Life at IIHM Kolkata
Amidst the bustling industrial corner of Kolkata, is the campus of the International Institute of Hotel Management in sector 5 of Salt Lake. The college campus shares its grounds with a hotel establishment called Indismart Hotel. The institute was founded by an icon of the Hospitality industry in India, Dr. Suborno Bose in the year 1995. IIHM has campuses all over India in eight destinations including two international destinations i.e., Bangkok and Samarkand. Initially, Dr. Suborno Bose started the college along with twenty students in a small room but now each campus has almost a thousand students in each academic year and is exponentially increasing every year. Events ranging from wine tours, whiskey tours, WSET examinations, more than two food fests each year, Young Chef Olympiad, all are organized and conducted by the college students, teachers, and the management.
It seemed intimidating when I arrived at the college for the first time. The students are selected with three rounds of a selection process that includes an MCQ test, group discussion, and finally a personal interview. With very little knowledge and a shy personality, I took the first step to fulfill my dream to be a part of the hotel industry. IIHM Kolkata being an international campus, we were a diverse bunch of students. The shy personality I once had is now transformed into an extroverted and friendly personality and all the credit goes to college.
Every day was a new challenge to adapt to new skills, but it was always fun to push myself to my own limits. The faculty was always eager to resolve all the doubts and helped each one of us find the hotelier inside of us. The campus had three well-equipped kitchens which held a lot of memories of various culinary disasters and masterpieces. We all had various events that needed all of our attention and built a sense of managerial responsibilities in all of us. The three years of college went by so fast, I did not even realize, and before I could come to any conclusion, we were attending our own farewell party. The campus holds a lot of fond memories, tears of happiness and sadness, the sweat of tension during semesters, and the results.
It was fun preparing for various interviews in the final year and attending various personal development classes. As I was a food and beverage student, I have so many memories in the food and beverage lab — making various cocktails, learning new skills, serving teachers impersonating various guests. We had organized a small takeaway business as a part of our curriculum, which brought us a huge amount of appreciation as a group. Students and teachers always maintained a strict decorum inside the campus but when we all met outside there was a different level of friendship that we shared. I made a lot of friends some through classes, activities, events, and some over the extremely important cup of tea we had every morning before we all gathered for our morning assembly.
Like every student who goes to college I had both bad days and good days. There were certain moments when nothing seemed to work out and it felt like I was crumbling under pressure. Then gradually, things did work out. I owe it to my college and faculty that I have found my true passion, hospitality. Even though I have already graduated from my college, if I get a chance to change any of my decisions during college, I will not change a thing.
