About IMDR- My Alma Mater
IMDR - Pune's first management institution was established in 1974. Located against the picturesque backdrop of Fergusson hill, it almost seems as though IMDR carries the hill on its shoulders. IMDR sure carries on with the Herculean task of carrying with it- the legacy and the values, the spirit of self-reliance and renewal of the D.E.Society, the pioneering spirit and fire of D.E.Society's founders.
In the beginning, IMDR was affiliated to the Pune University. In 1977 IMDR sought autonomy and so it remains today- Pune's leading autonomous management institute that designs its own curriculum in tandem with changing times and focuses towards nurturing "thoughtful sensitive individuals". IMDR today boasts of a state- of the art infrastructure and cutting edge education provided at a modest cost to a wider section of the society, in line with the D.E.Society's philosophy.
IMDR is a management institute that bestows upon its students a perspective about management in Indian thought and context, a self-questioning thought process, the freedom to be creative yet with a sense of responsibility, and finally the freedom to be themselves.
The allure of IMDR lies in imparting this value of "freedom and courage to be themselves" to the students!
Time Machine
Rewind down memory lane to the hallowed place where we spent, dare we say, 'the best days of our life'!
IMDR Lingo
Remember those words, " thoughtful sensitive professional" or "perspective" or "systems perspective" or "Process Lab"? No one, but no one, who came in the radius of IMDR or the "Mandarins" of IMDR, can escape these words. We who have been-here-done-that can't but read through these words without a smile on our face.
Remember those endless wars of words, the wars of jargon's and half-baked theories and diagrams, the wars of lungpower - very innocuously called "CASE STUDIES "? Talk about understatements!
Remember:
"Our team is dynamite, we are IMDRites". Through the sometimes nightmarish reality of post IMDR phase of life, in times of utter divine despair, flashes of this slogan uttered (nay bellowed is more like it ;-) in deafening volumes, with the words ricocheting off the quadrangle walls by the sheer magnitude of the enthusiasm of those who shouted themselves hoarse- still come back to me with a ray of HOPE.
Remember IMDR's own version of Murphy's laws? The ratio of students getting placed on IMDR campus in the first few days is directly proportional to the number of backlogs per student.
Remember the IMDR anthem? Yes the ubiquitous R.D.Burman number "Pyaar hame kis mod pe le aaya", sung compulsorily in an off-key baritone.
However- this particular statement takes the cake. Through the years, maybe through the centuries to come, these words would always be debated amongst the past, present and future students, faculty members, and probably even the trees in IMDR. To IMDR and IMDRites the question that bothers them more than the mystery of creation of this universe - is that famous 4 words question ---- SHOULD IMDR MARKET ITSELF ? In a world where change is the only constant- this question has outlasted us and would probably outlast our children. Thank God for small mercies- some things never change!
IMDR Canteen Realigning the IMDR (food) strategy-------- anyone?
To quote the evergreen Prof. Tambe, IMDR canteen was and is an effective means of "verbal inoculation against diseases". Maybe we should patent this, for this one vaccine, has over the years taken upon its rather frail (and not exactly hygienic, if you ask me) shoulders to protect all the animate and inanimate objects in IMDR against bacteria.
The Canteen cuppa chai is another of its specialties. Served in the cups, 2 inches in length & 1 inch in diameter, it may dignify the nomenclature of "the drink of immortality". Which other drink, pray tell me, would do its best to banish the eternal sleep from the hapless student's eyes and replace it with a sense of awakening to the reality? Besides one would really have to pay attention to the quantity, I mean, before you could blink, 2 gulps and whoa--------- the cup would be empty. Hail Bhaskar !!!
People: if you haven't visited this part of the world wherein lies our aforesaid beloved Insti- and still think that the canteen sports wooden (our own challenge to KITPLY) rickety chairs & tables, think again !!! The canteen now is (like or unlike the curriculum) revamped. It is ornately decorated by white plastic chairs with 4 legs and white plastic round tables! The canteen also (hold your breath) has a ZIP phone, which works! The canteen still serves the same edible items that they claimed to serve in our heydays, in the years of yore.
Realigning the IMDR (food) strategy-------- anyone?
Odes to the IMDR canteen are incomplete without who else but our very own Canteen Cowboy Prof. Sapre.
He is the pillar of strength to the canteen and should actually write a paper on the ratio consumption of the drink of immortality (Read: IMDR without sugar chai) to the number of indigenous anti establishment hypotheses proposed in the canteen. From finance to fidelity, from Hugh Grant to Enrico Fermi to Socrates, from books to Pune nooks and corners conducive for budding romances, and from advice related to emotional and financial bankruptcy, FERA to saat phere, and chairmanship of FOSLA (Frustrated One Sided Lover's Association dear!! Have you forgotten or what?), to just about anything under the sun- Sapre Sir's sharp tongue and twinkling bespectacled eyes (but don't let that fool you, you know how he manages to get a whiff of the most secret (est) romances on the campus) dole out advice on anything and anyone!
Prof. Sapre can take the credit of having PROCESSED batch after batch of budding Romeo and Juliet who by the way- by the end of IMDR stint miraculously turn into Othello and Desdemona. Love is after all only a 4-letter word right?
By the way, when he is not in the canteen Prof. Sapre also teaches FINANCE (among other things) and many a poets (i.e. the non- engineering, non science students who are allergic to the number system invented by Greeks, sorree Romans, sorree Indians, oh dash! whoever it was) have spent or at least claimed to spend many a sleepless nights trying to complete that dreaded bloody %$&$*(I beg your pardon, OLD grudges die hard!) CMA form assignment.
These days another permanent fixture in the canteen with his own SK�s (sidekicks) or coterie is another distinguished (of course you can't miss him , he weighs only 180 pounds & sports a Rabindranath Tagore beard) faculty member humbly called in total blissful ignorance of his Goliath like stature "Sukumaran" Dr. Anand Sukumaran !
Doc(as he is fondly called) is out regularly doling (un) solicitous advice again on diverse & unrelated topics such as dietetics and liquor consumption to pseudo spirituality and sex scandals. One is very pertinently reminded of the Buddha, under the bodhivruksha and the knowledge hungry disciples lapping up every word of wisdom at his feet!
On Doc's rather broad shoulders also rests the onerous responsibility of the spiritual and physical well being of his wards- In case you don't know he is the current warden of the human pigeon holes very magnanimously termed as boys hostel!
When he isn't advising anyone, which is a rarer occurrence than the appearance of Haley�s comet- Doc also teaches Communication Theory, Manpower Planning etc.
With paeans to these individuals who add to the charm of the IMDR canteen, we have to take your leave now!
