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It's been long since I have written. But life has been on a super highway this term. And thankfully, it's not really the studies that have consumed most of our time so far.

Summer Placements and Confluence were the two BIG things that have happened and I will share my thoughts on both in two separate posts.

The run up to the summer placements had started long back. The companies had been coming on campus in hordes to give presentations and most of our time was spent in either attending the pots or filling up the company forms. The seniors had been emphasizing the importance of summers since the time we joined WIMWI and I could see now why. It's perceived to be a BIG thing on campus and it's very tough not to get caught in its aura. I firmly believe that in the long run it's ultimately the kind of work you are doing that matters but summers provide you a good platform and that's the reason their importance increases.

The mid terms got over, and within the next three days, the placements were going to start! It looked so weird. The entire campus was back to books even when the exams were over, the tension was palpable. The shortlists kept on coming and the only topic of discussion when people met each other were the number of shortlists they had received. The Investment-Banks and the Consults are the BIG companies for whom the first day of placements, Day Zero, is reserved, and everyone was eager to get as many Day Zero shortlists as possible.

Just a night before the D-Day, the dorm tuchchas called us dorm fachchas together. It was a morale boosting session and they tried their best to soothe our nerves. But everyone knew the stakes were high and we all knew how tiring the next few days could get, running around from one interview panel to the other.

The placement committee (comprising of only tuchchas) had given us presentations about how the entire placement process is going to run. This was going to be operationally a HUGE task. More than 250 students... more than 60-70 companies... all different interviews going on simultaneously... I had realized this would be tough to manage but had no idea it would be so so phenomenal till we all landed at the assigned destination on the D-Day, 7.00 am in the morning, all decked up in suits.

The sight that greeted me was enough to make the fachchas go weak in the knees. There was a real huge banner (many stories tall) that read, "PLACEMENTS 2007, IIM-A," which greeted everyone. We all entered into something known as the fachcha pool. This is nothing but a common room where all the fachcahs would be accommodated for the entire day and every person would go for his interview from there and come back there itself after the interview.

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* Contributed by -
Vinamra Srivastava (Campus Associate),
PGP - 1,
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.