We want to go back to Room No 3,
To the days that were fun, wild and free,
When there were cakes every month and Christmas was red,
‘Nothing else matters!’ together we said.
We want to just return,
Want our lives to take a U Turn,
Back to the day when we all first met,
The day which all of us will never forget.
It all started with me entering Room No. 4 on the first day of my MBA journey. I was just about on time thanks to the incessant rains that were pounding the city that entire week. Incidentally, that was the only time I was just about on time, after that I was always late. On entering, I saw a room full of people staring down at the most recent entrant. Quite unnerving! I glanced at the list of students put up on the soft board and did not find my name in it. I was told to go the next room. The thought of entering a room full of strangers staring at you again was at the back of my mind as I opened the door to Room No. 3. This time when I entered however, something felt right. It felt as if I had entered the right room. I saw my name and reluctantly sat on the first row of chairs next to two people who I guess were the last two people to come in. These two people were the first two people I met at SIMSR, Divesh and Sonia. This was MMS A.
As we settled in to know each other, Kunal decided that we should utilise the time to introduce ourselves instead of sitting idle. One by one, all 60 of us introduced ourselves. Most of us were trying to search for a common thread in each introduction that was being made. The freshers were looking for other freshers, the BMS graduates for BMS graduates and IT guys for fellow IT guys. What we didn’t realise was that we already had a huge common thread tying us all together inside that one room. This, was MMS A.
As the first week moved on, our seniors (who were surprisingly invisible till then) came to greet us. They told us about numerous committees and the confusing selection procedure for each of them. With this started a week full of interviews and GDs and results being declared for them. Quite a few of us were selected in some committee or the other. The first week also marked the arrival of the first event. It was an event called ‘Ice Breakers’, which seemed like a fun filled one with quite a lot of enthusiasm from their side to break the proverbial ice. We got into it with enthusiasm to match theirs and started practicing dances and dramas. Come event day, I guess I can sum the event up by saying MMS A was simply awesome!
After the end of the first week, started the grind of regular college work – project reports, presentations and various submissions. Words like Hard Copy, PPT and case study could be heard all around. Subjects like Organization Behaviour and Financial Accounting which even though were not the favourites, got most of the effort focused towards them. One of the stand out subjects where most of us were just there to have fun was French. Even though it was a difficult subject to grasp for most, the lectures used to be usually filled with fun and laughter. We were a fun class, where everyone wanted to have a good time while doing what they were doing.
Simultaneously, in all this hoopla there was the chaos with Summer Placements. Companies were regularly coming to campus and my classmates were converting most of them quite consistently. Most of the companies went back with at least one MMS A student on their payroll for the two months of summer.
Post the first semester exams, we discovered that not only were we having fun, we were also scoring better than the other class. We were quite a serious lot when it came to the exams. The unity and the friendship in the entire class showed when we decided to hold lectures for ourselves. It was decided that people who knew anything more than others would try and make sure everyone else knew it too. This effort labelled ‘Parallel MBA’ helped a lot of people cross the crucial 70 percent mark. It was great!
Then came the end of first year and all of us dispersed to our start our Summer Projects. We were half MBAs and were looking forward to get back to the work environment. Most though were looking for their first stipend.
On came the second year, and all of us came back to college on the 1st of July, 2009. Greeting each other with hugs and smiles as we met after more than two months, we realised how much we had missed each other. The excitement was however short lived thanks to us being separated to our chosen specializations. It felt awkward and weird to sit in a different classroom and with different people around. Of course we were never far away with our classrooms right next to each other, it was still not the same.
Time passed on and we got busy with the different subjects and different projects and different professors. Half of us still don’t know half of the other class as much as we should and the other half we knew, we loved.
The class of MMS A cannot be summarised on a few pages by listing down the experiences we had each day of the past two years. Yes, we had great experiences every day. But they do not define MMS A. It is something absolutely unique that defines MMS A. There are millions of reasons why something is the way it is. However, we do not need millions of reasons to find out why MMS A is the way it is. The following 60 words in the next paragraph are the reasons why MMS A is MMS A.
Aditi Divesh Archana Sonia Reddy Bhavik Manoj Shankar Viral Babik Aldon Dhara Tilo Darshini Saurabh Nishant Nishit Priyanka Saurin Vrushali Colton Chirag Shweta Siddharth Abhijit Mansi Nilima Sarika Aditya Deepa Sanket 33 Alfonse Aniruddha Chaitali Utkarsh Jayant-Mokashi Anjali Shrenik Samip Sujit Shridhar Kunal Chintan Hemali Keyur Mayur Parag Riddhi-Aggressive Riddhi-Dancer Urvi Jinal Piyush Karan Akhil Nimit Nikesh Jinesh Gaurav Dhara.
Each and every person made it what it is. Even the non-existent Jayant Mokashi was able to provide us with moments that we can never forget. No other class can boast of having three working PCom members who have lasted all two years. No other class can boast of having more than one CR and all of them working equally hard without bothering about being the CR. Most importantly, no other class can boast of having the sixty people listed above. Each one is as special as the other.
As happy as I am to say that I made 58 friends who I will never forget, I am extremely confident the 58 others are equally happy. I wish I had recorded all of the past two years in MMS A. On second thoughts, I don’t need it to be recorded, every moment is etched in my memory as if it was 2 years that started and ended yesterday.
Ideal Musings 