Week 10 - Pancakes, Pesto and a Tetanus shot

Week 10! I want to kick off this week’s blog by sharing a big cultural shock from Term 2 that I forgot to mention in my last post. Term 2 has brought a major change: we now call a regular weekend a “long weekend” simply because we have classes on Saturdays too.

This is our second consecutive week with Saturday classes, yet Term 2 doesn’t feel all that hectic. Thanks to the absence of surprise (or planned) quizzes, no major assignments, and the sheer beauty that IIM-A turns into during the rains. For someone who has spent his entire life in Mumbai and experienced monsoons in the misty Maharashtra ghats, I have to admit, the IIM-A campus looks absolutely breath-taking in the rain.

This week, all of us on campus are either enjoying the rains, planning our Europe trips, or watching the ultimate showdown of democracy with the RS (Recruitment Secretary) and VRS (Vice Recruitment Secretary) elections. It’s not like we haven’t seen elections on campus before, but the buzz around RS and VRS is much higher because of the big responsibilities these roles carry.

For me, I’ve applied for the position of Marketing Team Lead for The Red Brick Summit (TRBS), the annual management symposium of IIM-A. While the Finance or Treasury role might have been more typical for a Chartered Accountant, I really want to test my creative side (which I’m quite proud of) and take on the marketing role for an event of this scale. I was interviewed for this position on Sunday, and the optimistic side of me would say it went well. Fingers crossed!

Now, coming to another very memorable thing that happened this Sunday: a few super chefs from Dorm 38 decided to cook brunch for us to kick off a slow, relaxed morning. While most of us pitched in however we could, I really put my sweat and blood into it. Quite literally, while chopping mushrooms with my samurai-sharp knife, I gave myself a deep cut on my finger and ended up needing a tetanus shot later in the evening. Were the pancakes, pesto toast, and Vietnamese coffee worth it? Of course!

Such activities like cooking and eating together are a gentle reminder that we’re not just a bunch of people staying in a hostel building and attending MBA classes. We’re more than that—we’re a little family away from home.