Life takes a dramatic turn at this point – I’ll be staying in Ahmedabad for the next 18 months in NIRMA’s hostel for completing a full-time MBA residential post graduate programme. The date is June 18 2008, the time 10 am and the venue is NIRMA Hostel B (I realized by this time that B stands for Boys Hostel).
I reach the hostel first and meet the Warden who gives the room keys to me saying that my future roommate is already in and then he gives me his cell number to contact him. I call up this new roommate of mine named AC and he comes downstairs in a few minutes. I see this guy for the first time and try to gauge the guy’s body language, the way he speaks, etc. I realized that he is definitely Punjabi from the entire interaction. At that time, I had made a first impression of the guy but he proved it wrong during the next 2 years that we spent together at NIRMA.
I went upstairs and checked my room – Room No 401 and quickly kept my bags to rush for the registration programme in the college premises. The campus was impressive and well spread out, nicely planned to say at that time. I reached the college building in 5 minutes and then found my way to Room T1.
I see future fellow batchmates along with their parents busy in filling up forms, getting documents sorted out, DDs are kept ready and then interacting with the college admin staff in order to get registered for the course. I meet a couple of boys who overhear me talking with my Mom in Marathi and they come up and introduce themselves to me. Few of them I remember are KG (Czar), HK (Czar) and KJ (Bison).
After the registration, I proceed to the Kalupur Bank within the campus to open an account there – the purpose being to have close, quick access to money on an urgent basis. I see AC over there and when we opened our bank accounts, we got consecutive account numbers. Nothing magical as such about it, but found it worth mentioning here.
The next 2 days were all about orientation and some activities in order to get the group of students interact with each other so that they build contacts over the next 2 years and maintain them in the future.
Hostel life was something new to me but it was exciting for the same reason. I had 2 nice neighbours who were jovial by nature and made great friends later on – one of them is from Mumbai, AS and the other one I started called Babu Moshai in the initial 2-3 days named AR. This AR was so naughty that one day, as I was walking towards the hostel from the college, I took the usual short cut of passing in front of Hostel G and this AR started teasing me that I purposely took this route. The next day I change my route but was surprised to see AR take that old route himself. What a smart, cunning guy – don’t mind the compliment AR.
Then there is DT in Room 410, HG and KG (Czars) in Room 408, HK in Room 409, PD in Room 407, AG in Room 405, HR (should I call him HR or CG – you guys decide) in Room 404. Then there was DS in Room 406 who used to pass by every now and then, sing at the top of his voice and crack such crisp dialogues with ease that made everyone smile. The overall wing on this end of the 4th floor, I would say, was really great company to have around.
I have taken just a few names from our wing right now as I remember talking and interacting with these people more often in my initial days there. So, one plea to their roomies is that please do not feel ignored – I appreciate each one of you and your presence.
Apart from the wing, there were more people – of which I would especially mention the following: PS (or Bade Bhaiya as I used to call him), SG (Arre, Arre, Arre), VPG (every living being in NIRMA knows this guy – a menace), HG (still don’t know why people called him KT), SG and JM (2 Don Boscoites that I met at NIRMA).
The first Sunday came and a group of us students decided to spend the evening out – doing some shopping, eating dinner out and having some nice time talking with each other, knowing each other, etc. The following people were together on that Sunday: AC (roomie), PS (Bade Bhaiya), SG (fellow Boscoite), EP, SS (Golu) and from the girls end, there were PA and ST. All of us went to a place called Reliance Iskcon Mall by a rickshaw which was called Chakda (the name derives from the capacity of passengers that it is supposed to carry – six). However, these usually carried 12 people easily when going to and fro on the SG highway. We first did some shopping at the malls there in Iskcon area (I knew it by that name during that time) and then we were joined by RV and VS (two localites – the short and long of it). RV took all of us to an open-air restaurant named Millenium which was famous for its non-veg food then. All of us sat for dinner and some talking together by joining 3 tables. When the food came, especially Tandoori Chicken, it made the girls feel uncomfortable with the aroma of the dish (I would say aroma, not smell – being a non-veg foodie). We made arrangement for seating for the people who are pure veg at a distance from the non-veg foodies. The food was nice and filling – we had a good time talking too with each other, knowing about each other and our lives back at our own homes, our backgrounds, etc. After some more talking and interacting with each other, we made our way back to NIRMA Hostel. Again in a Chakda but this time with more people. We requested the Chakda driver to please park the rickshaw right in front of the Hostels so that we can avoid the walk to the Hostels from the Main Gate – at that time, this walk looked quite long, tiresome in Ahmedabad’s day climate.
From Monday, regular lectures and the proper week of classes was going to start. Mondays are formal wear days – so wearing a tie is compulsory. I didn’t know how to prepare a tie but I had got them ready made by my younger brother before I left for Ahmedabad from Mumbai. The morning experience was a unique one for me with sharing the bathrooms and washrooms with fellow students – interacting with them while brushing teeth or shaving the moustache and beard. Then came the time to go for breakfast in the Mess which was located nearby – the food at that time was of nice quality and taste as compared to the overall taste for the entire next 18 months.
I conclude the post now having remembered as much as I can. The next post covers the trimesters and projects that fall in due course along with the experience of working in teams for the project work, assignments come, hostel nights start rocking, birthdays come and music around in the hostel. Some interaction with seniors as well as with faculties too. I know that I would miss something or the other in my post because there’s a lot to cover. Also, I feel I may not be able to give justice to each one of the 119 students by mentioning them all in my posts. But a sincere request to all of you not to feel bad about it. I’ll try and cover as much as possible with as many people that I interacted. As usually, I look forward for you all to kindly provide your feedback and I’ll make sure I’ll write it in my next post.
Signing off now. See ya, friends!
