First View

Raipur, the capital of Chattisgarh, is more notorious for its proximity to the Maoist-dominated district of Dantewada than anything else. But last year when the HRD ministry decided to start an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the area, b-school aspirants began looking at the city anew with hope and expectation. Along with that came the corresponding anxieties of joining a new IIM, that too in a town that did not seem to have much to offer otherwise. Despite their initial anxieties, 69 students joined the first batch of the new IIM, out of which 66 chose to continue with the course. The second batch of students though is only 49 in number.

Located more than 10 km away from Raipur city, the drive to IIM Raipur takes you through green fields on either side, through the muddy, dusty roads that meander through them. As you leave behind the traffic of the grimy city and move into Sejbahar, on the outskirts of Raipur, you see that development has not knocked the doors of this village yet. The road swerves into a lane that has three buildings on its right. Out of the three buildings that belong to the Government Engineering College, one has been loaned out to IIM Raipur till they have their own premises. The four-storey building stands tall and intimidating amidst the rural landscape with endless greenery surrounding it and cows grazing on the fields nearby. Sometimes the cows saunter in through the rear entrance of the large kitchen on the ground floor and have to be shooed away by the cooks.

Another entrance is packed with bikes and cars that belong to the students, who use their personal vehicles rather than depend on local transport for venturing out in the city or anywhere else. By now the students have devised their own ways to get around. The 14 girls in the two batches have phone numbers of auto rickshaw drivers who come when beckoned; a rickety bus also offers its humble service every one hour, but is seldom availed of by the students.

The foyer leading up to the classrooms

Starting up

The classrooms are spacious and well equipped with the basic requirements for teaching. The library is just being set up, with the furniture that was delivered from Mumbai in July and books being gradually put in their place on the shelves. The gymnasium (fitness centre) opens up into an empty room where the equipment is yet to be set up. After a year of staying outside the campus in a girls hostel called Daughters Nest, the women have been allotted hostels on the second floor of the building. The 14 girls ( 12 in the first batch and 2 in the second) stay in two rooms of 7 each, with the room partition still being put together, but the view of the greens outside lend it a dreamy feel. The boys are on the floor above.

The in-house faculty count is still low four who have just joined in this academic session and four more are expected to join in the next quarter. A total of twenty new faculty members are slated to join the institute. The whole of last year, the students had to make do with visiting professors from the other IIMs. But has that not hampered the usual student-teacher interaction that fuels better understanding of subjects? The students are adamant that some of the visiting professors have had a long-lasting influence with them.

Take for example Prof S Ram Kumar of IIM Ahmedabad, whose unorthodox teaching methods saw the students consulting the Chattisgarh government on how to refurbish the local craft museum. Called the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum, it hosts many artifacts that reflect the culture and history of Chattisgarh. But it rarely sees any visitors because of the poor display and lack of advertising for tourists. The students were asked to draw up a marketing plan for the museum as a marketing exercise. The concepts of marketing, finance and operations were applied to cover all aspects of the plan.

The day I reached the campus, the director of the institute was in an all-day meeting with the board of directors to discuss the plans for the construction of their own building. The architect Moshe Safdie’s proposal for the building was being discussed on the day and he was there for the meeting as well. Safdie has apprenticed under the late Louis Kahn, who designed the IIM A campus in 1962. The new campus will be located 35 kms from the city, in what has been christened as Naya Raipur by the government of Chattisgarh.

“IIM Raipur’s building is going to be an iconic building,” said Dr BS Sahay, the director of the institute. “It will be a blend of the modern, traditional and cultural aspects of Chattisgarh.” The proposal for the building has still not been finalised and the institute is in talks with many architects for the same. In fact after more than a year, the logo of IIM Raipur is also in the process of being designed. Most things about IIM Raipur seem to be under construction in the process of being built or given final shape. Yet there is a mood of optimism, drive, joviality and bonhomie among the students, that is hard to miss.

When I ask students if all this gets to them, they jump to what seems like a practised but genuine defence of their institute: It will take time to develop, after all its not a private college it is a government enterprise. Everything takes time to develop because of the processes and the permissions involved. Besides, there is a flexibility here and then you get to define an IIM.

First-year student, Tarang Singhal left other offers like IMT, Ghaziabad and MDI, Gurgaoan because of the brand name of IIM and other reasons: I interacted with the seniors and realised that if I wanted to do something new, this was the place. After all A B-school is about applying yourself and here it is all about application. Is that another name for choosing the IIM brand name at any cost or genuine interest in being a part of laying the foundation for greater things in the future? Maybe a bit of both.

(Left to right) The library, gymnasium and the girls’ hostel are still in the process of being fully functional

Placements

The second year students were all placed for their summer internships, in spite of starting their session as late as October. The classes went on for six months from early morning to late at night so that they were ready in time to start their internships at the same time as the other IIMs. There were no holidays and no Sundays for the students. But according to Rajbir Singh from Chandigarh, this was only expected. On being asked if any students grumbled at this situation, Rajbir promptly answered: We all knew when we were coming here that the schedule would be rigorous, so those who had a problem with it, were welcome to leave. Out of the 66 students, 20 worked with the government of Chhatisgarh on various projects in departments of health, education etc.

Since most of the companies had finalised their summer placements by the time they started their academic session, it was difficult for the students to make a head way. Also the companies outside Chattisgarh would not come all the way to Raipur to recruit them. The students arranged for video-conferencing so that the interviews could take place.

After the interviews, the students got feedback that defined how they saw themselves in comparison to the other established IIMs. Some of the HR managers commented that the students displayed the IIM quality without the IIM attitude. For the pre-placement talks for the final placements have started in the end of August and the students are gearing up with various strategies in place. We will have a cohort system of placements, so all the FMCGs can come in one week and so on, said Aneesh Ajayan of the placement committee.

Be kind, unwind

The cafeteria is open all day and all night, and the student favourites are the two-minute noodles and chocolate brownies. Just next to the cafeteria is a badminton court that is a source of regular pastime for the students on campus. Besides, on weekends they go mall-hopping to the four large malls that are in the city. The insulation that the usual IIMs experience from the world just outside their campus is missing here. The students seem eager to know and contribute to the needs of its surroundings and the state. This is reflected in the keenness to partner with the government projects as well as more immediately local initiatives that the students are taking.

Sourabh Choubey is a local student who runs a coaching centre by the name of Catalyst, to train students for engineering entrance exams. There are two other students in the first batch who are from Raipur. The doctor in the batch worked closely with the governments health department and has already got an offer to work full time for the department.

Local engineering college students also regularly drop in to the institute to ask for advice on how to prepare for CAT and are expecting a change in the local student community. Apart from these instances, last Christmas, the students had gone to a nearby orphanage to spend the day with the children, they organised everything for the day. But the presence of the institute is also changing its surroundings in subtler, everyday ways.

Aneesh Ajayan, a second-year student, narrates how the professional work ethic of the institute is rubbing off on their neighbours. Earlier the shops around us used to open late and close early, said Ajayan. Some months after we arrived here we noticed that they started opening up earlier and closing later in the day. Maybe they were influenced by the work ethic here. Rahul Deshmukh, who belongs to nearby Durg, is happy that there is an IIM in Raipur. There is a visibility for this city he says. It will help break the myth that Raipur is threatened by naxalites and project it as a place where you can grow.