And so i land in Modi-Land. Fresh as a lily after close to 27hrs of stop-stop travelling (as opposed to non-stop). Entered the Hallowed portals of the IIM of A at break of dawn. And boy, was i impressed. The place is certainly HUGE. Huge beyond, what is probably required. Huge beyond what we usually visualize huge as. Huge to the extent that one can get nowhere even after roaming for a few dozen minutes. Huge to the extent that the vacant part of it can easily accomodate some other developmental activity such as a hospital or a dozen primary schools. Huge being defined here as close to a 100acres!!

The very next thing that will hit you hard once you step inside any dorm is the eerie silence that envelopes you, taking you completely in its arms and squeezing the life out of you. But then, I’m told, the silence is not necessarily only due to the vastness of the place. It is also a silent reminder to the fact that people hardly get a chance to chit-chat. At the same time, it talks volumes of the seriousness with which each student at the institute takes the academic rigour. Definitely it is not for the faint-hearted, says Anuj, a second year PGP student and a regular PGite on our forums . And in recent times a few people have actually taken other b-school seats leaving IIM-Ahmedabad, most probably for fear of not being able to stand up to the demands of the program. But somewhere inside, it is probably this rigorous program that has seen IIM-A scale new heights with every passing year. It is probably the result of this sense of intense discipline that we regularly hear of IIM-A grads making it real big in the corporate world. It is the inability of the people outside this campus to come to terms with the fact the people can actually go for days together without a wink of sleep, that people who have cleared what is, arguably, the world’s toughest entrance procedure for a b-school now have to slog even more to retain that seat and graduate successfully. Indeed, the vacuum is as much as in the outside world as it is in these silent corridors.

As IIM-A prepares to formally inaugurate TATA Confluence 2004 in a few hours from now, it indeed gives me great pleasure that PaGaLGuY.com has been invited to be a part of this festival of management intellects. Considering that the next big step for schools like IIM-A to be taking is to attract quality international applicants, it is time that she starts reaching out to prospective students and like one of our members posted on a thread, what better place to start than with PaGaLGuY.com

Dateline: 21st October 2004,

Place:IIM-Ahmedabad, TATA Confluence 2004

Discuss this article in the Forum!