“The long run puts the tiger in the cat”
- Bill Squires
After making a stupendous run through a rigorous selection process, June mein hum Joka aye. As is always the case, this wasn’t the end. After a week, life at IIMC had gone into full swing. As has been aptly said, IIMC fondly called Joka, is not just a place – it’s an experience. There was scurry by Jokars to have a piece of this ‘pie’. People were running all over the campus, buoyant with the ‘Joka spirit’. Amidst all this,Armageddon – The Adventure Club of IIM Calcutta conducted its Induction Run. It is conducted every year for the first year students as a preliminary round of its selection process. And run here we did. After a day of hectic classes, Fachaas turned up in drones to participate in this refreshing, albeit challenging event. We chose to run the day, after the day had run on us. (We Jokars are found of challenges, aint we? We take them head-on).
Even though the rain god had tried to play spoilsport, Armageddon team had come fully ready. The event started without any glitches. The route was laid out. Start from White Hostel, run till the main gate , take a detour towards the Mini-Howrah bride, and then cross the grand Audi(torium) to complete one round. Multiply this by three and that is how much the boys had to run. The girls had to run 2 rounds. Team Armageddon constantly kept the runners motivated and also energized by providing glucose water at different points throughout the track. Tim Noakes has aptly said “Body argues that there is no reason to continue. The only recourse is to call on the spirit, which fortunately functions independent of spirit”. This was pretty evident during the run. Participants pushed their limit, displaying tenacity in strength and fortitude in spirit.
After everyone had done the requisite rounds, bananas and juice were served as refreshments. There was a flurry of chatter among participants. Few participants had stuck together as a band and made the rounds, each being there in others time of distress. This was felicitous of the Joka tribe and its culture. The winner from the men’s group turned out to be a PGPEX student having clocked a time of 22 minutes.
After resting the aching muscles, it was time for the ceremonial group pic. Everyone cluttered together, with beaming faces; forgetting the recent adversity. While a few held the Induction run banner, quite a few others held out their fingers signaling victory, thumbs up. It was time to disperse and indulge in other experiences. A gem of an experience had been added to the jar of life.
