They all were delighted with high spirits. Dressed in formals, they were standing in queues to receive their diploma. They were smiling and crying at the same time, cherishing the last moments inside the campus. The convocation of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow saw 658 students being awarded their diplomas by Dr. Devi Singh, Director IIM Lucknow and Shree Deepak Parekh, Chairman, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (HDFC) who was the Chief Guest on the occasion.
409 students from the 28
th batch of PGP, 42 students from the 9
th batch of PGP-AM, 12 students from the Doctoral Programme along with 125 students of Post Graduate Programme in Management for Working Executives (WMP) and 70 students of International Programme in Management for Executives (IPMX) batches from the Noida campus received the diplomas.
From the Post Graduate Programmes in Management (PGP & PGP-ABM), the following awards were given:
Chairman’s Gold Medal to Mr. Gaurav Sharma
Director’s Medal to Mr. Prabhu Pritam Das
PGP Chairman’s Medal to Ms. Nisha Bachani
Reshma Sareen Memorial Medal for Best Girl Student to Ms. Nisha Bachani
Bizkool Medal for the Best Student in Information Technology to Mr. Girish Wadhwa
Budhiraja Medal for Best All Rounder – Ms. Akshi Gupta
Hari Shankar Singhania Medal for Best All Rounder – Mr. Aman Jain
Dr. Devi Singh in his speech highlighted the achievements and the activities conducted in the academic year 2013-2014. Speaking on the occasion he said, “This decade has been full of challenges for the institute, but together as a team, we have been able to face all of them and emerge successful. It has been a decade of professional accomplishments and fulfilment who is or has been a part of this institution.”
To build up the moment, IIM-L authorities had put an online timer 100 days back. The timer was a countdown reminding the class of 2014 that they now have 99...98...65..43..29..16..00 days left at the IIM. This had brought goose bumps to many.
It's the IIM-L sign board at the entrance that makes everyone go all nostalgic. "Standing near the board gave us goose bumps especially in the last months. I almost saw it for a fraction of seconds every time I entered the campus. It gives that strange feeling that no more will we see our campus. In other words, we are now more responsible,'' said one of the graduating students.
To hallmark their joyful moments, students wrote testimonials for each other which was be maintained in a book titled 'IIM prints', a copy of which was given to every student.
The huge batch of 2012-2014 will be missed dearly from every corner of the campus, especially the night mess which is the hotspot for gossips, eating and drinking in the wee hours of the night.
This article is written by Debalina Haldar, class of 2015 student at IIM Lucknow. Her novel, The Female Ward, was published in May, 2013. She is the Creative Head and Core Coordinator of the Media and Communication Cell at IIM Lucknow.
