Life at IMA

We arrived at Bangalore, unknown of what is in store for us. The first day was slow and spent settling down in the hostel rooms and interacting with other students. We spent 6 days at the hostel and mess, roaming around looking at everything. The one thing for which we went to the academy was the online registration. Rest of the day was spent getting to know the others in our batch. Then came 11thMay, when the classes were to start. Being the first day, most of us were late to report to the academy and got a scolding from the director on day one itself. What a start! The first session was at the terrace, where the Director and the Dean addressed all the students. All of us were allotted our sections. When we went to our respective class rooms, all the students looked a bit hesitant to interact the first day, as none of us knew each other and my friends were in other sections. Then slowly and steadily, all of us got to know each other and became friends. There was suddenly lots to do, it was like a roller coaster ride for us at IMA. None of the days seemed boring.

The day started with the security guard blowing the whistle at 5.40 in the morning. This was a wake up call for us to get up and go to the ground for PT, if not our stipend would be cut. The PT sessions reminded us of our school days, when we used to skip exercise. After PT, at 6.30am we got ready to go to the academy at 8.30am. The lectures started from 8.30am and continued till 6.05pm.

There were presentations and assignments to be completed for each subject each trimester. We were so occupied the whole day that we sometimes would not even realize how the day ended. After tea again we would go to lab either to complete modules, or for preparing our ppts for our presentations or for surfing the net.The workshops which were conducted in between were like refreshments for the students, specially during the Second Trimester, as there are 5 banking subjects.

2nd trimester was fun filled with Branch visits and RPC visits. All of us were very close friends, as a section, we still celebrate each one's birthday with a cake. We had Mr.Raghvendra teaching us Banking 3. it was a great expereince with him. He had also taught us banking in the First Trimester, and Second Trimester we could connect each aspect of banking thanks to him.

Then second trimester exams started; more than the exams the thing that worried us was which specialization we'd be getting for third trimester. The news was given to us on the day of the second last exam of our second trimester. After getting to know that, we could hardly concentrate on our studies, our sections were also shuffled. All new students again, reminding us of the first day at IMA. But some old friends were still there. I cribbed a lot about the classes being shuffled, but then change is bound to happen. Slowly and steadily we adjusted to the new class as well. The great thing learned from IMA is accepting change and going with the flow and winning despite all odds.

Though third trimester has just begun, the countdown for getting back to our homes had begun. At this point its a mixture of two extreme emotions. For one all are happy that only few days are remaining to get back. And on the other, we would be leaving IMA. The lectures won't be a part of our schedule, no PT in the morning, no PPTs to be made, no more dreadful exams.

Only few days remaining for us to go back and join our respective branches. Left with us will only be memories... Though all of us are staying away from our homes, from our parents, it has taught us to be confident, face all situations with courage, never underestimate ourselves and aim high in life.

Some months down the line, working in our respective branches, a thought would flash by, of the days we spent at IMA, of the times spent at Radhika, at the Samosa wala, cribbing about mess's food and about the strict rules of IMA, the lab sessions, the outings, the ups and downs we went through, in studies, in friendship, with ourselves........ Unforgettable days at IMA...

DPL- Dhani, Palli, Lalli

This post is dedicated to my best friends Dhwani, Prerana.

I joined St. Marys’ school when I was in the 9th std. Everything was new in this school compared to my previous school. Previously I was in a co-ed school. And St. Mary’s was a convent school. The girls here were basically full of attitude.

One of my so called good friends was Niharika- a total weirdo. She used to talk all nonsense. N others in the class were her followers. One girl even used to carry her lunch during lunch time.

Our English teacher Sridevi miss was so good hearted that we used to bunk her lectures in the name of dance practice in 9th std. She actually used to believe us on this. We had a lot of fun bunking periods. Even Niharika was a part of the dance group. Of course that dance group never performed together. We all had some problems n me n Dhwani backed out from that group. N we felt so bad for this. Only after that time did we come to knw each other in 9th std. Niharika was truly a back stabber. After that we stopped talking to her. The final outcome was a stupid song with a bad choreography.. ;)

Then our results of the final exams were out and that day, we got to knw tht our classes had been shuffled. Only Dhwani was there with me. But 10th std days were some of the best days of my life.

Our 10th std lectures had started in vacations itself. My bench partner was my best friend Dhwani. Sitting in the next row were Prerana, Charu, Smita. Smita used to sit with a weird girl named Sugandha, she wudnt even allow us to sit on her bench during free lectures. She just kept her bag on the desk to show us that ‘U cannot sit on my bench’. Prerana and Charu sat together, Prerana was a girl who was so quiet and all into her studies. She was in my class in the 9th standard, but I hardly knew her name. Wenever there used to b free time, she used to complete her notes. Totally opposite were me and Dhwani, we used to blabber so much that even our teacher got used to it.. she used to ask us to sit in the last bench and chat as much as we want. Lakshmi miss used to say “both of u if u want to talk then go to the last bench and talk whatever u want, let others concentrate”. Hehe

The famous dialogue of our Hindi teacher “Bilkul besharam ho”… N that too she used to tell this to Dhwani… whereas I was the one who never stopped chatting. but even after this we didnt stop troubling her.... ;)

And Prerana was the one whose notes were up-to-date. Hindi k sare notes usse hi copy kiye hai. In fact not only Hindi, all other subjects as well.

But the one teacher whom I was scared of was our English teacher Bhattu miss. She used to hate me .. literally. Everyday she used to find some or the other fault in my homework. Once she even threw my homework book. I just hated her. To impress her i even participated in moral science class discussions but even that didn’t help.

She even used to pick on Dhwani sometimes, as she was very particular abt our uniform n the shoes that we wear. Once she saw the shoes which Dhwani was wearing n she dint like it n told Dhwani to buy a new pair, n Dhwani very daringly removed her shoes in front of the whole class n showed her that her shoes r perfectly fine. Iska pura badla me n Dhwani took on other teachers by never listening to them.

It was April 19 , Dhwani’s bday. When I enetered school with Charu, I saw Dhwani. Shes like Lali aaj kaunsa din hai .. n stupid me I cudnt even recollect that it was her bday. She felt so bad, cos only I knew that it was her bday. Poor dhwani , her best frnd dint wish her.

Then we had vacations for some days. During these days, Niharika and me patched up. Then we had gone to Fantasy Land, myself, Niharika and Sonam. That was such an exciting trip. I never imagined it would b so much fun. We became frnds with two guys there. Oh my god, that guy was just amazing. His name was Brijul (vague memories though, cant even recollect his name properly). The other guy was Shashank (chipku in other words) jo Niharika k piche padgaya tha. N Brijul was with me.. hehe …and we had such a gr8 time together.. I so wish we had exchanged our numbers. But unfortunately we didn’t. N I cud never find him again. At that time even Orkut was not there. But I still remember him n will always. Wat an amazing experience it was, to b a whole day with someone u don’t even knw.

After that school reopened. I used to reach school at 7.30 sharp, as I used to come by school bus. n dhwani, she was always the late comer, just before the gates close she used to come running. As soon I saw her coming I screamed loud, came running to her to tell her about my short Love Story, oh god, even the whole day was not enough to tell her what all happened. Even she should have been with me that day. Then kitne dino tak we kept on discussing about him, all day long, during periods, lunch breaks, assembly time. My god, I was crazy. I have written so much about him in my personal dairy, till date I haven’t forgotten that awesome day.

And comes the day of picnic- to Suraj water park in Thane. Even on the day of picnic till the last moment we weren’t sure of Dhwani’s coming. And there enters Dhwani, when the roll numbers were being called. Roll no. 57, no answer again roll no.57, there comes Dhwani, shouting “present Miss”.That picnic was amazing, Charu wasn’t ready to come to the disc because she was feeling suffocated. Hehehahahaha. Charu was a very sweet girl, but behaved weird at times. She was there with me even in my tuition classes. The one thing that she hates is pouring water on her hair. N  one day I did just that. She got so angry, that we didn’t talk for soo many days. During classes we used to go together, but she didn’t talk to me. After all that natak, she became normal finally.

At the time of any functions in the school hall, we used to decide who has to bring which chocolate n bring for all. Dhwani used to get Butter Toffees n strawberry heart chocolates.

And the PT lectures, me n dhwani always used to avoid doing anything, especially Dhwani. Whenever our turn came we used to again go and stand at the last position.

We had a locker beneath each bench, in which I used to keep srk’s poster..n many many things. That time our favourite was Dr. Rahul of Sanjivani and Pratham of Kutumb, my god we were crazy. We actually used to discuss all the episodes during lectures. My most favourite was the keychain which Dhwani had gifted me, but unfortunately someone stole my purse in which I had kept the keychain. We searched a lot for the same one, but in vain.

Before prelims we used to study together, even during lunch breaks. I used to teach Maths to Dhwani, she used to teach me History n Geography.

During our prelims we used to walk home. All of us Dhwani, Prerana, Smita, Charu n me. Prerana stayed at Thane so we used to drop her till Thane n return back to Mulund. There was a special reason behind it, we had once seen a very cute guy on our way back home, n due to this we used to walk home in the hope that we wud b able to see him again n we did see him again. He was so cute.

A small problem was that Miss Dhwani didn’t like Prerana, Smita and Charu. Even during lunch breaks, only me n Dhwani used to sit together. Then due to some problem Dhwani dint come to school for almost a month. At that time, I was all alone, n then I started talking to P, S n C (Prerana, Smita and Charu). Then after a long time Dhwani came to school. She had to bear with them for my sake. But things changed gradually, she almost forgot that she dint like them. Then we all started being together. And still r together .. n will b forever n ever …. N ever … Charu n Smita somehow are not soo much in touch, but Dhwani, Lali n Peru still are.

 We have had so many special moments that they are just countless.. infinite ... n everlasting...

The three of us have a unique nick name – DPL – Dhani, Palli, Lalli.

These were the golden moments of my life… still more to come….