Having spent my childhood at the foothills of Himalaya dissecting India and Bhutan I was always intrigued by the natural beauty aof my countryside and also the amalgamation of people of varied ethnicity. The rural upbringing exposed me to the various cultures, languages and I was very much fascinated to be in the midst of this cultural confluence. I enjoyed my childhood celebrating not only Durga Puja, but Bihu too, along with Danda Puja, Bathow ritual, the Nepali culture, the traditions of Rabhas, Sautal, Oriya, the Bhojpuri way of life, their foods amongst many. I also had the opportunity to learn Bodo, Nepali, Rabha, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Nagpuri just by mingling with my childhood friends. But the quest of making a career drove me to cities where the cultural integrity is diluted because of modernization.
But getting into IIM Kashipur seems to be a redemption for me, with the campus situated at such a natural abode, with likes of Corbett, Nanital and the Kumaon Himalayas at the vicinity. While students at IIM Kashipur have this leverage of being so close to the mighty Himalayas, bike trips, adventure sports, trekking etc. are something that by the end of two years, every student experiences.
However, another interesting part of the campus is its cultural integrity, with students from all over India, IIM Kashipur celebrates almost all the festivals. During my first year in the campus, we celebrated more than 20 festivals like Handi Phod, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam, Bihu, Saraswati Puja, Christmas, Mahalaya, Durga Puja, Eid, Lohri etc. to name a few. It is worth mentioning the zeal and enthusiasm shown by the students while celebrating these festivals. Another riveting fact about IIM Kashipur is that the students are very much expressive and flaunt their regional clothing with great pride. It is a pleasure for anybody’s eyes when you see all students wearing the traditional white dhoti during Onam, traditional Bengali Payjama and Panjabi during Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja. Diwali too is celebrated with great vigour, energy and with a lot of glitters.
The days here are really amazing and captivating, the cultural diversity in the campus gave me another opportunity to relive my childhood. The curiosity to know more about different cultures once again intoxicated me and I started to learn and know about different languages starting with Marathi and going towards Telegu and Tamil. Although I am not sure how far I can learn these new languages, the process of learning is really invigorating.
I could not have asked more from IIM Kashipur from the cultural and traditional perspective, I just wish to make the best use of my two years and continue to assimilate more and more about different cultures.
Which ABG company would one want to work for and why?
I would like to work with Aditya Birla Retail Limited. Retail is such a sector that with the rapid urbanization in India, it is bound to grow. Being an operations and supply chain enthusiast, I feel Retail would be a very challenging and learning curve for me, where I can use the concepts that I learnt in my PGDM be it demand forecasting, reorder point, safety stock, fill rate etc. I feel with retail I will also get the opportunity to work on various decision models like transportation, transhipment, aggregate supply chain model.
- Dipankar Debnath