What they dont teach @ IIMs : How to survive @ Amrita

Hi, a lot of students and other random people ask me about my days at Amrita. I had just one word to say "AWESOME".
They would give me a puzzled look and tell me you are the only person whom i met gave me an answer like that.
I told them because i knew how to survive in Amrita with an awesome set of friends :)
Then they asked me about the tips for the survival.
so i gave them these :

1. United we stand divide we fall

Well to give an explanation on this. Let me tell u a story.
Year 2004, my 1st yr of college life. There was strike in the college hostel where we decided to stay away from mess food for one whole day since our hostel was denied the 5 o'clock snacks while every other hostel got them without fail.
Everyone including those stingy ones who never used to visit the canteens, hit the canteens on the day and decided to shell out some extra bucks to have food from canteen or the dhaba outside. The warden tried shouting on the mike asking us to come
and have the mess food which obviously sucked big time. Everyone gave deaf ears to his voice. We wanted the mess in charge to come and find a solid solution to this issue. And there he was, the dark and short, bald headed goonda looking guy
who was the mess in charge of all hostels in front of us asking us to have the food which was served. He tried to pull out a few tamil guys and later northie guys by speaking in their mother tounge hoping that he would be able to use the divide and rule policy. But we stood together like those strong crowd you see in front of a tasmac in TN or beverages corp in Kerala. And the result we won. Hot cutlets with tomoato sauce was served to all at sharp 5 pm.

the take aways from the story :
- U learned that united we stand and divide we fall
- Conduct strikes so that atleast once a while u get good food
- U get to know more batchmates since u fight for a single cause
- Improve Leadership and Negotiation skills (Essential Management Skills)
- Plan out team strategies (Teamwork skills)
- Make the stingy ones get to see the canteen menu
- And moreover have fun while conducting strikes.Fun level increases if there is a fight also involved :)

2. If no homepass, then have fun inside.

The main reason a student goes home for the weekend is to have home food and get his clothes washed. Sorry parents i had to admit it. If you are denied gatepass never mind, have fun inside. washing clothes - we used to have this game of washing clothes with all friends coming together with their tees,shorts,
shirts,and other stuff, u know ;) And we used to sing songs together,crack jokes, discuss about chicks, share movie updates, and have water balloon fight (don't have a bad feeling that u are wasting water, anyway the water coming through the taps
are recycled treated ones, so basically the water cycle takes care of it :)
and also you get to bathe those stinking water allergic guys who takes bath only on their birthdays or special holidays.
To make full use of the last point u can throw the excess water after washing on these people so that they get washed with the detergent and such soapy substance.

Home food - Here though the options are less, you can always visit a dayscholar friend's house and grab some treat from him, even that is home food. Make sure you dont visit the same friend more than once so that you dont lose your respect.
Then i would highly recommend you to get cup noodles or such fast food so that you wont remain hungry late nights. Also if you are good at smuggling, get a kettle or small toaster stuff into the hostel it may help in future also
since girls of today do not know how to cook. ;)

the take aways :
- We get to learn to wash clothes
- actually get your clothes washed
- make more friends in hostel during the water fights
- be updated about latest college news and gossips
- wash up the stinking batchmates
- make friendship with day scholars
- learn the value of mamma's food
- learn some cooking
- have double amount of fun :)

3. No study leave for exams - finish it off in one go!

I used to complain initailly that i was not able to perform well in the periodical tests or semester exams since there was no study holidays like the students of other colleges had. But i stopped complaining once, when the college gave us study
holidays for few days before the test and i scored even worse for those exams!! Later i realised its better to finish off these exams in one go rather than wait for the deadly days to get over. We also get to do some good time management. All the crazy creative ideas pop up during the exam preparation time.
And i bet my friends would agree the drama scripts for which we started planning during the exam time was the major hit with beautiful ideas coming up from all corners of the mind since everyone's brains worked well and fast in the short
time period :) And moreover we get more days in the form of sem holz to spent time travelling or have fun with friends.

the take aways :
- learn time-management (again management skills!)
- teamwork in the form of group study
- better prepared since mind is fresh
- high creativity during exam time (very important)
- short visits to library and xerox shops is made ensuring we know that it exists in campus
- More time in the form of semester vacation
- have triple amount of fun :)

4. Having teachers in class who are really dumb but trying to act smart? Well, Teach them a lesson!

Time for another story. Year 2006, 3rd year, i do not remember the subject or the teacher (*to avoid furthur casualities*).
There she came into the class sharp on time after the 1st hour was completed. Asked everyone to open notebooks and take down notes. Few guys start towards the door to go out and drink some water and also empty the bladder.
She shouts and asks everyone to return to their seats. The guys (almost all) pleads ma'am for a 2 min break after a boring 1st hour class. She shouts again and asks everyone to settle down in their seats.
"Acting so smart? We'll teach you a lesson ma'am" the backbenchers decided.
She opened her book with notes and the prescribed text book and started her usual class with by hearted lines from the notes. Normally after 20 mins of the class she usually gives a 2 min break so that she can go through her next set of notes and
get ready to vomit the remaining by hearted lines. And 20 mins was done. she told us that we can take a break now. "NO maam we don't want a break, U continue with the class" the back benchers shouted in union. She was shocked!She once again told, "You guys can take a break now, its ok". This time the whole class joined in
"NO maam we don't want a break, U complete the session".She didnt know what to do and tried to tell something but no words were coming out of her mouth ,and the guys laughed seeing her fumble like this.
Finally she said "YOU HAVE TO TAKE A BREAK!!!" and without waiting for a reply she took her note book and moved to the corner of the class and started reading without minding if we are in class or moving out of class.
She has never denied us a break whenever we asked for ever since that incident! The rest as they say is history.

the take aways :
- stand on what you feel is right
- Each teacher is different, learn to manage them (self taught HR management)
- Never attack a teacher alone, u may lose your internal marks (refer point one: united we stand divide we fall)
- be strong on your basic concepts, most teachers are bad at it. (there are teachers who belive that,in a computer only 1
process run at a time)
- Have fun.This is the most funniest thing to do in a classroom.


5. No jeans allowed? Go traditional.

Jeans the best clothing material invented by some guys from the wild west has this ability to withstand almost anything. Even if it gets torn or wrinkled or faded, the fashion quotient increases. So it was preferred by all guys and many girls
during the college days since it need not be washed so often, can be treated roughly, take on pressure from birthday bumps from friends and a lot more other reasons. But our college considered it to be a taboo if we were wearing jeans inside
the campus.And moreover a lot of administrators and other pricks who held high posts in the college felt jealous since they couldn't wear it during their college days and hence found the pleasure in blasting anyone who they found wearing jeans.
Ya i too was a victim when one such prick caught me wearing jeans on a holiday and roaming around in campus. Thanks to global warming wearing jeans doesnt make me feel that good other than when im travelling. So the best way to avoid being the target of these blasting and instead getting praised is to wear the brick colored dhothi/mundu which the so called yogis seemed to be obsessed of. And the advantages are many not just for the people who wear them but also for
the onlookers.

Advantages :
- Earn respect
- Feel extremely comfortable (even Amitabh Bacchan praised mundu for giving an air conditioning effect)
- And since global warming is on the rise, to protect our future generations (i hope i dont have to explain in detail!!)
mundu keeps it cool!!
- Can be used as blanket at night
- Can be shared with buddies since it has no particular size variation
- Give the female onlookers a chill by showing off some hairy calves.
- Quoting the article Legendary Lungi by anonymous : " It also has recreational uses like in 'Lungi/mundu pulling',
a pastime in households having more than one male member. Lungi pulling competitions are held outside toddyshops all over Kerala during Onam and Vishu. When these lungis are decommissioned from service, they become table cloths.
Thus the humble lungi is a cradle to grave appendage."

6. Talking to girls is banned? And no mobiles allowed? Get back to 70's style

There was a time without existence of mobile phones. If you can live playing with toys, you should be able to live without the toys too. Ask your parents about their college days. I dont think they would have had a great time flirting
with girls or boys like our times. And phones (forget mobile) were quite rare during those days. They all used to share their chatting/ flirting through hand written letters and eye contacts when their paths crossed (Check out the 'Kangal Irandal'
song of Tamil movie 'Subramaniyapuram'). Make use of those techniques so that you get to know how stupid the other person is ;) and may be it will help to improve your handwriting and english too. Also it may discover a poet or story
writer in you.Ahem.. Yes.. its true :)

the take aways :
- Rediscover the retro style
- Be a little more romantic
- Get to know a person better
- Improve english writing skill (seriously helps you!!)
- Find a writer in you.

Finally you feel you are in a jail? Trust me guys, you've learned to survive in the world outside the college.
Everyone including me felt that we were in a jail, maybe a jail with the most beautiful surroundings.
Yes its true, but guess what, by the time you are out of your college, you would have experienced so much pressure,been with
people with no logical mind or forward thoughts, fed with tasteless food, suffered to organize an event such that you will
will learn to survive in today's world of rat race. Best of LUCK!!


Authored By
Kannan Kodoth