AOL >>> The "out-of-IBA" experience

IBA is a green campus situated at the outskirts of Bangalore. Due to this, it happened to be a place close to the great AOL Ashram of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Since the day I have came to IBA campus, I have seen many students (generally in couples! :P) going to AOL for just a timepass trip. It is a general trend in IBA to visit AOL nearly every few days, a trend which I cannot really understand as the place is same, has a similar yet bigger collection of grass & trees to IBA. Now, let’s start the story about the AOL 3-day course.

It was the night of 18th December 2007. The air was cool (and cold for most people) and flowing steadily. Good number of IBAians 07-09 batch students was in IT Lab, doing Assignments for record and simultaneous chatting, orkutting and the new business in IBA, FACEBOOKING. Some couples were strolling around in campus while some were idling on Omega circle. All of them discussing the workload (all sorts) for the rest of the week. Then, from a room on the first floor of Admin Block, someone called the CEO, IBA shot a mail across the network via Outlook titled “AOL Program” from 19th Dec” and the scene changed dramatically. The news about the long delayed AOL program spread like fire. Most of the students, who were lost in the deep misery of submissions, were revived by the news.

The next evening, all the first-years were standing near the Admin Block looking out for their friends and thinking about what is going to come up next. And within next hour and half, all are at the reception counter of AOL. The place of sanctity & peace becomes a Fish Market. The reason was that the people were to stay in groups of 4 and all wanted to stay with their so-called best buddies. Gangs of IBA sent their best man to stand and get the rooms and all other members were patrolling his/her position in the Queue. Among these Sunsilk Gangs and Bands of Boys were some minions who belonged to no specific groups hence, were trying to get inside some other groups. But, watching all this was pure fun. The best part was when the officials declared that there are only few rooms with a 4-people system and other rooms left were of 3 member system which led to rise of newer gangs. Also, just beside this line, those who had got registered were being photographed for records, where people were giving oddest of all expressions time-to-time.

After registering and entering the rooms, we were greeted by few more elements of surprise. The rooms were a beauty and had all the amenities. And believe me, once you start to live in a hostel, you find such places like palaces. But, there was also a bad element of surprise which was that we were supposed to get up at 5:30 next morning to attend the first session at 6:30 am and a delay will cause a hole in the wallet of size Rs. 100! But, at last we were inside AOL.

Morning, the session was really a eye-closure yet, we gave respect to the elder person who had come for teaching us the basic YOGA methods. Later that day, we first time came in direct contact with a typical AOL instructor Mr. Bawa. He was a neo-guru with a great running business and long hair tied in ponytail. He instructed us for long hours about life and methods to tackle problems…. It was really a learning session for those who had lived their lives without giving it a second’s thought.

Similar sessions were conducted over next two days too. Following were the salient features of the course:

1. The place was a perfect change of lane from the fast and stressful pace of MBA life.
2. We had nice sleep for 3 days
3. Couples got greater scope for being with each other in & out of sessions.
4. We learnt an important lesson that “If something is supposed to happen, then, it will surely do anyhow”… I got a concrete proof of this in few days only.
5. Remember that enjoy every moment you spend in AOL as they make together an unforgettable experience…. So SO-HUM!!! (take a deep breath in……………….. and breath out!)

Next: Clubs & Committees in IBA and their special place in Life @ IBA