Heartwarming traditions of SPJIMR

When I joined S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), I knew the next two years would be among the most memorable of my life. What I didn’t anticipate, however, was how the simplest of traditions, birthdays, would become such a defining part of my SPJIMR experience. Amid the countless assignments, late-night group meetings, and packed schedules, the campus manages to pause, laugh, and celebrate the people who make this journey special.

At SPJIMR, birthdays are more than just another day on the calendar. They’re a reminder of the close-knit community we live in, one where no one is ever left out. It doesn’t matter how hectic things get; when it’s someone’s birthday, friends leave their hostel rooms and gather in the open space outside the B26 hostel. That’s where most celebrations begin, under the night sky, surrounded by laughter, teasing, and the inevitable anticipation of the cake cutting. The closest friends of the birthday boy or girl usually arrange a cake, and once it’s cut, what follows is almost a ritual that’s the generous application of cake all over the birthday person’s face. It’s chaotic, funny, and oddly heartwarming, a moment that captures the carefree joy we all crave amidst our rigorous MBA lives.

My own birthday, however, was a little different. I was representing SPJIMR at a sports tournament in Indore, and things didn’t go exactly as planned. Our team had to cut the trip short due to unforeseen circumstances and ended up spending the night negotiating a refund with the organisers. It was a long, tiring evening, and just as the clock struck twelve, the discussions paused. To my surprise, someone pulled out a cake. There we were, in an unfamiliar city, away from campus, in the middle of a heated negotiation, yet the moment turned warm and special. We shared a few laughs, cut the cake, and celebrated right there before boarding the bus back to Mumbai. I may have spent most of my birthday on that bus, but surrounded by friends, I never felt alone for even a second.

In many ways, that night captured the spirit of SPJIMR’s birthday culture, spontaneous, heartfelt, and deeply personal. It’s not about where you are or how elaborate the celebration is. It’s about the people around you who make sure you’re seen, valued, and celebrated. These moments, simple yet profound, are what transform SPJIMR from just a B-school into a family, one that knows how to celebrate life, one birthday at a time.