Day out at Ahmedabad

From the day I have arrived in the city, I have hardly seen anything other the red bricks - even the thought of crossing the gate of the campus did not come to my mind all these days. Let me clear a doubt here - we have no restrictions on going out just that I did not find any reason or time to think about it!! Thanks to the OM assignment - Yesterday I had an opportunity to go out of the campus to visit the head post office at Navrangpura. I was amazed to see the world again, the people, buses, noise and roads - hardly thought about them in the last 3 weeks at campus and it was all evident on my face. My group mates could see it all and I had no intentions of hiding it - I was amused after all - relishing each moment of my outing !!!

Huh .... This is what fachchadom can do to you!!!

The Campus

Now that I have new laptop...yes we got the new laptop after the grand welcome by our tuchchas. First week at IIM has been an experience, now I am as confident as the batsman who has seen through the initial overs and fairly equipped to face the rigor of the life time.

As I sit down to describe the 100 acre campus I am not sure where to start off.Let me make an attempt to take you through the hallowed portals of IIMA.

At the entrance of the old campus you find the Harvard steps leading to the Faculty chambers - yes as the name suggests that is where the you can find the teaching and assisting faculty. Then we have a five storeyed Vikram Sarabhai Library which remains the highest point of the campus barring the water tank ofcourse. Just go a bit further and you are at the old class rooms - CRs 1 - 6 . Did you find a lush green lawn just go there and now you are at famous Louis Kahn Plaza, the happening place of IIMA , just stand staring at the library and now on the left you find the way to auditorium - RJMCEI Auditorium named after the institutes first director Prof. Ravi J Matthai and on the right you find the way to the Mess Building which houses the mess and a canteen, cafe TANSTAAFL.

Now that you have seen the core of the old campus lets move on to the better part - 18 dorms in the old campus (15 boys and 3 girls dorms) . Each dorm has around 30 rooms with 10 rooms on each floor with almost equal number of fachchas and tuchchas. Oops the poor fachcha is a first year student and the godly tuchcha is his senior, guide and philosopher. Each dorm has a Dorm Rep, Fin Controller, Pantry Manager(s), Printer Manager and Beverages Manager - tough job in the dry state? Not really I guess. The first two roles donned by tuchchas and the others carried out by fachchas. Please note that some of the functions or roles are optional. The dorms are something that you associate to for the life time and this is the place where you begin to learn the art of surviving the most dreaded academic system on the planet.

Getting late ... lets rush through the 100 ft tunnel down there and reach the new campus and its not the red brick any more but still you can find the arcs and circles stating that its part of the WIMWI. This has 5 dorms - all boys with 40 rooms each and 5 class rooms CRs 7 - 11.

The time constraints force me to leave you out here anyways I would be over ambitious if I thought I would be able to tell you about the campus in a single post.