Mall in the City

If you are a true blue Kochiite, chances are that, you will not return from a visit to the Lulu Mall, without bumping into at least one acquaintance of yours. It has happened to me every time I have been to the mall, not that I am complaining.

I had never really taken a liking towards shopping malls mushrooming in cities, nor had I been a person who used to frequent malls that often. Now when I come to think about it, I feel that may be I had been wrong about the whole “Mall” concept. I do not know whether these malls are good for our GDP, whether the economy benefits from it or not – those are topics better left for B-School aspirants to discuss during their Mock GDs or to people with better brains than me. However I do know one thing, if they have the power to bring people who are busy creating islands for themselves, then God bless the concepts of malls. 

There used to be a time, when the Marine Drive and Subhash Park were the most frequented places of a Kochiite. I used to, and I still love taking those walks alongside the backwaters in Marine Drive. But from the simplicity of the parks and the backwaters, now a new place has found prominence in the favourites list of Kochiites – ‘Lulu International Shopping Mall’. Whoever would have thought that a seemingly deserted piece of land in Edapally, would one day be home to the largest shopping mall in India!

“Want to watch a movie?”, “Want to meet up with friends?”, “Want to binge on great food?”, or “Want to shop for groceries?” – “Head to Lulu Mall” is the answer that you are most likely to get from a Kochiite nowadays for any of these questions. Weekday or weekend, morning or evening, Lulu is always bustling with people. The success of the mall can be attributed to many factors, state-of-the-art infrastructure, excellent management, and an experience that was totally new to Kochiites. There is something about Lulu Mall that attracts old and young alike. Lulu Mall in a way has redefined the image of malls from one that is youth centric to one that caters to the likes of all age groups. Grandparents with their grandsons and granddaughters are a common sight in the mall. I feel that the mall has been successful in attracting even the most reclusive Kochiite towards it.

What I like the most about the mall is the crowd in the mall. I like to believe that somewhere in that crowd, I will be able to find a familiar face; someone who I haven’t talked to or seen in a long while; someone to whom I would have said, “We will be in touch”, but to whom I could not have kept my word; someone near and dear to me, but who had just become a contact in Facebook or WhatsApp. The joy on seeing your long lost friend, or that distant relative of yours, or simply someone who you know, is unparalleled. I have experienced it many times in Lulu Mall. 

Though Lulu Mall can never oust Marine Drive from the top position on my list of favourite places in Cochin, it does give it a tough competition though. Long live Lulu Mall!

The journey comes to an end

The journey to Planet-E and back: A walk down memory lane

A series of blogs about my alma mater - Amrita School of Business(ASB) located in the beautiful village of Ettimadai which we Amritians fondly call ‘Planet-E’ and the happenings in the eventful two years of my life there.

The last one in the series.

The journey comes to an end

The day is October 11, 2013. As I pack my bags and get ready for my journey to Ettimadai for the convocation of our batch, my mind went back to that day two years back when I was getting ready to go to my college for the very first time. It was hard to believe that two years had passed since that day and I had gone from being a student of ASB to an alumni of ASB.

All throughout my journey from Cochin to Ettimadai, I kept thinking about my college, trying to recollect those golden memories of the time that I spent there. I remembered that first day in college. I remembered that first day in class, when I was afraid to even step into the class. It all seemed like yesterday. I remembered the classes in CR1, CR2, CR3, CR4, CR5, ECR and the SAPG sessions by Udhayakumar Sir. I could not help but laugh when I thought about those sessions when me and Dimple (fellow last bencher) used to struggle to stay awake and wait for the session to get over to rush to the canteen to get tea. ECR being an air-conditioned room, we really did have a tough time staying awake during sessions in ECR, the only exceptions were when Colloquia Talkies was going on, SBM/IMC classes, and yes the most dreaded "Marketing Summer Project" presentations.

I thought about all the group projects and assignments that we did, especially the Marketing Research project, the outings to city for the projects (with a hidden agenda of having food from outside), the project presentations, and the quarrels within the group. I remebered the trimester exams and me crying after every exam saying it was difficult and my friends (Dimple most of the time) trying to console me. 

The memories of the festivities in the campus were also vivid in my mind. I remember participating in the Gokulashtami procession, winning the Bhajan competition and yes wearing a saree for the first time in my life. I remember 'Utsav', the events in SKH, those early morning Badminton games and the 'Merciless Massais' winning 'Utsav-2012'. I remember lighting lamps in the lawn and bursting crackers during Diwali, the musical chair and floral carpet during Onam, the DJ nights in the lawn and the flash mobs. I remember Kalakruthi and how SKH used to come alive during it.

I remembered 'Pragati' and the conference on Sustainable Development and how it bought out the best in us. I thought about the placement season - the joys and disappointments that it bought and how we supported each other through it all. I thought about my angelic professors (who were more of our friends than teachers) who were there with us through all our highs and lows guiding us. I thought about the smiling faces that greeted us when we used to go to the office room. I thought about the dignitaries we interacted with during the Colloquia sessions.

I remembered my days in A-409 Gargi Bhavanam - the breathtakingly beautiful view of the Western Ghats that greeted us every morning when we stepped out of our rooms, the mess food, the announcements in the hostel that resembled railway announcements, the evening discussions over a cup of coffee, crowding around the night canteen, the midnight birthday celebrations, those sleepless nights during exam time, and the most important of it all, those 14 angels who not even for a moment made me realize that I was away from home. 

It hurt most when I thought about the last day in college - the farewell speeches, the batch photo session at the roof top, DG Sir clicking away with his camera, as the Ettimadai sky started turning dark. It was as if a curtain was falling on one of the most wonderful chapters of our lives.  

I was lost in my thoughts, when my bus stopped in front of the large hoarding of our university at Ettimadai. I was back in college after six months, though it seemed like an eternity to me. I had missed my college very badly. It felt good to be back in the campus, to be reunited with my friends and teachers, to once again take those long walks around the campus. I could see smiling faces everywhere; two years of our hard work and determination had finally paid off. We were all ecstatic about finally becoming 'Post Graduates'. 

But the moments of ecstasy were followed by agony, when after the ceremony, everyone started saying their 'Goodbye's and 'We will keep in touch's and started leaving. If that feeling on that last day in college was bad, this was worse.  Back then, we knew that we had a chance to meet during the convocation. This time around we were not sure of when we would get a chance for a reunion like the one that we just had. SKH which was bustling with students before the ceremony, now looked deserted. 

With a heavy heart we bid adieu to our campus, to Planet-E, and to all the things that we had come to love about it over the last two years. So that is how my story ends, well this is not my story alone, this could be the story of an ASBian. We may have left the college, but the college will never leave us. As I made my way back to home in the Banglore-Ernakulam Inter City Express, I kept my eyes glued to the window to get a glimpse of our campus for one last time. The very first time I had seen the campus was while travelling in a similar train. As the train went past Ettimadai, I realized the journey had ended, at the place where it had all started. 

Pragati

The journey to Planet-E and back: A walk down memory lane

A series of blogs about my alma mater - Amrita School of Business(ASB) located in the beautiful village of Ettimadai which we Amritians fondly call ‘Planet-E’ and the happenings in the eventful two years of my life there. Dedicated to all Amritians.

Pragati

There are two phases in the life of an ASBian – one is before ‘Pragati’ and the other is after ‘Pragati’. It is one name that brings back lot of fond memories to every ASBian. When I look back at my college days I always wonder at the transformation that the two day long national level B-fest that we organized, brought in our lives.

The initial days in college were rife with fun and celebrations – the festive spirit of ‘Utsav’ and the colors of ‘Gokulashtami’ and we enjoyed ourselves, but before we knew it we were entrusted with the task of organizing ‘Pragati’. It was not going to be an easy task. We knew it. But we also knew that through meticulous planning and hard work we could make ‘Pragati’ a huge success and complete the task that our seniors and the college management had entrusted us with. With a strong core committee spearheading all activities and the six forums – Fortune, Gen-M, Ozone, Relations, Biz-IT, and Jagrati trying to outdo each other in the business games and promotions, we were sure that we would be able to make ‘Pragati 2012’ the best one ever in the history of ASB. 

‘Pragati’ brought out some of the most creative ideas in our minds, be it ideas for the business games or be it promotions for the forums, there was a lot of creativity at work. We kept aside all our differences and started working as a team to achieve the one goal that had our minds preoccupied – making ‘Pragati 2012’ a success. It was a time when the whole of ASB united as one and every single person involved, right from the employee at the university workshop to the top management of the University, made a difference. 

And then the D-day came. Students from various MBA colleges had arrived at our campus for participating in ‘Pragati’. Our major task had been accomplished. As the registrations poured in we were sure of one thing, that we were about to make history with participation at an all-time high. And yes we did; we made it the best one ever in the history of ASB. 

I always feel that ‘Pragati’ had changed us even without us realizing it. With ‘Pragati’, we made that transition from students to managers waiting in the wings. I remember our Professor Kulkarni Sir mention during one of his lectures that he saw a remarkable change in us during 'Pragati' time. Organizing 'Pragati' made us more bold, assertive and confident about ourselves and our capabilities. Life since ‘Pragati’ has never been the same again.