I..I...am..I..= IIM I

It was a normal trip on a very well known route .. the same train .. the same destination .. the same bogie.. the start was different this time. It was Ahmedabad and not Anand.. and this time i need travel towards Mumbai from Indore only a few miles to the IIM indore campus instead of the 100 kms to kasrawad.

It was a wonderful morning except that it was earlier than the usual morning for me. There were the usual issues of not knowing if a taxi had been booked or if i had to arrange on my own , whom to contact at six on the morning but these are like the minor crease on an otherwise flat and smooth landscape.

The gate of IIM indore is built huge but in it's not so good looking condition is far from impressive but then many years back my sister had told me that IIMs are supposed to built people and not great buildings and gates. Never the less the hills of IIM Indore and the pleasant view there and the morning breeze definitely caught my fancy and my mobile was soon overworked as a camera.

The morning was extremely beautiful and it now seems as a good omen for things that were to come. Thus began a day of meeting old freinds and making new ones while meeting the director thrice. A faculty recruitment seminar thrown in between and more friends and fun times with them.. a crisis situation for a friend and a change in travel plans to work out things and a lovely lavish dinner from a friend and bhabhi that left me licking my fingers as i left the campus.

The meetings with the faculty of the economics area were freindly , open , and pretty informal making the going very smooth and nice. smiles exchanged , hands shaken and new friends made. Last but not the least was a phone call , an important one. but this is about Indore and how i see the city .. the campus is beautiful with huge spaces and hillocks and palash trees the flame the ground red as if there was a forest there :).

Indore has been an enigmatic city always for me.. a mix of the old and the new .. more like the new trying to fight the old to break free. This time too it was much the same. The shops looked similar, the roads are being constructed just as i remember them in 2003. The retail formats have moved in but either their names have changed or they have changed hands, the more swanky and flashy shopping destinations have come up. There are more avenues for the indulging consumer to indulge in behaviour that is more asssertive of money linked status than the depth of character that the city has been known for in the past.

However the city retains its past, the narrow bylanes and much more so nicely still. twain extremes are allowed to flourish together so far and that makes Indore unique apart from the little job offer that IIM Indore has offered me. I guess i have to spend more time in Indore than everyone had thought.