G.I.M mein main.....

Kyun ruk gaya, yeh caravan mera…

Kyun aankein numm hai meri, kyun lagta mujhe ho raha kuch juda !!

Lagta hai yun mere jaane ki, hai yeh ghadi …

Dil keh raha, aye waqt tut ham ja yahi… abhi!!

-GIMSONG

Goa .. Oh man what an experience! Oh ya - The MBA too!!

I always thank my sound mind to make that decision & do my MBA in a college with such unimpressive rankings, mediocre placement statistics and a clear location disadvantage. But the education turned out to be pretty impressive, facilities very up-to-date and faculty very competent. The institute lives the life of a recluse: always working on its ethos, never attracting limelight and has a potential to change the world. My alma matter gave me opportunity to blossom - to learn to grow. It is definitely one of the most important event of my life; and the bonding developed to be inseparable because it was a residential course- bonding with friends, group-mates, faculty, staff, everyone. People called my MBA a “2 year vacation” … I would rather call it “5 term-full of slogging and a term of freaking out”.

The gallons of alcohol and meat on a regular basis made my bloat – and man!! Was I proud of it or wot? Beer, rum and vodka being on top of the list, I had the good fortune to sip through urak, feni, whisky, tequila- u just name it.

Fish almost being my staple diet (excluding Mondays), chicken was a frequent visitor in my plate. I always wondered what stopped me from visiting CASA in the first year… esp because lunch at casa, early morning at casa, tea breaks at casa and eve snacks at casa had become a routine in the second year. Some of the top-of-the-mind-recall items: Bhaaji paav, omlete paav, kingfish, chicken rice, limbu soda, limbu fanta, sweet bun, kappa, paas-paas, bhajji, double coffee, limbu cha, aale cha – Haan! tera kya?

Though uncle’s generosity of not asking for credit money was commendable, we always wondered how his 90 grand stuck up in credit could move his casa so efficiently from morning 6:30 to eve 8:00.

Never did we ask uncle’s name nor did he ask our surname. The day I realized he was Manoj uncle did he realize that I was Vaze. J

The last month in GIM was pretty amazing. I had the time of my life on the CT100. The streets are a treat to the riders – esp the ones from Mumbai. Be it’s the 60km to the northernmost tip in Goa or the 5km ride to Panjim on the b.e.a-utiful causeway.

Bump Bump Bump.. Splash!! Then it was sea water all around you and inside you as well. That was water-sports at candolim- parasailing to the top of the world where you could sea as long as you could see; a futile attempt to climb the banana ride and splashing back into the water or be it the scary-rash ride on the water scooter.

The best ride of my life was to Tiracol. A 60km road of which almost a third was curvy & sloping. The fort is on the northernmost border of Goa. That was where the Maratha kingdom began. So it seemed more of a watch tower. Its is now converted to a heritage hotel and overlooks a very scantily populated beach (where porn films are shot- or so thinks the BAD BOY AUCTIONEER). You need to cross a ferry to reach that place. It is one of the most scenic places of Goa. The ride back was horrible, my bike was light-less so I followed Jaggi and his bike was lightless too. So we piloted Vidoo’s car. She showed us the light and we showed her the way.

One of my expensive trips was that to Savoi gardens. The spice plantations were amazing and the food was more amazing. An unlimited quantity of a typical Goan cuisine is definitely a treat for the non-veggies. It was amazing to see various types of spices in one place which is not a general store. I never knew that clove grew on vines, pineapple groew on a short thorny tree, pepper graduated from being green pepper to red & finally black. The small showcase land was a peep into the 100 acres of plantations they had. The even had a small urak-feni brewery. The only inorganic part in the whole land was probably the irrigation pipes crawling across the land.

Pandava caves was one big disappointment. It was a shallow cave (smaller than Jaggu’s den) having 5 shiv-lingas. The Pandavas supposedly hid here in their “agnyatvaas”. I guess Goa had been an attraction to the northern Indian gang even 3000 years ago. (Must be cheap intoxicants and the beaches!). Not far from that place was a small waterfall which qualified as a waterfall because water fell from a certain height on the rocks below. The best part of the trip was the Howrah-bridge like bridge and the limbu soda we had at the waterfall.

Every event was followed by an eventful meal at some eventful place; it used to be NH-17 most of the times, or Suza lobo. Pitchers, potato-skin with mayonese, chicken-stuffed papad and many more.

The-last-supper or so it was called. A team of 18-20 GIM-ites who hadn’t gone home even after the convocation went to NH17 for the final meal together. Dunno who was the Christ and who his 12 apostles (would be who would betray Him); but it felt great to be with the gang for one last time.

The best day was the last week at GIM. We went to Suza lobo at 4 in the eve. I had rarely been on that scenic Calangute stretch at daytime. We had beer, cocktails, meat & desserts and the party ended at 8 in the eve.

As of date I remember nothing from the case studies. The endless case studies where one case seemed remotely different from the next taught me one thing: Its easier to be a consultant and extremely difficult to live the decision made. But I am sure I would be able to pull through life with the inputs I have got.

I learnt the master lesson of all- life stops the day you stop learning. There is so much to learn that no two-year course can fill you up with it.

To sum it up, MBA empowered me with knowledge; now its for me to be driven by courage and values i.e if I m not too lazy to drive