It was the last week of January when I got the first motivation to write down something out of nostalgia. I was writing testimonials for our batch yearbook, which served as a solemn reminder of the memories made, the knowledge shared and the transformations underwent. I was eager to write much more and listen from many others, but there was a limitation of words as well as time.
After graduation, there was a whopping three months’ home-stay before my joining. And it was the major missing, that finally gave the required push to start writing the novel. However, the plot had to be different from the clichéd MBA stories and so was our purpose. And then one of my trusted batch-mate, Aqueeb came to the rescue. The rest, what happened is incredible and a motivating story in itself. Sitting miles apart in Raipur and Kolkata respectively, we came up with the plot that could serve as an instrument of purpose for aspirants and an element of nostalgia for the fellow alums. And it goes without say, that a large part of the storyline is shaped by my batch of 2018.
In my two years of stay, I was blessed to be part of an underrated yet the most people-centric team of campus – the Media and Communication Cell. The eight of us, as a team was instrumental in dealing with the brand IIML to the outside world and that was the most fascinating part of our work. By virtue of that, I came across so many transforming stories on campus, that makes IIM Lucknow much more than just an institution of repute. It helped me understand that – there is no ideal MBA way and that success is to be defined by our own set parameters, and certainly not the ones set by our peer groups.
My tryst with that team came to a halt when I was elected as the CEO of the Senate, an apex body under the IIML student’s constitution for governing all clubs and committees. With a new role & multi-fold responsibilities, this tenure had brought me closer to many passionate individuals and their way of doing work. Our campus is a hotbed of opportunities; given one has ample curiosity and passion for experimenting with ideas.
Hence, my novel ‘Reminiscence of Hell: Life at IIM Lucknow’ became a narrative memoir from the lens of a protagonist Avanesh Dikshit, whose character is inspired from the real accounts of various Hel(L)ites, recounted by Aqueeb and me. And in the process, we paved way for the readers to experience the IIML way of life and what comes along with it. The anxieties and quests, the self-doubts and reaffirmations, the let-downs and wins – it has it all. We as an aspirant often used to poke people out there, to get more details of MBA life before stepping into it. This book is going to be that timeless testimony of every survivor of IIM Lucknow and explains one pertinent question, unanswered to most of the B-School fraternity – Why this campus is called HelL amongst all?”
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