Life@IIMA Part 1

Fachha Life:

Fachhas are the First Year “Bachhas”. Seniors lovingly call them fachhas/fachhis depending on gender. Fachha life is a bit monotonous, not much extra-curricular things to do. But, every year we get some happy-go-lucky dudes who manage to do everything with moderate success.

Student life here has 8 very important things:

1. Study: Referred as “Mugging” here. In first year you’ll hear a lot of “Muggo Fachhon muggo” to the level of irritation. Bear with it! Because next year will be your turn to shout and torment people. Study hours are generally from 2 PM to 4 AM. Next morning you need to wake up by 8-15 AM to attend classes. Only respite are Friday nights, if there’s no WAC assignment. Otherwise it’s study time only. Each class requires about 3 hours of preparation (standard and not meant for memory whiz-s!). So, total 9 hours you need everyday to prepare for tomorrow’s class. Here advanced preparation is required for every class to pour in CPs or Class Participations. Sleep is a scarce economic good here and be prepared to sleep less for at least three months. Then surely you’ll adjust your schedule or simply give up!
2. Classes: Every week from Monday to Friday, and sometimes Saturday too, you need to attend classes from 9 AM to 1 PM. Total three classes are scheduled each day; each class for about 1 hour 10 min with 20 minute breaks in-between. Your yesterday night’s preparation will be reflected by the CPs. Classes are fun once you get used to them. Classes are compulsory and you can’t bunk them at any cost, unless you’re really sick and admitted.
3. Quizzes: They are the most tormenting part of fachha life, at least initially! Starting from first week itself, there’ll be quizzes based on the current classes. Quizzes generally range from 20 minutes to 1 hour and are all unannounced. There’s a Quiz notice board outside student’s mess where you get to see the dreaded notices of “short quizzes”, much to the amusement of tuchhas (second year students). Fortunately, quizzes carry less weightage, generally 2-2.5% for each quiz. Each subject generally has 4-5 quizzes. Be on your toes everyday is the hidden objective!
4. CG: or the grade points. Our grades are allotted on a 4.33 scale.
1. A+ =4.33,
2. A =4 to 4.32
3. A- =3.67 to 3.99
4. B+ =3.33 to 3.66
5. B =3 to 3.32
6. B- =2.67 to 2.99
7. C+ =2.33 to 2.66
8. C =2 to 2.32
9. C- =1.67 to 1.99
10. D =Below 1.67 (I won’t discuss below it in the hope that you won’t get a D)

Here being a 3+ pointer or a I-schol (Top 20 students are lovingly called I-schols) is a matter of pride and a guarantee to future good placements. Hence, CG bothers a lot to the fachhas, more than their girl-friends or boy-friends.

5. Movies: We have a great movie repository here. A special electronic notice board (MAD NB) serves the purpose for notifying all about the movies in campus and DC++ hubs helps students to download. All genres of movies you get here to satisfy your taste. Movies are a welcome break here.
6. Ramp-Party: Every alternate Saturday, the cultural club@ IIMA organizes a discotheque in the mess building. Earlier it used to be on the IIMA ramp, hence named Ramp party. Now it has shifted to the Mess building. Ramp parties are fun!
7. D-babble: The lifeline of IIMA community, the intranet message server. You get to see all notice boards here and can communicate with friends and alum. It’s a welcome break to gossip and have fun.
8. Counter-Strike: Another welcome break from studies. Every night, from 10 PM our counter strike server is up and you can satisfy your sadistic side by killing a few. I love it!

Tuchha or Second year life is almost the same, minus studies and quizzes. Here movies, ramp, dbabble and counterstrike take upper-hand. Classes you can bunk but need to keep at least 80% attendance. Here CPs and CGs don’t count for future employment. So, a chilled life!

Mail me how do you like this intro about IIMA life. I'll discuss about the courses offered and studies in future posts.
Keep mugging for CAT.
Boss