Get ready for a long drive if you decide to visit the Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai. It takes nearly one and a half hours to reach the institute, which is situated 70 kms from Chennai at Manamai Village on the East Coast Road (ECR). However, the scenic beauty on the way to Great Lakes is worth the length of the drive; the ECR runs adjacent to a very blue Bay of Bengal alongside almost empty pristine beaches. My drive, apart from the scenic beauty, featured a ‘friendly’ debate between two students from marketing and operations, on which is the more glamorous stream of the two. Needless to say, time flew by quickly.
I will address Great Lakes Institute of Management, easily abbreviated to a non-fussy ‘GLIM’, as ‘Great Lakes’ hereon. Reason: The students detest their institute being called ‘GLIM’ or ‘GLIM Chennai’; it makes them feel that it is ‘glum’ or ‘gloomy’ or just a sad place to be in. Thus, they insist that the media call it ‘Great Lakes’ or ‘Great Lakes, Chennai’ if it does not want to take the full name each time in an article. I abide.
The campus structure of Great Lakes reminds one of buildings from the Roman era. It is circular with a large performance area in the middle where a tall, abstract tower stands in the center. The tower is made up of polished steel and is so abstract that it is sure to attract your attention. It is called the ‘tower of reflection’ and its stated purpose is to aid the students in meditating and reflecting on their future. There is another abstract construction, on way from the academic block to the hostels. It is made of two irregularly-shaped towers, brick-red in colour. While the earlier tower had a name, this construction doesn’t. The students however, call both of them by a name more agreeable to them: ‘kinky 1’ and ‘kinky 2’.
Students at Great Lakes are perpetually busy. Period. Because the institute offers a one-year MBA program, they have their hands full with work the entire year. Classes are conducted any time in the window of 6 am to 12 midnight. During my stay there, I observed some of the students remain in class from 4:30 pm to 12 midnight with just two or three short 10 minutes breaks in between. And it did not stop at that. After the lecture, they had assignments to submit by 11 am the next morning and some also had a placement interview lined up. With such an academic routine which leaves for very little time to indulge in other activities, they still manage to organize festivals, take part in competitions and run the various clubs and committees that are essential to a management college.
Due to the one-year duration of the program, students at Great Lakes are also deprived of the otherwise taken-for-granted help of a senior student. Alumni interactions do happen from time to time, but nothing comes close to the lazy chat sessions with seniors that provide all necessary information about the professors, the course, assignments and other such bits that are part of any student’s life. However, as Great Lakes is not recognized by AICTE and does not have to follow its rules and regulations, the curriculum is quite flexible and can change to suit the needs of the current market and the students.
Considering the location, there are few places that the students to hang out at near the campus. But for a ‘tapri’ or a rugged smoking joint outside the main gate, there is little else that they can go for a change from their campus life. The nearest place is Mahabalipuram where they often go to shop, hang-out and eat. A trip to Mahabs (as Mahabalipuram is popularly known as among the students), though, is expensive and will cost you Rs 150 one way by an auto. Technically. In reality it would just cost you Rs 15 because as many as 10 students fit into a single auto for a ride.
You will need more of these trips to Mahabs if you are a non-vegetarian because the institute mess only serves vegetarian food and the closest that you will find a non-vegetarian food restaurant is again, Mahabalipuram. However, there is an eating joint under construction outside the main gate of the institute.
Great Lakes has a tradition of giving every batch a name. For example, the current batch is called ‘Patriots’ and the next one, ‘Gladiators’. The students do not know any particular reason behind it, however they agree that it helps to develop a feeling of belonging in the batch.
Great Lakes practices an interesting concept, that of ‘Karma Yoga’ to cultivate a feeling a ‘giving back to society’ amongst the students. Students form groups, adopt one of the many villages in the nearby areas and identify the problems of the people there. They then work on a way to create a solution to the problem. For example, last year one of the student groups held medical camps for a village where they identified health-care as one of the major problems. They are led by example by their professor, Dr Venkat R Krishnan, who practices ‘Karma Yoga’ in his daily life and has a major impact on the students by his simple way of living and his high ideals.
B-school Backpacker articles are verbal illustrations of student life and culture at business schools that we travel to. Not to be mistaken for a review of the b-school, they seek to show the fun, informal side of the business school in question.
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