Camera: Canon EOS 1000D
Time of Day : 5:50 pm
Lens: 70-300mm
Focal Length: 70 mm
Exposure: 1/80
F Number : f 6.63
ISO:400
The McClelland Hill. I am surprised after almost three batches have come in , it is yet to get a name. The upward climb that almost every first year has to do, some time or the other.
First years are not allowed to have their personal vehicles (read two-wheelers) on campus, due to treacherous roads and riding conditions. There are a few who get away of course, there always will be some. So the only way out is to either be a rich spoilt brat ( or a person with work-ex :p ) and flaunt your car/ SUV on campus or have good networking skills and sponge rides off these élite few. For the rest, for the mango-people, the hill is inevitable.
It perfectly aligns itself to the McClelland’s Theory of Needs:
N Aff team spirit ( as you talk and you walk, the effort seems lessened), and N Ach ( the pleasure you feel when you reach the top, almost like an achievement) and N Pow ( the blood stream and muscles all wake up effectively after the brisk walk making you feel rejuvenated and powerful).
It teaches you punctuality (for instance) : If you have a class at 7:30 in the morning, there is simply no way you can start from your room at 7:25 am and hope to make it. Very few can take the hill at a jog and the few who can , are usually the disciplined & fit people, who visit the gym anyway and are probably already finishing a nutritious breakfast and ambling their way to class, all bright-eyed and eager to study and learn. For the poor dearies who need that five extra minutes of sleep, it is a daunting task. Some ingratiate themselves with seniors and chart their own course, for the rest , they simply have to start early, walk slowly and reach safely (though bursting into the class , wee seconds late, breathless and flustered in no uncommon incident).
Incidentally, as a gym-inclined pal of mine disclosed it also helps build the gluteus maximus. So much for character building.
By the time you finish class, it’s a pleasant evening. You have used up your excuses of chatting up with the girls about the various academic and not-so-academic curriculum and now it’s time to trudge back to room. You reach the start of the slope and get a view of the tree tops and Manipal lighting up , one street lamp at a time and the world feels that much more lighter, the load that much lesser. Your steps hasten you to your room, where a warm bath (probably) , friends, sports, games and the better half of your life in campus awaits.
A Brief Respite: Manipal never fails.
The analogy of the theory is only for jest and is not to be used as an example in any examination by any unsuspecting MBA graduate.
