It was the morning of 8th of April, when in a lecture hall in a sprawling campus in the NCR, a diverse group of professionals had gathered to embark upon a new journey. Looking at their enthusiasm, one could hardly figure out that they had already been in the industry for more than 6 years (some of them for about 18 years!). The occasion was the induction of the 6th batch of International Programme in Management for Executives (IPMX) at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (Noida Campus). The fledgling managers had taken their designated seats and fastened the seat belts, fully aware of the roller coaster ride lying ahead of them in the next one year! It was supposed to be just the curtain-raiser!
During the few minutes of quiet before the commencement of the induction program , the last one year(journey to this place)must have flashed through the minds of many students. It had taken them about a year of preparations – GMAT, application and interview, to get to this coveted seat. Each one of them was visibly pleased and looking forward to the next one year, the grueling schedule notwithstanding.
Sharp at 10 am, the IPMX Chairperson, Prof Archana Shukla, along with the Faculty members, walked into the lecture hall and extended a warm welcome to the entire batch. The students took the IIML pledge to be worthy members of the IIML community. Dr Devi Singh, Director, IIM Lucknow, lit the lamp along with some of the students and then addressed the batch. He emphasized the need of quality education in the country and that the aura of IIML was built around its ability to churn out world class managers who could fit into the global management scene.
After a short tea break, Dr Shalini Lal, Director, HR, Escorts Ltd enlightened the students about managing career transitions, citing various examples from her own career. The students had the great opportunity of meeting one of the alumnus of IPMX01 batch, Mr Sridhar Turaga, Program Director, Polaris Software, in the post lunch session. The induction program continued the next day and the students had management insights from another eminent business leader, Mr Sanjay Dutt, VP, HR, EXL Service. Day 2 also saw sessions from a few professors(Prof Manoj Anand and Prof Sushil Kumar) who gave the students a glimpse of the pedagogy that would be followed in the next one year.
To quote one of the students, when asked about how he was feeling on the first day in the campus, he said “ When I woke up this morning and looked out of my window, I found peace. And I felt that this is where I had always wanted to be”. I am sure the entire batch echoed his feelings!
Contributed by : Amitava Saha (IPMX06)
