Something out of the way

In the normal course of events (even those related to summer placements) at IIMK, I would not have written such a post but the occasion is a little out of the way and deserves more than just the mere thought and a silent word or two. I have never really been able to appreciate the secrecy associated with the placements activities on campus (any campus, not just IIM Kozhikode) and have been one of the most ardent (though not as much vocal) critic of the entire exclusivity associated with the placement process. So when I get mails from the placements committee (directed to the entire batch, of course) that I should not put on a yahoo status message, or a blog post about placements till the official report is out, I say "what the heck! Who was going to put status messages and blog posts on the freaking placements anyways". But I was wrong and gladly enough, they (the placements committee, that is) proved me wrong!

Not that I don't understand the reason for restricting such a move or that I don't know that shouting one's mouth off even before something has been achieved has never been a good idea and in the extremely competitive arena of B-school placements, where students try every trick in the book to be one up on the others, it doesn't make any sense at all. However, all that holding fort, I am still compelled to write this post...not because I am allowed to do so now or because as a student of IIMK, it is my duty to do so now but because this is something I want to write about. This is because I am really happy about the professionalism showed by the people involved and the efficacy of the result generated.

All right, so there has been something seen by the campus this season that has never happened earlier. A batch of 160 people placed for summer internships in hardly five days is as amazing a news item that anyone associated with an Indian B-school would have ever heard of. What makes the entire thing more special, however, is the fact that it is always easy to place the first 50% of the class in perhaps even one day but what takes the toll is to put through the last person. I can say that because I know how difficult it had been for some people last year in so many campuses (including the very best in the country).

To know that IIMK has placed even the last guy/girl within such a short span is an awesome feeling even though I know that it might be an overkill to say that I am extremely proud of what IIMK has achieved and therefore, saying that it is only IIMK that has such talent would certainly be a blasphemy. I know that the economy is booming and that this year, the top 50% of the batch at any B-school worth its salt would be placed on the first day itself. I also know, at the same time, that not many of them would have had people in the placements committee devoted so much and working so hard to ensure that the last guy is placed for summers in the first five days of the process having started. Even if it is just for that, I am proud of the achievement (even though I may be guilty of using a cliche here).

To read the mails of juniors congratulating and thanking the placecom and the senior batch for the help and the seniors, in turn, congratulating them for the great batch they have been in achieving such laurels, is, for lack of a better word, heartening. What this brings forward in a more subtle manner, however, is the way in which the placements committee and the placements process at IIMK has contributed to the family feeling back in campus. I know that a lot of people might rubbish this idea as sentimental tomfoolery, but then they are welcome to their own opinions and have not been invited anyways (not by me, at least) to read this blog and tear their hair out in frustration (if at all, they don't have anything better to do).

Oh by the by, if you want to know more about what happened at IIMK's Summer Placements 2006, just click here.