SALVATION... Is it not what we all distraught materialistic souls run after and aim to attain as our final goal in our life?

Well - with the change in time from eons to today, the word salvation too has undergone a sea of change in meaning. From a one time meaning of attainment of 'NIRVANA of SOUL', salvation today means the attainment of that bit of knowledge that acts as a gasp of oxygen when one fights for survival and glory in this age of 'Everyone is Brutus competition'.

Buddha got his salvation under a bodhi tree... Newton got his under an apple tree... and we here at IMI get it in our amphi (for the uninitiated - our open air amphitheatre) and as if following a trend, we too have a couple of trees to get inspiration from. No soul who has ever passed through the gates of IMI will ever contradict the statement that the best place to achieve the IMI experience is in its open air amphitheatre... which we at IMI call the 'life of campus'.

The common saying in the campus is 'The Amphi Never Sleeps' (I have a tickling feeling that a now-so-famous ad line was inspired by our amphi). I think Sir Issac Newton will second me when I say that every realized dream starts with the weirdest of imagination. Well - who could have thought before him that a falling apple could be a precursor to the discovery of the laws of gravitation? Out here in IMI... 'most of the theories ever formulated'... 'darest of the dreams ever dreamt'... 'classiest of the quotes ever quoted'... 'coolest of the logics ever generated'... 'mushiest of the emotions ever felt'... and the' best of the life ever experienced'... are all joined together by the common thread of the amphi (being the place where most of the aforesaid things are experienced).

From trying to comprehend the uncomprehendable demon of accounting to nearly bursting our jugular veins listening to craps by our own santa and banta singh. From strategizing for the next volleyball game (undoubtedly the most popular game on campus) to trying to comprehend the beauty of foreign languages and in that process nearly going insane. From trying to figure out how not to get caught sleeping in O.B. classes to deliberating on the most optimal way to utilize time (basically meaning getting up 5-10 minutes before the commencement of classes and then optimizing the follow-up activities) before reaching for the classes. From trying to digest the thoughts of Kotler, Porter, Senge and Covey (well am desperately trying to find a digestive pill for that) to always crying out loud 'work load is too heavy'. From juggling between the meetings of Prometheans (marketing club), Finalyze (finance club), Seekers (systems club), Orbet (hr club), Q-circle (quiz club), Placecomm and Alcomm (well there are so many that I may be missing some of them) to firmly stating that 'Partying' is the only relevant concept that is 'Going On'.

From brainstorming over presentations to be delivered in the shortest of delivery time (I think it's the only inhuman activity overlooked by the ever crying out aloud human rights activists) to partying on the weekends (if by God's grace there are no classes) over a bottle of wine. From religiously celebrating all festivals from Diwali to Valentine to celebrating birthdays in apna IMI ishtyle. From dreaming to delivering, in some way or the other the life of the campus (our amphi) is related to 'em all. Amphi sees 'em all, feels 'em all and records 'em all and as time passes by, old order changes to new, new faces sit at the amphi, new theories get dissected at the amphi, new strategies gets formulated at the amphi and new articles gets written about the amphi... amphi watches silently... slowly spreads open its arms... smiles and whispers... 'Enjoy your life @ campus... and attain SALVATION'.

* Contributed by -
Saikat Bose,
PGP (2004-06),
International Management Institute, New Delhi.