Samhar 2009 has ended and the junta at IIMC has settled into the usual routine of rushing to classes, running against assignment deadlines, discussing cases, and making presentations. With the end-terms of the PGP2s going on, it is a slightly subdued time here at Joka. The JT team shall take this opportunity to look back and relive the Samhar experience.

Samhar, the annual sports meet between IIM C and IIM B, is one of the major events in the sporting calendars of both the institutes. This year, IIM B sent a 100-strong contingent to Joka to participate in Samhar. The entire campus had a festive atmosphere, with discussions galore about the different matches and people updating each other frequently about the outcomes of various matches. The Samhar ’09 twitter account had alumni and students eagerly enquiring about the results of various matches and following the goings on from around the world.

There were a lot of close matches, won and lost by a whisker, which had the crowd go from exhilaration to despondent in a minute.  Men’s Badminton was one such closely fought tournament. With IIMB winning the first singles match (Karan-IIMC vs Giri-IIMB), Karthik Bhaskaran of IIMC stormed the next match and won it 15-8,15-3 to equal scores. Next followed an extremely close doubles game that lasted for almost an hour, and  had the audience whooping and groaning continuously.  IIM B won it by a whisker, much to the chagrin of Jokaites and to the delight of the visitors. The score now stood at 2-1 in favor of IIM B. Jayant Yadav of IIM C played a brilliant match in the reverse singles to win the game and equal scores. The decider was another nail-biting affair which in the end went to Bangalore after a hard-fought game. IIMB won the Men’s Badminton 3-2.  The Men’s TT was another closely contested tournament, which finally went the C way.

IIM Bangalore won Samhar 9-7, but what most people remember about the tournament was the excitement, the anticipation, the fight, the hope and the exhilaration. On a dreary day in the middle of end-terms and endless assignments,  just thinking of those moments spent on a court, fighting one’s guts out, cheering hoarse, would be enough to bring back the adrenaline and raise one’s spirits.  Like Howard Cosell once said in one of his more reflective moods, sport is human life in microcosm, and Samhar 2009 witnessed all that and more!

For JokaTimes,
T.Samyukktha