Reflections on Student Clubs and Committees: A Journey with PetPals

A quintessential aspect of IIM life is taking part in club and committee activities. Every student joins these collectives and works for a cause larger than themselves. These are the early days of a new batch at IIM Sirmaur and I thought it would be a good time to write on this subject. I am not going to go on a tangent discussing how clubs should function and what their core values should be, but instead, I’m going to take some time to discuss how being a member (and president) of a club was for me. Think of this as reflections of Club life from IIM Calcutta.

Origins

Back in 2017, just a few days before the Durga Puja Break, My friends Akshay, Bhupesh and I decided to stay back on the campus. We wanted to experience Calcutta during the festive season. While many students were busy leaving the campus, a few girls from the second year MBA back reached out to Dr. Krishanu Rakshit and discussed solutions to feed the campus dogs while they were going to be away. Until then, students had requested staff members, security guards, gardeners and the likes to take care of their bellowed animal friends. Some students hid a cache of dry food in secret places for cats. While these solutions helped a little, it was not uncommon for students back then to find animals relocating for want of food. Sometimes these furballs return, but there are other instances when the relocation is more permanent. There were possibly times when some animals have succumbed to territorial fights and lost their lives.

These students were trying desperately to make a difference. Given that my friends and I were there on campus, we offered to assist. A plan was hatched. They provided us with a sack full of dry food and our job was to distribute it once a day. While this may sound simple at first, it’s actually a difficult task to accomplish. IIM Calcutta’s campus was very large, and covering the perimeter of the campus took us 45 minutes at least - considering we were carrying food. Food needed to be distributed in each of the hostels (Old hostel, New hostel, Lake View hostel, Family Hostels and White Hostel) and in some other spots where the ‘touch me not’ doggos stayed.  Despite the difficulty, the three of us were up for the task. We strategized and chalked out route maps to ensure efficient delivery of the food. About ten days of this and then we found ourselves at the fag end of the Puja Break. The students were back on campus. The influx of students meant that there were many animal lovers who would individually take care of the animals close to their hostels. But little did any of us realize that this was the start of something massive.

A few months later, when the institute was gearing up to shut down for the internship break in March, we knew that something had to be done to take care of the dogs and cats over the 75 day interlude that was just beginning. The three of us decided to stay back again (this was necessary. Since we were all PhD students who were in the course work stage). I think this was the moment when our club, The PetPals, was born.

The growth stage

The PetPals were officially set up as a Special Interest Group (A proto-club if you will) on the 1st of October 2018. But this does not necessarily mean that the idea of PetPals did not exist before that. For many years, many good hearted people from IIM Calcutta (Dr. Annapurna Shaw, Dr. Krishanu Rakshit, Dr. Pritam Basu and many others) were taking amazing care of our campus animals in their own limited capacities. To say the least, we were already standing on the shoulders of giants (very good hearted and lovable giants). It was now up to us to give form and structure to this special interest group (SIG) and take things to the next level.

Within the first year, we had managed to neuter all the campus animals and began to arrest the growth in campus dog population. We were feeding every dog and cat not just during the holidays, but on all days. The animals were dewormed twice a year, systematically and we ensured that any injured furball was treated as early as possible. There were 25 of us in the first year and by the time we passed on to 2020, we were 120 active members. We had clearly defined roles and responsibilities, a feeding time table, regular donation drives, and we were making statements of our financials and making them public for all our donors and other stakeholders to see. In 2020 alone, we spent approximately Rs. 10 Lakh, all through donations. When visitors visited IIM Calcutta, they could tell the dogs inside the campus were healthy, and had coats shinier than many home pets. Several donors had personally spoken to me and gave us donations to keep up the good work. The logistics network that we created was able to ensure that even when the Amphan cyclone hit Bengal and the whole of Bengal came to a halt, every one of our fur balls was accounted for, fed, and taken care of. The PetPals also lent their support to deliver food inside the IIM Calcutta campus to guards, and other laborers who were cut off due to the fallen trees and torn down buildings. Over the course of all these challenges, our students were able to talk to each other, discuss academics, apply the learnings from class and do a whole lot of ‘getting their hands dirty’.

A club with a difference

Interestingly, PetPals was among the very few student clubs that brought in students from the PhD, MBA, and MBA Executive programmes. This allowed us to have many intangible benefits. For instance, PetPals had developed an institutional memory because the PhDs were able to offer a guiding role while the MBAs and MBA executives took on the executive roles. The dogs and cats now had fixed names (earlier they would change with every batch since no one knew what the dogs were called. Dogs too would respond to multiple names and perpetually wag their tails). There was continuity in the system as records were kept. We now had a census of all the campus animals, maintained an archive of pictures of each pet, and had a shared google sheet with data on when each dog was vaccinated, dewormed, neutered and so on. If there were any kittens or puppies that were born inside the campus premises, we ensured that they got adopted.

In case animals passed away due to accidents, old age, disease, and poisoning (yes, sadly there were a few cases under our watch), we all gathered to dig a grave for them. And we always buried them with our own hands. I still remember Marble/Tigresses death on my Birthday in 2019. She passed away due to Distemper and her death was not easy. When we buried her, almost every PetPal was there. We burned her toys and blanket later in the night to ensure that the infection did not spread. Everyone of us mourned and I still think about being in the company of the best guys and gals on that night. After that, we had resolved to get every animal on campus vaccinated for distemper as well. Distemper has almost been eradicated from our campus today.

A lot of good work got done and the PetPals were behind it. If I were to summarize who the PetPals were, I’d say they were the collection of the bestest people in all of Joka in just a heartbeat. They were, and I’m really proud of having been a part of them! Even today, I am part of the PetPals whatsapp group and I keep getting updates about the feeding status, vaccinations and health concerns. With every passing year, our club gets bigger. Many of us PetPals Alumni have also been asked by students from other IIMs, NITs and SPAs to help them set up a PetPals like club. We’ve all happily contributed our time, money, and resources. In a way, I’d say PetPals changed who all of us were.

Closing Remarks

I’ve heard a very wise man tell me once that those that do not receive any criticism were probably not doing anything to begin with. If that were true, PetPals were doing a whole lot, and we received a whole lot of criticism. Sometimes, these criticisms come from very unexpected corners. Faculty members, administrative staff, and laborers. These criticisms come and go, but the work we do will speak volumes about us. If there is one thing we can say for sure, each PetPals left IIM Calcutta better than they found it. I think that says enough. Now that many of my students are setting up clubs and committees, I wonder how fast time flies. The roles have now changed. I am no longer a PhD student. I am now an assistant professor and I think I feel the same weight that our favorite Krishanu sir who was the guiding force behind PetPals must have felt during its formative stages.