It is home to a breed of people here at IIM Calcutta who are quite like the others at almost all given times, but don completely different colors once inside the realms of this structure. They run but they don’t move and they break sweat in a pursuit which might seem pointless to many. Yes, we are talking of the IIM Calcutta gymnasium.

Positioned, almost concealed in a corner behind the tennis courts, just opposite one of the seven lakes on campus, the gymnasium here at IIM Calcutta houses some world class equipment. From treadmills, to cycles, to full fledged body exercisers, to chest press apparatus, to weights, the gym has it all! Besides, it also boasts of a badminton court. Undoubtedly, an absolute paradise for the fitness freaks and the health conscious!

Now, again the kind of people who visit the gym can easily be classified into various categories. There is this one category of people who will frequent the gym at all times around the year, irrespective of the other activities on campus, and are the true “˜hardcore gymmers’. There is another genre of those who have an on-off relationship with the gym, and can be spotted every now and then, and whose visits to the gym follow no fixed pattern as such. There is yet another remarkable variety of the ones who will make a once in a life time appearance at some point of time, but will never show up again! Last, but not the least, there is this variety, and quite an interesting one (I presume only males fall in this category, though no confirmation from females has been taken!) who will surface only when the gym is crowded with creatures of the opposite sex! They might all have different reasons to hit the gym, but, as long as the gym is running and the “˜gymmers’ are active, no one is complaining!

Besides surprising you by taking you to your limits in terms of physical exertion, the gym can be shocking in other ways too. A few days back, this is what one of our colleagues (Arun Paliwal, PGDM, Batch of 2010), experienced at the gym

“The other day, I saw a middle aged gentleman in the Gym, walking past the various equipments. Soon he approached me, offering some help related to certain exercises. I accepted the offer with glee. He was characteristically proficient in the way he went about explaining the routines and I must admit had a rather fit body for his age. Thoroughly impressed, I decided to question him

“Sorry sir, but I haven’t seen you before!” I said.
“Yes, I am your new gym instructor….” he replied in a as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

To say the least, it was motivating to see someone from a senior generation (He seemed to be in his early 40′s), to be in a profession which required sustained amount of dedication. I decided to probe further.

“That’s great sir! But isn’t it a little difficult to manage all this at your age?” I quipped.
“Son, it’s a habit, I have been doing this for almost half a century now!” he grinned.

Half a century?? I wondered whether his physical fitness had taken a toll on his mental setup.

“I am sorry, half a century?” I asked.

At this point, he took out his driving license, and put his finger next to the place where it indicated his date of birth. The year clearly read “1945″. I said no more, he said no more, we just exchanged smiles. The old gentleman had conveyed enough even without opening his mouth. At an age, when most people would be battling with ailments and looking to live out the last parts of their lives, this man was simply fighting fit! It gave me sufficient food for thought and motivation enough to keep coming back to the gym day after day!”

In short, the gym is a place that deserves a run up to sometime. So, all you people out there, who haven’t yet had a brush with this institution, do check it out while you are here at IIM Calcutta!

For Jokatimes
Mayank Jain