From rags to riches - the true IIM-I story

This is a true, honest story cum tribute to the Class of 2005 of IIM Indore, our seniors, who are leaving the campus. Little is spoken about the batch and their achievements. When I started finger counting what all they’ve accomplished in a matter of 2 years, it’s quite astounding. Honestly.

When our seniors joined the course, IIM I was functioning in some old and an arguably dilapidated Government College building in a dusty town in Indore. The old 'campus' - if you can call that one – was just a building and some parking space. Outside the boundary, there were only tea shops and some unobtrusive establishments – true old rural Indian style, not the ones you can look for in downtowns. The roads outside were broken, dusty and water clogged during rains. Inside the hostel blocks in the new campus, there was no permanent internet connection. They had to go out to the old campus to browse for two hours a day. The Class of 2005 was 115 strong, the first batch to cross the 60 numbers. Understandably, they must have had one hell of a lot of apprehensions about their decisions of joining. As the academic buildings in the new campus was getting built on the hill some 10 Kms from the old one, and as their batch was of double size that the earlier ones, they had to travel in the college bus everyday from the hostel blocks in the new campus to the classes in the old campus. Although the curriculum was good and rigorous – it had just stopped receiving support from IIMA - the institute was on the continous process of recruiting professors and building infrastructure, library etc. The placements for their seniors (Class of 2004) – both summers and finals – never got over in the typical 3 days/4 days timeframe as it is quoted across the top B-schools. Attendance requirement was, hold your breath, 100%. Library was housed in the old campus (and hence inaccessible for the most part since hostels were in the old campus), electives weren't as comprehensive as it is now, and hence most candidates took similar electives offered by the institute. And then things changed. Our seniors probably wouldn’t have dreamt the transformation of things before they leave the institute.

As the need for basic facilities – library, permanent net connection etc was increasingly felt, our seniors started fighting for these. Things started to change slowly.

In the second term of their course, the academic blocks were ready in the new campus, and they officially stayed and studied in the new environment. They fought for the internet connection, and during their second term, a LAN network was up. They started several interest clubs. They achieved a 100% summer placements quite fast – in relation to their own seniors. They fought tooth and nail for good professors and electives. The library with online facilities was up, the auditorium was ready, and, by the time we came in, things were ready and perfectly smooth. 3 start type hostel rooms, a breathtaking campus on top of a hill, library with online facilities, electives offered in many streams, more faculties and a 75% attendance norm were in place. Little did we realize that all these were premium privileges that we assumed for granted. During this one year, the second year for our seniors and first year for us, things have changed dramatically. Foreign exchange programs are in place, our summers got over in no time, lots of new faculties are in place, and more importantly, our campus is wireless enabled. Yes, some of us have Wi-Fi laptops and could connect to net from any place in campus without an inch of wire.

As sentimental feelings run high, and amidst all the ‘last’ activities – parties, quizzes, mails, games, eat-outs, movies, music and the like, most of us don’t exactly realize the batch that our seniors were. PGP2, hats off to you! You guys really deserve a bow!