What exactly happened that day, no one knows. A bunch of 120 unknown faces, (Thank God I knew 7 of them!!) staring at each other as the Director, Dean and the faculty kept bombarding us with “Rules and Regulations , “Strict Attendance”, “Discipline”, “Time sense”, not to forget the monstrous “CGPA” tales while we young and over anxious (anxious for the lunch break, maybe, or for the boring talk to get over and the day to end!) sat and listened. Some even made notes!
What followed, was a roller coaster ride. Like a REAL Roller Coaster ride. Or maybe, the journey of PGDM @ SJCBA would put the best roller coaster in the world to shame!
We weren’t spared, right from Day 1. For most of us, this kind of schedule was a Culture Shock!
80% Attendance?? Were they Kidding!!
We slowly began to digest the fact. As they say, if u can’t beat them, join them. We “joined” the system. We were all now- Josephites!
We entered class each day, panting for breath, trying to make it by 8.25! Even though the classes were at 8.30, we had a few “Strict Disciplinarians” who believed in entering class 5 mins early. Which of course meant that we had to be in Before them!! We waited. While the lecturer spoke, we waited, ever patiently, for the clock to strike 10, so that we could RUSH to the canteen for a lovely strong cup of syrupy brown drink that could be classified as coffee or tea. (yea, you can even call it Bournvita or mocha or cappuccino, it’s your wish! The drink remains the same!) And the routine followed throughout the day. How many cups of the drink we had to keep ourselves awake, nobody knew. Or perhaps, Anthony’s cashbox was mute but live spectator to this whole drama.
We lived in a constant fear of Surprise Quizzes (Remember the MIS Nilgiris problem!) and “Not-so-Surprise” quizzes, tests, presentations, assignments, mid terms, end terms, more presentations, more assignments, in-class assignments, take-home assignments, (Gosh!) etc. And in between all this, we even had to Study!! How???!!!! (Pah! Like THEY care!)
And to add Lighter moments to our never ending exam schedule, we had so much to do! St Ignatius feast, Little Christmas, New Year party, Founder’s Day, Father’s Birthday! (Yes, that was a bigger event than all of the others put together!) needless to say, we enjoyed every bit of it. (should I mention that all we had to do most of the time was listen to speeches and at the end of it get a free goodie box with the standard Veg puff/Samosa+ a slice of sponge cake+4 banana chips?)
Constant chaos, confusion, frustration, irritation, also got added to the regular happy, cheery, worried-sick, tensed emotions. (Courtesy new “administrative staff” in the second year!)
Placement season started earnestly and like every year, saw various ups and downs, tears and smiles, tensed moments, curses, happy-hugs, and what not! And then all of a sudden..it was over! Juniors announced our farewell party, and we realized, our short stint at SJCBA is getting over!
2 years rolled by, it was all over in the wink of an eye! To describe the 2 years in a nutshell, I’d like to say:
A thousand tears, million smiles
Walks that lasted several miles
From the canteen chai to ching-lung rum
There wasn’t a single moment of glum
Candid moments, we all shared
For each other, we always cared
Teachers became friends new,
Chatted and laughed, oh they walked the ramp too!
As the time came to bid adieu,
We realized what the place meant to us and how time flew!
A jouney we’ll cherish forever, despite a zillion groans,
Because in love we are- with the people, the campus, the bricks and stones!
31st March 2011. And its all over…but, as they say, every end is a new beginning in itself..
