A quiet path winds its way up the hill side climbing steadily, through lush foliage. Coming out of the populous and busy city of Pune, it feels like stepping back through time to the past when life was much simpler. The winding hairpin turns eventually lead to a tall pair of gates which is when it hits you.
Symbiosis International (Deemed University) was established in 1978 as one of the best B-School in India. Symbiosis has various institute all over India, but SIBM Pune is the most beautiful campus among all.
It is 2:00 P.M., 22nd June (Friday), 2018. There is a lecture on Market Management. It was going to tough for students due dizziness in post lunch session and tough for faculty also, as to keep students attentive. Professor came into the class and greeted us. He glanced through our faces & identified that strong dizziness. He thought for a while and said, “Today we are going to invent new products & will market them, right now, here in the class.” Everybody was just confused and was thinking, “How we can invent something just now?”
Vishwamitra, a character from the Ramayana, pursued King Dashratha, father of Lord Ram and Lakshman, to allow him to train the young boys with practical skills as they would one day be King. He would train them in the forest. The King agreed after much persuasion by the sage.
Peeping through the car window, moving along a narrow paved road, which I later came to know is called Sus Road, I saw a building on top of a hill. The map on my Uber app showed a series of hairpin turns which were yet to come. This was the first time I was visiting the campus of my b-school - Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune. The hairpin turns led me to the premises of SIBM, sitting on top of the hill like a crown. Well, I had fought a good number of battles to reach the crown. And finally, standing in front of the black main gate of the college, I realized that each one of it was worth the effort.
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”
It was the first day of academics and classes. Everyone was tensed, anxious, upping their game in terms of subject matter and current affairs. We were in awe of the teachers that had taught us in the first few lectures. Intimidation- Yes, somewhat! Everyone may have a perception that B-school classes involve rigour and competition and this was our mindset going into the Operations Management class.
According to the English dictionary, crazy means- “mad, especially as manifested in wild, or aggressive behavior or someone extremely enthusiastic”. However, our batchmates at SIBM Pune manifest “craziness” in their own sweet terms:
