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Thursday 12 February 2015

Inception


The Inception!

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 ! )

SIR LAUNDRY??

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  :-)


























11 comments:

  1. Amazingly written sweetheart !

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  2. take a bow my dear ! I am really impressed .it was an amazingly narrated blog . Like am watching a movie and all the incidences are happening live . Most importantly the flow is seamless without distorting the main theme . At no point of time it was appearing repetetive and i was inclllined to read next . Way to go darling ! Love u

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  3. Meghu u seem to be a distant relative to Chetan Bhagat...after reading ur Blog I felt as if I was experiencing all that
    Now I understand why chetan bhagat is a good writer....u hv to visit IIM..
    With optimum experience and unlimited knowledge meghu u hv become anothr Bhagat

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  4. so sweet of u both ashu & sg ! Thank uuu for the kind words :-)

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  5. Wow, what an excellent recap of memorable 3 weeks spent by all of us together. Thank you Megha for penning it down with finer details, this will live with us forever.

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  6. Wow, what an excellent recap of memorable 3 weeks spent by all of us together. Thank you Megha for penning it down with finer details, this will live with us forever.

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  7. Wow meggie.. As always.. U paint a very earthy n vivid picture with your beautiful words... You have a gift, girl..keep em coming... Cheers!!

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  8. Meggie, I thought this happens only in US where people change profession and interest so easily.
    You would have be been competing most of the successful author if you could write blogs then those accounting sums, sections of taxation, ratios from FM and Analysis of Costing. You inspired me to write a paragraph for you as my thought processed. Thanks for everything 😊.
    - Chirag

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  9. Wow Megha! That's one brilliant and vivid recap of our 3 week journey. An awesome concoction of facts, wit and warmth. Way to go! Keep it up!! You must write more!!!

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  10. @ megha with folded hands I express my deep appreciation and awe after reading your narrative. How beautifully you have made us relive our IIIM days. Reading the blog was as if pure music flowing through and you cant stop lossing in memory lane. Your creative writing has unwinded us again. Thanks is a small word but still THANKS megha...

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