The chill that I felt on my first cold Ahmedavadi evening,
was more to do with the cool intellectuals all around me ; in all shades of
grey ;-)
The fear of unknown coiled my insides, as I ventured in the
revered auditorium of IIM Ahmedabad…..It’s only as days passed, that these seemingly
grey-suited people showed their true colors; which ranged from blue to purple
to even cute baby pinks!!!
A longgg an interesting round of introductions rolled out.
This was the first thread of warmth that bound us all tightly, for days to
come, in a grueling bout of studies / debates/ discussions/masti/ sports/
dining/ fun et al ! Those 2-3 golden sessions were enough to instill parting
pangs amidst us …as soon we were divided in two groups of ~50 each..
Little indication did we have, at our first dinner party (in
the lawn), that ‘ye saala paneer’ will become an unrelenting lover ! Hai ! And
neither did it dawn upon our innocent souls that this will be one of the last relaxed
times we are going to experience for longggg !
Soon started a spate of intelligentsia …where brilliant faculty after faculty of
varied persona enthralled us with their concoctions …
FACULTY
The “learning” or unlearning started with our very own
(cuter) version of the 3 idiots dean – the charismatic– Mr Ashish Nanda. His
cool intellect and extreme humility blew us away ! He confirmed all that was
heard about this revered institution! And thus started our journey with a most
desirable kick-off!
We had the shining bald (which was full of strategic grey
matter!) Mr Dixit, who taught us the seemingly simple (yet difficult to
grope); mother-of-all- strategic tools – “logical
data dicing & stratification” !!
Like the respected & feared Mr.Sherlock, our Indian counterpart,
would pounce upon us unexpected and lo behold (!) turn us into some scary character!
One would become the CEO of some godforsaken company and the other his
competitor! And gods save those who came unprepared for the theatrical
revelation! It was in such moments, am sure, that at least few of us had sharp
urges for our dear washroom ;-) His unique slide smile (where he used to form a
convex arc from board to class & progressively widen his smile!) became a
hot favourite in dumb-charades!….
Humour aside, in his unique method of teaching, our dear
Mr.Dixit taught us more strategy than 100 books/experiences put together! A
board written on by him can be auctioned to get a house in Mumbai!
The next in line to dazzle us was our beloved Mr.Saral!!
Though he insisted that he is a simple
man as akin to his name, he was anything but that!
Baba Saral- Ramdev, introduced us to such definitions and
intricacies of an organization, that it was nothing short of a mystical /yogic
experience. Our soul almost achieved
nirvana, on this spiritual path, where we realized that darkness envelops darkness and all that we have learnt has no meaning as also the highest truth
that “ we have learnt
nothing “!!
We had free “zoo” passes in all sessions encountering
species after species of corporate animals! His easy wit & poker faced
humor had a lasting effect. Thus imbibing his sharp & deep insights( about
organizations/operations/strategy) permanently on our minds. His teachings seem
to be amongst the first few being implemented back home!
Saral delivered static humour ( rooted to one spot )
..completely opposite was Mr.Varkey ! Static can be used for
him in connotation with electricity! He was our desi Jim Carrey ! A
live,vibrant electric current zooming everywhere ! His quintessential delivery &
supernatural hand movements were enough to make him the Rajnikant” of our course
! His Powerful presence and passionate speech gave us the protective Modi-like
aura of “ acche din anewale hai” !!
Though sub-consciously he was more worried about whether his
tee covers his tummy ( !) ; he made a conscious dent in our kash
wrt human capital .His climactic ( as in with climax ) style of studying
ensured that the most important of all learnings – People Management – are
burnt ( he has to burn ! he cant do sophisticated things like impart !! ) on
our minds ..
Enlightening us on the economic front was the esteemed Mr.Dholakia…..It
was at once astonishing and irritating to know that I had never really understood
economics in its true sense .
The man’s greatness lies in the way he can teach at “level
zero” inspite of being at the zenith of knowledge. He is surely accredited with
the maximum ink usage and maximum ovations J
The architect of the course and the perpetrator of the
crime
was our very own
law professor-
Mr Anurag Agarwal ! Only he could have
made a dry subject like law, seem so interesting & interactive.He surely must have been a bollywood- reject or atleast
aspirant ( I have to be on right side of
law ! ). His abundant acting skills and expectations were a welcome change for
our data-drugged minds!
Reliable sources from ABP news informed us that he
alongwith Mr.Dixit had secrertly vowed to run an acting school right under the
nose of our dean ;-) The same sources also tell us that he has a strategic
tie-up with GOOGLE for fdhgfjdfgdjfgkdsjfhskjdfhksfdjskdjskdjsladjsladksal;dksa;ldklasdk;sladk;lsadks;aldksa;ds;aldsaldks;adlasdsdk;adks;lada;dlad;sadks;alds;ladsa;ldksa;lds !
The dashing , cool
Barkha Dutt of our course was Ms.Asha
Kaul ! Her sharp,hypnotic eyes never missed anything and she could read us
inside out better than any photocopying machine ! Not only were her sessions
most interactive ( Nokia, Malaysian airlines ) but also very very insightful !
She changed one thing permanently for us all : we can never peacefully cross
our arms ever again !
Looking like he could use a week worth of sleep ( and two
weeks worth of shave ! ) was our Markerting man – Prof.Sahay
We had Shailesh Gandhi with lots of
analytics and industry expertise up his sleeve …and our on-board CFO – Mr Ved up his neck!! Ved considered it
his moral duty to save us all from certan teachings ;-)
We also had some eminent guest lecturers and few other professors
like Khokle ( why would anyone be named that is beyond me ) whom I will not mention in detail for now J
Co-PARTICIPANTS
Equal partners in enlightening us were some of our raring co-participants.
Krishna
& Krish, with their balanced & analytical queries ..Bharat
and Ranjan with out-of-box perspectives (note the word perspective!) and
the resonating “ Sir , I have a question
“……Smit & Raj Maiti to counter the out-of-box .. ….Lalit
and John who ensured that they get most outta the class …..Mudunuru
with his keen business sense …….Gautam & Manish with their cool
media & marketing view ……Beejal & Praveen with their
logical conclusions …the finance guys ever-questioning the data like
Anup, Ved,Jitendar, Datta & Chirag …Exuberant people like Sudhanshu
& Sriram and many more such brilliant people ! They ensured that
our classes and study groups are enriching & entertaining!
All of them are a case-study in themselves and have
contributed a lot to our overall learning. god bless !
STUDY,
STUDY & STUDY
The unique case-study method ensured that we let-go of our
wordly desires and seek gyan, gyan & gyan. The fact that “syndicate rooms”
were already allotted ( even before our first lecture) impressed or rather
pressed ( !) the gravity of the situation upon us …To top that the entire
campus had a fort-like feel ( was that a conscious effort ? dunno ) . All in
all , we realized , there’s no escape ;-)
Thus started the study-group frenzy whatsapp groups, hurried
discussions on when to meet next ( even courting would not have been so
enthusiastic for most ! ) , intense debates , intellectual discussions, tips to
read fast , night-outs, sleepy tea-outs,
mixed group studies, strategy , bursts of antakshari or gup-shup etc etc etc ……Tilkesh
even taught us how to read whole paras in one master-stroke ! For more details,
kindly credit his bank account ;-)
Studies also led to all sorts of barter trade-offs! “ Tum
mujhe case synopsis do, mai tumhe ice-cream dunga!” or more relevant in
Ahmedabad – “mai tumhe whisky dunga !”…. ;-)
It was a true representation of college/hostel life all over
again …The heterogeneous groups accounted for a truly encompassing view &
knowledge base! The syndicate rooms are therefore witness to some of the
strongest friendships betwixt us J
ALL
WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES 3TP DULL
So much of gyan is injurious to health! We lived by this funda
and ensured that it’s augmented with lotta fun.
Thus emerged fitness gurus like Krishna, Suresh, Ojha etc
who pushed and prodded us to shed some kilos( that the paneer added) J .Soon
various groups were formed for jogging, walking , gymming and were seen lending
a kind hand ( or alarm ) to the needy : read lazy J
The Ronaldos , Leanders & Saina ( hum bhi the bhai ! )
captured the badminton courts & TT tables . The camaraderie made the
moments very special & enjoyable! There was an easy flow of matches, teams,
all sorts of rules ( whoever shouted the loudest his rule was the truest ! ) ,
gaalis ( must in Indian sports !) , free-training, style quotients (
best
was Prashant’s badminton serve !
Full istyle!), betting, capturing of racquets (beg, borrow & steal !)
and abundant joy
J
Impromptu plans like movie, shopping, dining, wining (I just
created that word!), sshh-in-room-coloured-water-parties etc made the entire experience thrilling and
fun
The campfire, for
reasons unknown, was held by the
organizers( me and sriram )on the
last night of lectures. People reminded
us, in no kind terms, that this was a night of the “ultimate salvation” – THE
AMUL PREPARATION. However the arrow was cast and thus, after Mr.Saral, it was
the organizers who were extremely scared to walk unarmed on campus thereon!
We were sure to be slapped or shouted down by someone in
charge any moment ;-) …However, a word was a word and we charged on. There was
a pleasant burst of hidden talent that came to fore that starry night .
Everyone turned a leg with me on bollywood …. We saw a lotta emerging actors (
trained by AAgarwal acting school ) during the dumbcharades…. Worth special
mention is the way Bharat had to propose Venkat ( !! ) Considering he got the
first prize we are sure of either of two things : He has lotta experience or
Venkat is a great actor or actress ;-)
Nats & Raam were
powerhouses of talent with their whistling & singing skills respectively. Sunil
ji turned yesterhero and enthralled us with romantic moves ……And no Indian
get-together can be complete without the good old Antakshari where everyone
joined and would have made merry till the wee hours ; had it not been for Amul
! The Akshardham outing also had ended with a raucous round of multilingual
antakshari - Krish & Sriram
on tamil , me & Vandana on Marathi, others hindi.
All outings , as Akshardham, were sprinkled with passionate
AAP speeches by Ranjan ji ( countering him would have ensured one a swift and
clean death !) He was the “jaan” of any gathering …we all always were drawn to
his powerful diction & persona like moths to fire – and the pun is intended
– as you would most probably burn out when faced by this shining brilliance !
Stars were right when we all signed up for the course as we
timed it perfectly with IIM’s annual event- CHAOS. Thus ensued
guilty-yet-determined trips to rock concerts , dance competetions & the oo
la la Sunidhi Chauhan ! Innocent co-participants were made partners in crime as
we had learnt : insiders are the best carrier of news ;-)
KHAVANU, PIVANU, MAJJA NI LIFE!
Gujjus ( including me ) live by this saying and our life at
Ahmedabad was no different . The
management (
including canteen staff , housekeeping during
in-session tea breaks, Kaka during outings ) had decided to feed us
lovingly till we all don’t fit in our own pants ! Be it canteen or class breaks
or Akshardham or Vishala ; we were offered sumptuous food with love.
Guess they had twin motives; a) to have a measurement
metric for their food-performance ( no of inches increased on waist ! ) & b) to test participants ability to
fight inertia after being fed upto brim & still study ! We were like the
student in Karate Kid; not knowing what we were being coached into ;-)
Whether it had
anything to do with Amul or some in-house cow , we were fed-up to the hilt with Paneer! There were jokes around that once
we go back home, paneer on dining table
would be akin to immediate divorce or worse murder ;-)
Meals in canteen were a pleasant affair with lots of
gup-shup & socilaising that goes around with good food. There were
good-hawks who would
try to control
the waist-lines of friends and others who would try to inculcate the importance
of having a merry life!
The campus joints for idli, bhurji pav, the googled- chai
wala and our very own Amul were
The food-highlight was Vishala ……the traditional gujju meal
was a welcome change from the monotony & we all hogged to our hearts fill (
or tummy !) …I remember giving excited morsels of wisdom on what & how to
eat to poor Sanjeev & Saurabh ( who wanted nothing better than for me
to shut up so they can eat in peace ! lol ! )
All of us have heard this melody while at IIM. Never has a
laundrwala pleased us so much am sure! Worth mentioning are the entire housekeeping
& other staff (including our very own mother mary ) ..never a thing amiss
in the entire scheme of things.. including celebrating b’days for participants
! That was a master –stroke ( and dil ki baat ye hai ki we loveee cake ! )
How can anything be
so perfect was the question we have still not answered
J
D-DAY
As the second –last day dawned, the 3TP area turned in a
war-zone …..Sar pe Kafan odhe chal diye hum sab ! Everyone had a purposeful
look, stride, walk & talk! Section A and B holed up in different zones to
work fervently on their war strategies...
It was the culmination of all learnings and no-one lower
than KRISHNA himself could have saved us! The Sanmar group seemed to have
anticipated this need as suddenly two Krishnas emerged as our saviour-leaders!
Both led us to salvation with their super leadership
J We all toiled under their guidance and came
about with masterpieces of strategy ….It was an exhilarating experience of
heated discussions, group efforts, night-out and tons of amul-ras to pep us up
! ( though some would have preferred somras to dull the pain )
The presentation & certification day was truly
emotional! Stoked with the sweet video ( of photographs) shared by IIM staff,
we all were almost in tears and had no heart to go back home. The audi & lawns
burst with hugs & handshakes, photos & visiting cards, tears &
smiles ……Everyone was saying bye to someone but not wanting to let go …..
And this, I believe, was the true success of the entire
course! To have come from such varied lives, corporate & cultures; and have
become this one homogenous ball of affection is truly spectacular!
Lets value this inception of a long-lasting bond :-)
Lets
maintain this warmth people and keep enlightening each other! Lets breathe in
the collective wisdom & affection!
I will quote something from my own poem :
Life
always throws a myriad of images …
Some
lovely, some ugly, some special tutelages,
One has to
choose his own special sap
You ‘my
friends’ are one such feather in my cap !
Keep bonding …..
-Love Megha :-)
