By Ramendra Singh
IIMA FPM

On May 28th,2005,when I entered the hallowed ‘bricked walls’ of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad campus after 5 years of corporate life and a premier MBA degree, I wasn’t sure if I had taken the best decision of my life. I had been rejected once before in FPM interview in 2003, by the same panel that selected me this year…and I didn’t know how to interpret my merit as a prospective doctoral student. “This would be a U turn in your life….I am sure you may have guessed that already…,” one of the panel members remarked.

By Vaibhav Bhamoriya
IIM Ahmedabad, Fellow Programme in Management.

"Even before the start of the course during the induction program the students are put on an induction field visit where they stay on their own with an appointed family for a week. They also have to manage their return at the end of the week on their own. It is really helpful in allowing the students to make an informed choice about joining the program. There is no other program or institute which gives such a benefit to the students. Most other induction and orientation programs are eyewash and talk about the facilities at the institute. At IRMA it is meant to acquaint the uninitiated to the development sector and the hardship that might lie therein. The information meted out is also one of the most honest and goes beyond the factual into lots of qualitative information as well. "

By Ashutosh Kar
IIM Ahmedabad Class of 2007

20 hours and 300 seconds!! "I looked at the clock. Fifty-five past eight. Hell, No! My heart skipped a couple of beats and I landed ‘thud’ into the reality, with all traces of sleep vaporizing in a flash. Less than 300 seconds away from the first lecture! ".

We at www.iimcatwalk.com always think of giving our readers something unique and something that creates interest in IIMA and people associated with it. Professor M S Sriram's classes in IIMA are always interesting as it used to be real fun for the rest of us, when poor CAs (Read as chartered accountants) are taken for a ride in the first course of accountancy (MANAC).

By Preethi Krishnan
TISS Class of 2006

This is what I call TISS! "The place let you be. Most people in the batch will tell you the way each one has changed. No matter what you do, you will feel yourself evolve as a person in two years making it an experience to remember for a lifetime. Well, that’s what you call education!".

The Indian government may have its way in implementing reservation in IIMs and other premier institutions. As the critics say, these institutions will be no longer the mecca of meritocracy. Faculty might be more demotivated as even the intrinsic motivation and thrill of teaching best minds of this country may no longer be there. Again the quality of education and evaluation will go down!
And on the other side we ask more questions.

Does this country not even have a 100 bright minds a year from OBCs and SC/STs? Are you again restating the fact that OBCs are under represented? Do they not have the right to come back after years of social discrimination....?

These questions are all debatable. However the more pertinent question to ask would be who would benefit through these reservations? Will the business community within OBCs use this to stage a back-door entry? Is it the same guy who some how managed to clear IIT or NIT that he got through reservations coming for the IIMs? Will it be the same IAS / IPS or any other highly placed professional's son/daughter coming in through these politics of religion and caste? Is the real poor and the discriminated community getting the benefits out of all these?

Answers and questions do not end here. However here is a piece of thought for you to read.
Read here

By Prashant Chadha, PGP 2006 -IIM Ahmedabad

Life at a B School Many bright minds amongst you would be making the transition from the technical stream to more of a business or managerial stream in the next few months. You’ve worked hard, proved your intellectual capabilities and business acumen. You enter the B-school on a high note, and there is nothing wrong with it. However, you need to take utmost care during the two years you spend doing your MBA. Rather than giving you a sermon on how to lead your life during these two years, I would like to tell you about the mistakes I committed, and how I think I could have better optimized my two years at IIMA.

"If, god forbid, you were to be recruited only in the latter part of the season, you may have interviewed with over twenty-five companies in the space of three or four days. By the end of the day, most students are aching to sign off on the first job offer they can get."
Sidin Vadakut, IIM A passout of 2005 writes about the crazy process that gets everybody a job, that even the candidate is not sure about.

YOUNG ICON
Sweet dreams are made of these
From the slums of Chennai and selling idli’s on the street, to an MBA degree
from IIM-Ahmedabad, Sarath Babu’s journey has been remarkable. He shares his
story with JHUMARI NIGAM-MISRA