surrounded by the picturesque Powai Lake on one side and the never-ending Vihar lake on the other, all of this with Sanjay Gandhi National Park at the boundary. One might be forgiven for thinking that the campus is a resort masquerading as a B-School. And you know the best part, all of it in Mumbai. But is this what makes MY Campus unique? Well, I’m just getting started.
Although I can go on about the serenity of the campus and how beautiful it gets when it rains, but that is just a small part about NITIE. Known popularly as the ‘Mecca of Supply Chain & Ops’, NITIE can proudly boast about the quality managers it has been producing, who hold the helms for most of the Industry giants. But are we seen bragging about it? No. But as Harvey Specter says, ‘It’s not bragging if it’s true!’
Another unique thing about NITIE which I found out while appearing for CAT was that it admits only engineers. It is Moses for GEMs (the colloquial term used for referring to the majority of our breed) and gives us our shot at making it to the league of bests. What happens when a fish can’t climb a tree? It swims, in an ocean, living its life to the fullest, NITIE is that ocean for GEMs.
NITIE teaches you to be humble, you won’t be able to brag about the brand you belong to in front of your relatives and the people living in your societies. But the industry knows about our brand value, and that is what matters.
Right from the first class of Business Communication where you learn about the great MAHAMANDI from Prof. Prasad, to the lessons learnt in Supply Chain while discussing Caselets by the NITI Sarovar at 03:00 AM, you’ll learn in NITIE. You’ll learn a lot.
Climbing up the 96 stairs of wisdom to reach the hallowed ALB to attend morning lectures, and coming back and walking by the PPO road in the evening to get a PPO from the birds who return to their homes in the treetops surrounding it, NITIE is altogether a different experience.
My Campus is unique, unique in the way that it is an altogether different biosphere, shielded from the outside world, nurturing the beings and making them capable to live in the outside world and excel there. Because it is difficult to stay unaffected by so much of hustle and bustle in the city and give serenity, peace and an experience of a lifetime. But NITIE does that, with ease.
Remember the story of the boy who was afraid, which I told you earlier? Well, he has spent 6 months here already. And guess what, he’s not afraid anymore. Because he has come to realize that he won’t be the same after leaving this place, ever. He will become someone different, a better version of himself, a version capable enough to go out there and fight, and leave an impact, maybe!