From scratch to someone: How IIM Bodh Gaya changed my life -By Ravi Barnwal

Almost all MBA aspiring minds possess gazillion questions and opinions regarding any 3rd generation IIM a.k.a Baby IIMs. As a soon-to-be an alumnus of IIM Bodh Gaya, I feel equally humbled and accountable to share the experiences and knowledge that I have gained here.                                

One thing which I was aware of IIM Bodh Gaya right from the beginning was the presence of limited facilities and amenities, owing to the fact that the college was in its budding phase, but that was never my concern because like a curious human, I wanted to follow my inner zeal to learn from scratch. Also, I was hopeful that I would get more opportunities to see and learn many things from zero and possibly be part of the building process. Thus, as soon as I joined, I started exploring all my interest areas and clubs and got a wonderful chance to learn from the pedagogy of the industry’s best faculties and experts. 

I became a core member of Media PR cell and life never remained the same after that. My extrovert and persuasive skills helped me in excelling in the activities of this cell. And here I would again like to highlight the main point I was citing, I became part of the cell at its nascent stage, so it was up to us how we put our marketing strategies and classroom knowledge in a real environment to create an impactful image of IIM Bodh Gaya in media and what could have been any better learning opportunity than this to learn and apply MBA, right?

Time to hit a home run

As time passed, these opportunities helped in unveiling my inner potential and I feel proud to share that I was able to build 50+ media house connections including renowned local and national newspapers, channels, blogs, etc. with zero monetary involvement. I was delighted as we were learning and experiencing the real meaning of words like PR, marketing, branding, advertisements, etc. Those connections with editors and reporters helped me in doing my pilot project of organizing first-ever blood donation camp in IIM Bodh Gaya in collaboration with the Indian Army and International Red Cross Society along with members of PRAGATI- The CSR club of IIM Bodh Gaya.  

They say “Everybody wants a flame; they don't want to get burned” but not actually, in my case, I was putting my all and I didn’t have to push myself because I was loving the process, learnings and appreciations I was receiving for my hard work. And it later helped me in grabbing the internship at Maruti Suzuki India Limited. 

I also represented India as a youth ambassador to China by the Ministry of Youth Affairs after securing a position among the top 200 youths of India and this would remain one of the most memorable moments of my life. I along with my team of Media and PR committee also headed the maiden leadership conclave, it was the first time for us and our college to witness these many industry leaders like VP Citibank, CFO Wells Fargo, CHRO Crompton Greaves’, etc. under one roof.

Burgeoning IIM Bodh Gaya

Additionally, in these two years, IIM Bodh Gaya has also grown as an institute, it has moved to its permanent building and is now functional in all aspects. The newly-established building ‘Uruvela’ now boasts of state-of-the-art facilities like Centralized AC, Computerized Classrooms, Computer Labs, fully equipped Central Library with more than enough online and offline resources and high-speed Wi-Fi among other things which would augment student’s learning and help them become better managers. 

The current capacity of the institute’s hostels, Aryabhata and Bhaskar has increased to more than 200 students. The construction of the full-fledged permanent campus is in process. Adding to that, the institute has 15+ permanent faculty who have done their PhDs from premier institutions of India and more in process. The institute has more than 7 MOUs with renowned international universities for international exchange which will help in international exposure to the students.

A token of gratitude

All in all, my point of sharing all these was to underline how IIM Bodh Gaya served my purpose of joining this institution. I would always remain grateful to this institution for the many doors it has opened up for me. To all the budding aspirants, it's up to you whether you wait for the things to be done by others or to get it done by yourself. Try to make things work by peeling off all the odds and getting the best out of the situation. 

IIM Bodh Gaya helped me in growing as a person and pushed me to be the best version of myself. And as I’m writing this, only a few days are left until I complete my MBA and I have Maruti PPO in hand. And one more fun fact to add before I end here: I had an IIM tier 2 joining option as well and that too would have been a safe choice but my priorities were sorted and I joined IIM Bodh Gaya, and I will never regret my decision. In fact, the best decision that I have ever made so that one day I can write it here all from scratch!