My friend Setu

The inevitable, some say, took its course last night and Vikhyat, one of my closest friends from B-school, breathed his last!

As news of his struggling to stay alive started trickling in the day before and soon, as it became apparent that his was a losing battle, there was a mix of different feelings that went through me. Sadness and despair, anger and frustration, guilt and pain...they all struck me as one, immobilising me. Even when I saw people who hardly knew him gearing up to help him and his family, visit him at the hospital, trying to raise funds for his treatment, I sat in my car silently crying, knowing in my heart that it was already too late.

I couldn't bring myself to talk to his brother or wife, even if it were to just offer some meaningless words of comfort and as Vikhyat passed away last evening, my guilt at somehow failing him made me not do anything, not even bidding him a final farewell.

For some reason though, I started going though all my past interactions with him...phone messages, chats, emails, social media...stuff that memories over the last 15 years were made of. And I realised that my friend Vikhyat, or Setu as he was fondly called by his family, was more than just a dead body. He was a dear friend, a vivacious bundle of infectious enthusiasm, a starry eyed dreamer who wanted to invent, create, do what was never ordinary and somehow make you believe that all this was possible.

I was writing a small formal obituary for him when thoughts from many of my and Vikhyat's classmates started pouring in. It was strange and yet obvious how each one of us were remembering the same thing about him, his disarming smile and his dreams, his enterprise and his brilliance.

Having worked closely with him at the two editions of Backwaters, IIM Kozhikode's cultural fest, the team and he had become family. Endless nights of discussions and planning and activities, heartbreaks and successes, arguing and celebrating together...his face keeps flashing by and gets blurred only by the tears that spring up so unexpectedly. His long and funny emails to the team on how we need to pull up our socks, his undying hope of getting sponsorships from local businesses despite one rejection after the other, his fooling around on team meetings and then turning all serious for the job at hand, his insane and seemingly impractical "Yana Gupta" ideas and even more impossible execution...how do I let him go?

It's painful and tears me apart as I think of him playing the role that he had no clue about in that flop of a play we had at the Freshers' Party, him proudly holding the banner of "Bloody Freshers Rock" at our farewell, him fighting with me over rules of the Konnect Antakshari, him telling me at countless mess parties, of his frustrations with life's ordinariness that he wanted to overcome, his ventures that worked and didn't, his funny experiments with dating apps, him getting married not even a couple of years ago, him rushing to meet me to advise me in person on the startup idea I apparently had.

Perhaps he was headed this way for some time, perhaps he could be saved, perhaps whatever anyone did wouldn't have helped, perhaps something would have...I will never know and neither will many of my friends who won't sleep for a few days without him in their mind. What I do know is that I cherished the time that God had given me with Vikhyat in this world and that I will never forget what it was to know him. I will remember him not as what he had become in the hospital photos that I saw over the last few days but as the unbeatable spark that he was...my friend Setu!

Some thoughts from some of our friends came to me and I am writing them here so that others who couldn't write can read and remember Vikhyat. Please feel free to send me anything that you would like to add about your memories of Vikhyat and I will put them up here so that we can keep reading this post whenever we are reminded of our friend.

Sandeep Reddy

I have lost a brother today. We have shared so much of our lives together that I feel I have always known him from childhood and we have grown together. We have lived together, started a venture together, dreamt together, seen ups and downs of life together. I will always want to remember him as a dreamer and fighter with a smile always on his face. May his soul rest in peace. Bhai I will miss you.

Saurabh Goswami

Vikhyat to me was that bubbly guy who wanted to be an entrepreneur from day 1 at IIMK. I still remember, he coming to ask if one can use SMS for sending messages for credit card transactions. I had a previous background in telecom coding before coming to campus and maybe he thought that would help. His enthusiasm forced me to go back to the specs and find out. It was that infectious enthusiasm that he showed when were part of backwaters too - hunting for sponsorship from the random shops in Calicut. Post college, we were not in touch too often, but I always felt proud that my batchmate was featured on CNBC young turks. We again got back about 9 months ago when he called but in that conversation it never occurred to me that he was suffering. Still had great ideas. That was Vikhyat - he had an invisibility cloak that prevented us from seeing his suffering. Our world will not be the same again.

Qaynat Sharma

Vikhyat was the life of every group he participated in. He always brought positive thought and encouraging influence to the people around him. His calm smile and bright ideas endeared him to people across his academic and work life. Vikhyat means known to all, and he stayed true to his name, both in life and in death. We will always remember you Vikhyat. Rest in Peace and Happiness.

Malini Pande

It’s still not sinking in. I have been in denial ever since I saw the message for the first time. Initially it was it can’t be the same Vikhyat and then it was like he should be fine soon. And the very next day he has gone. We spent endless days and nights planning for backwaters at K but my most vivid memory of him is one night in Mumbai when I was dropping him after a party in Sandy’s house and thanks to Mumbai traffic a 20 min drive stretched to 60 min. It was the best time I had spent with him. He was his jovial best and full of life and I remember telling him that we need to meet more often. Wish we had! God bless you Vikhyat and hope you are in a better place now!

Rohit Gupta

Vikhyat was true to his name...VIKHYAT..well known..loved by everyone who came in contact with him...a brilliant mind but childish at heart..a guy who started even when the concept of start up was yet to start up...a guy with a mission for backwaters...will miss you my friend!!

Surabhi Prasad

I am tearing up as I write this for Vikhyat - “The most striking memory I have of Vikhyat is how full of life he was. Be it academics, organising Backwaters or simply entertaining us with his wit and humour, he sparked life. I cannot believe this spark is gone. Rest in peace, dear friend. You will always be remembered”.

Rahul Ranjan

That boy from Mankapur is no more. I always used to tease him as Mankapore is new Singapore. He told one day he would go to Singapore and write to me. That can't happen now.

Madhu Smitha

Vikhyat will always be remembered as brilliant person who always converse with cheerful smile and make others laugh.Felt proud of him when he made it to CNBC Young Turks though we aren't in touch with each other.Feel he would have achieved a lot more and brought lot more accolades to K.We will all miss him!

Sandipan Roy

Vikhyat, one of the few guys from campus who embraced me with my follies and became my best buddy. He was different – effervescent yet brooding, charismatic yet crude, loving yet nonchalant all at the same time. He was amongst the brightest minds I have ever met, a man brimming with ideas, a man who could see the future and knew how to disrupt it.. He lived for his friends and family and never cared about his own well being. I remember how he once missed my birthday and next day turned up with a guitar in a restaurant just to surprise me, even strumming and singing happy birthday much to the surprise of the people around. That was Vikhyat, living life on his own terms, rules were not meant to be for him, the world could wait while he orchestrated his own symphony. I guess geniuses self-destruct, so did he in the end, just too soon, too fast. Farewell my friend, do well wherever you are now…will miss you buddy, will miss you sorely..the world doesn’t make your kind any more Vikhyat!

Sharika Munshi

Vikhyat was the brightest, most enthusiastic person in our batch at IIMK. His energy and enterprise were infectious. He was loved by everyone. His adventurous, entrepreneurial drive inspired many of us. I have the fondest memories of spending time with him on campus and during our trips to Goa. He was always smiling, fun and kind. I am too overwhelmed by this news Vikhyat. You were a shining star and your light will continue to shine on all those you touched and inspired. Lots of love always to you and to your family!

Aditya Chaturvedi

Vikhyat is no more. And it feels sad, heart-breaking even, and yet a shade inevitable in some ways. The sudden news of his critical condition and subsequent passing brought back a flood of memories from campus. In a group of 130+ classmates, Chhote, as some of us and particularly I called him, was definitely among the few who were notable. Possessed of a winsome smile what stood out to me was his audacity of hope. He was irreverent, bordering on arrogant, but was also brilliant and a true entrepreneur at heart.

As somebody who shared with him three bonds - IIMK classmate, brotherhood of ITI employee children, and life membership of the longitudinally challenged club, I spent a fair bit of time with him during the two years we were together on campus. If there was something that defined him for me, it was the countless instances of him declaring 'Abe Saale tu dekh abhi' to declare his intentions of conquering many a challenge.

Not a guy without flaws, Chhote truly burned the candle at both ends as he tried more endeavours than most would even dream about. Issac Mizrahi said 'When you're a young person, you have these prescient ideas about the person you want to be perceived as, and so you act like this person. And then later you become that person..". Chhote lived this credo to the max but didn't live long enough to become that person.

Rest in peace brother!

The Settlement exercise

In one of the most trivial and pointless exercises, some half a dozen of MBA grads from IIM Kozhikode's Class of 2006 came to the conclusion that a whopping 58% of the batch is now married and an equally staggering 8% has had one or more kids. The exercise was carried out in the serene environment provided by Ravi's lovely home and occasion was one of the big ones for Ravi and Deepti, the lovely couple's second wedding anniversary.

Yesterday being a holiday on account of Eid, I had spent the entire day lazing around and watching movies and flopping on the bed and watching some more movies and flopping some more on the bed. As I was about to see the long, weary day to an uneventful end, I received a call from Ravi to come to his house ASAP. Not given any reasons for this call and given such a short notice, I would have imagined something ominous but for the tone of Ravi's voice.

As I reached Ravi's place, I could hear the cheerful sounds from his flat and Priya (in Mumbai to resign from her job, as she put it) waving from the balcony. Already having sensed some kind of gathering of batch mates, the only surprise was the occasion. All the usual suspects were there and then some. The evening started out like all others, a little awkwardly at first with people asking each other about their jobs and work and similar stuff. Soon enough, the mood grew into a more relaxed one as the drinks came out and amidst the cheery toasts, the junta started getting nostalgic and got into talking about the campus. The same old jokes and the same old events got discussed yet again but like every other time, did not fail to bring smiles to each one of our faces.

It was in the middle of this nostalgic session that the discussion veered towards marriage and kids (some of the gathering being a little more than active on the matrimonial landscape definitely helped). Name after name was exclaimed upon as it was either proclaimed as having already tied the nuptial knot or gone a step further. Within hardly any time, all this led to the batch list coming out of Rohit's laptop and all of us going literally name by name. Some of the names had already started sounding unfamiliar and that is a shame really, considering that it has only been two and a half years since we passed out of campus.

For all the names that we collectively had a clue on, we updated their status as Married, Married with kids, or Engaged. People who did not fall in any of these categories were listed as Looking :-). While some people (especially Rohit who will probably mail the analysis to the batch, just for fun) were careful about putting people in categories where they did not have any clue on the actual turn of events, some others (including me) believed in the old adage of "Guilty till proven otherwise".

I am sure that the end result of the exercise set many people thinking, some thinking on why it hasn't happened with them yet, some thanking/blaming their stars for being blessed/cursed, while there were others who took the high point and thought dispassionately about it all. Whatever be the case, the "Settlement Exercise" had everyone enthralled till it was time for dinner and subsequent cake cutting and celebrations.

Cheers to Ravi and Deepti (not sure if I have spelt it right, two e's or an i?)!
Guys, wish you a very happy anniversary once again!

Little updates from the little birdie

So it is about time I update my blog readers (I have ceased to wonder about the reasons for their existence apart from the ikka dukka ones I know of :-)) about what is happening in my life apart from the cribs and the rants and the sobs and the frowns. So here goes, something fresh from my garden, for all those who care to have a whiff.

The end terms for Term 4 at IIM Kozhikode are under way and I am about half way through my papers. Although I have come to (come to, because I never intended to but somehow ended in) taking the maximum number of allowed subjects, the exams are not too much of a bother. With most of the papers in the marketing area being theoretical and expandable (in other words, global), things are pretty smooth and expected to be so till I leave Calicut on a three day train journey to home...and this time, I shall be gone for quite some time. 

In other news, I am all set to go to Paris in about a fortnight from now and I must say that as the days pass, I am getting more and more excited about the trip. Having grown up for the last decade on a diet of mostly Europe-centric books (right from the Five Findouters to Sherlock Holmes, et al), there has always been that feeling of awe for the region in me. Honestly speaking, anything faaren would have done just as well for a first timer (yes, I have never been abroad and for the records, this will be only my second flight over, the first international one, of course) like me but Europe simply takes the cake.

As if Europe was not enough, I start off (and in fact, even though I have all my plans for the Euro trip, I am actually supposed to be staying the entire three months) in Paris, the city that has been mentioned so many times by so many connoisseurs of arts as the best and the finest. If ever there were a capital of romance and romantics in the world, Paris would be the top contender for the position. Since I consider myself to be somewhat of a romantic, as well, I am sure that providence has been playing its role in putting me on to Paris.

The real (all right, official...all of you are such hecklers) purpose of the trip, of course, is the international student exchange of IIMK with ESCP-EAP, Paris and I am supposed to study (in caps??) one whole term of my management education out there. The subjects I have chosen there look pretty interesting as of now and if the teachers and course structure out there are even half as good as what I have set my expectations on, life should be fun.

Talking of courses, did I ever mention the courses I have been taking this term here at IIMK and the ones I am supposed to be taking at Paris? I suppose not, so for the record and to store the data for quite some time in the future (actually I really don't know why I am listing down the subjects but just felt like it), my Term 4 courses include:

Finance Courses
1. Fixed Income Securities
2. Management of Banking and Financial Services
3. Portfolio Management

Marketing Courses
1. Sales and Distribution Channel Management
2. Advertising and Sales Promotions
3. Retail and Franchising

Systems/Consulting Courses
1. Strategy Management (the only compulsory course)
2. Enterprise Resource Computing

Yeah, right! Quite a big fill, I know. But before you apply your stereotype and term me a nerd, here go the next term courses and you might just change your opinion or at least, confuse myself (how I love confusing people :D)

Finance Courses
1. Capital Markets and Financial Engineering
2. International Finance
3. Financial Intermediaries

Marketing Courses
1. Consumer Behavior
2. Marketing Communication

So there, with three day weekends and a lot of free time in the midst of the courses, I (and by now, even you) know what I am going to do in Paris. Europe, here I come!

Synapse at IIMK: Marketing comes of age

Another of the firsts happened at IIMK this weekend and this time, it was the first ever marketing seminar on campus. With some big names from the marketing arena making their presence felt over the two days of the seminar, the atmosphere was, if not completely awe-inspiring, at least electrified. The first years were witnessing an event at IIMK for the first time and fortunately, the event turned out to be a success in all respects.

Association with such firsts is always an exhilarating experience for the organizers and I am sure that the Mpower coordinators and volunteers who worked for the seminar enjoyed the entire thing right from the conception to the execution to the post event bickering. In fact, this is one major advantage with IIMK. Being a young institute, it presents so many opportunities for students to make the institute evolve with themselves, in the process setting traditions and leaving their foot prints on the sands of time.

Unfortunately, I could not attend even a single of the sessions in the seminar and hence it is impossible to present a first person review of what happened. Much that I wanted to, assignment submissions, a bad mood, and some pending matters kept me away from all the action that I should not have missed, considering especially that I am a marketing major and have a special thing for the area. Anyway, be that as it may, let me just give a few links that shall guide the readers as to what happened at IIMK's Synapse, the marketing seminar with the theme of "The brand new world - Local competencies, Global challenges".

Pre-event

Business Line's Marketing page

Online information at CoolAvenues

Exchange4Media News

Post-event

The Hindu reports

Pagalguy article

CoolAvenues Online Report

A student's perspective

Thinking aloud

The word is finally out and I am not getting any scholarship for the international exchange that I am set to go for in the next term. I called up home and started analyzing the pros and cons of going, missing laterals, spending one and a half lakh of rupees...kept on hinting at not wanting to go till my mother shouted me shut. She was flustered to say the least. Probably, she was comparing this occasion to the Stanford MS call that I had to reject after my engineering due to the moolah problem. Much that I wanted to persuade her that it is not the money (ok, not the money alone) this time, she did not want to hear anything on the topic...all I can say now after I spent one whole night and part of a day thinking over the conversation is...I love you, Maa.

Amongst other things, I am being pressed down by the idea that I am becoming less of a team player with every passing day. Although I still feel that I am capable of performing the toughest of tasks at an individual level any given day, I am finding it difficult to concentrate on anything once I am in a group of say, more than three people. Cut to the conversation that I had a few nights ago with Aditya, I think it has something to do with the false sense of self-righteousness and I-am-holier-than-thou attitude that most of us (and my self in particular) generally suffer from. Cut to the meetings of Backwaters, project groups, even canteen tables, I am increasingly finding myself either all alone or in tune with at most, a couple of people...disturbing signs in deed.

My rank in class has been on a sliding pattern ever since the second term. From a top ten position in the first term to 22nd till the last one, to the current 38, the journey has not been any surprise...not to me, at least. I won't be honest if I say it has not been bothering me at all, but I always console myself by looking at what am I putting my time in (sleeping, watching movies, bitching and cribbing on this blog, Kdio, Konnect, Backwaters) and hoping against hope that these things are what will add more value to my future than the rank. Of course, this assumes necessarily that I indulge into the other activities with full passion and enthusiasm which is as far from the truth as can be, especially in the current scenario (refer previous paragraph).

I have been sleeping like a log for the past few days. It is not lack of classes or work to do...I have quite a lot on my hands and it is not as if I am sick or anything but I just am getting too lazy to even want to get up. Even spelling the word Lethargy is taking so much time for me that it seems I would be better off implementing the stuff (and contributing to what I mentioned in the paragraph above).

Hmm...guess this is quite enough as far as cribbing for the day is concerned. In other news, Campus Monitor 24X7 is set to be re-launched shortly and I am sure that the new team will find some good masala to entertain us all. The marketing interest group at IIMK, Mpower is coming up with a high profile seminar of Marketing Gurus, called Synapse this weekend. It promises to be one interesting affair, considering the popular appeal that marketing holds for so many of us. There are some really big names lined up for the event and I will definitely try to come out with a full report on the happenings shortly after the weekend.

Innocent...who, me???

The morning class of portfolio management was at 7:00 AM today and after the way Dr. Uday Damodaran had ended yesterday's interesting class in typical Ashok Kumar's Hum Log style (ab tak aapne dekha ki feasible aur efficient frontiers kya hote hain aur kal, kya hota hai optimum region...dekhenge Hum Log :-)), I couldn't have possibly missed today's class. This would logically mean that I should have gone to sleep early enough last night to be able to attend class (even in the condition of being only fitfully awake). Early enough I did sleep...at about 5 in the morning and before you start saying your prayers for the lost soul that you must think I have become, please do reserve your judgement for a while as I was not, as you might have thought (even for a while), studying.

There were more pressing matters to attend to and the top of them all was the blogosphere, specifically my own blog and that of Aditya aka Indiagenie. It all started with some innocuous (seemingly) comments on the fruitfulness (or the opposite) of putting the movie review of Anniyan on my blog. It also went on to discuss the changes that have come in Indiagenie's blog and actual deliberations on writing a term paper in the final term (in Human Resources stream, for those who are interested) on the psychology behind blogs and bloggers.

Regarding my blog (which is what I am interested in right now), while one opinion maintained that the Anniyan review was just a filler and had it been the older Mode C, either the review would not have appeared at all (for no lack of bloggable masala in my life) or even if it had, the treatment would certainly have been different from what I have been dishing out over the last few movie reviews that I have daringly (because of my incapacity to review, of course) put my hands in.

This difference, it was said, is most obvious in the increasing mention and discussion of technical aspects of the movie in my reviews and not, as earlier, of what I personally liked or disliked about the movie. In effect, I have been playing to the audience which I did not do earlier...or so was mentioned. Also, doing a review of Anniyan and neglecting a movie like Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi that would have been normally closer to my heart and home and emotions, consequently, just goes on to show how much have I been able to change the nature of my blog. It is no longer, they say, my space but has become what others would like to read.

The blog posts, too have become of a particular type and although it was admitted that it is still difficult to predict what is going to come next, the style has become fraught with filters...filters that decide what I am going to write and what I am not, thus killing the freshness, exuberation, joy, sorrow, and the innocence that Mode C had when it was unaffected and raw. In fact, the only instances when I came close to the earlier Mode C lately, it was said, was when I put down the posts about the long face and the why not the trip (the regular readers, if any, might remember the said posts).

Though I did disagree to a lot of points that were mentioned quite particularly, right now I will not like to go into the arguments that I put forth. Rather, I just want to jot down a few pointers on what I believe most of the bloggers feel when they start a blog and sustain it through highs and lows of their lives and in the process, realize the consequences of their writings on their own and their close ones' psyche.

First off, it is naive to think that a blogger does not realize the consequence of what he/she is writing. Even when (s)he is writing something scathingly bad or excruciatingly sweet about somebody, (s)he knows what that can lead to and before writing, (s)he weighs these consequences with his/her acceptance threshold. (S)he always asks, "Is this something I can afford to put up?". The answer depends largely on the emotional state of the person at the time being. If the person has not had the realization dawn on him that the blog that (s)he is writing can touch more chords than (s)he had imagined when (s)he started the blog, the threshold will obviously be quite high and the consequences will not matter. A more mature blogger, however, will not write something similar as his/her threshold might be quite low (due to experiences, reflections et al).

This, therefore, means that the blogger has not changed any filters or applied any new ones...filters are the same old ones, re-calibrated. Once I say this, however, one logical and I would say prejudiced opinion would be that the blog posts are driven by the realization of these consequences and more often than not, consequences drive what is written and not vice-versa. I would beg to differ and though I do accept that at times, a blog does become a medium of conveying your message but all the same, there is a very thin line between trying to modify readers' perception intentionally on one hand, and expression of self on the other.

To bring this discussion to a logical conclusion, I would like to say something fitting even though I don't remember if I was able to do something like this so forcefully in the last night's discussion but then that is one of the benefits of writing a blog...unless the comments start coming, no one can dispute you. As for the blog, therefore, as a final remark, I do maintain that most of the sensitive (and sensible) bloggers (not that I claim to be one) first think on what they want to write and then look at the consequences as far as they can, in line with their emotional maturity at the point in time. It does not happen the other way around unless one is really out to gain brownie points by praising someone to the hilt or be extremely vengeful by washing someone's underwear in public.

A page in my journal

It's been a long time since I posted something about what has been happening to me and my life. In fact, ever since I decided to change the shape of Mode C and make it what it can possibly be - my face to the world, I have been writing stuff that is as far from my life as possible. This helps me avoid any unpleasantness that inadvertently occurs when I get too close to my emotions and feelings about something that has been happening around me. It helps me avoid absolute (negative or positive) references to real events and people and thus, exonerates me from the sins of life blogging...or that is what I would like to believe, and that is what has made it possible for me to retain Mode C in whatever form it exists today.

All the same, in nature with the public vehicle that Mode C has now become, there is another angle that can be touched upon and that is, to let people (who are interested, of course) know what has been happening in my life without going any deeper. So here is an account (warning: those not interested in me or my life may skip this post right now and wait for my next movie review :-)) of what's been up since I landed at IIMK and moved into G hostel (which is the last Mode C knows about my life)...

The juniors have come to the campus, one hundred and sixty six of them (minus a couple who have left for greener pastures) and they certainly have made the campus more colorful in terms of their shear number and of course, the initial enthusiasm that a generally high work-ex batch brings with it as a part of the two year holiday package. There are quite some married people in the batch and one couple is actually staying together on campus (and no, not both of them study here). They have been doing the usual, getting bulk deals on laptops (a good deal they got, too), arranging for the lowest possible bank loan interests (which has been dealt with properly, too), and of course getting involved in the politics as committees start getting nominations and the election dates come closer.

Talking about elections, Backwaters received 43 nominations amidst widespread allegations of misconduct by Backwaters committee members in trying to influence the nominees' choices. sTrEAM Backwaters, of course, maintains that the large number of nominations was all due to the "different" presentation they had made to the junior batch. Getting that presentation together had been a delight, of course. I had a basic idea which was further sharpened by the sTrEAM's inputs (especially Pakow's Troy idea). Although there was initial skepticism about the entire thing, the team that we are, all of us got round to executing the thing with full gusto and the result, a presentation that was something that has not been done before. Although it could have done with some editing, I am still proud of my sTrEAM and the way they believed in a vague idea and made it a reality...a small thing for some, perhaps but not at all inconsequential as far as I am concerned.

Konnect had a presentation, too and although I had decided to remove or at least minimize my association with Konnect, somehow I got involved in this one, too. Another something that has not been done before...more of a performance than a presentation. With editing proving to be our nemesis yet again, the overall impact was nevertheless, quite decent.

Recently, I have been inching away from Konnect to make sure that it gets owned by more people in the batch and does not end up being the dream of an individual. For me, it can never be an individual initiative and unless the batches here take note of it and start setting foundations for Konnect, there is no chance of any tradition being born. There will be problems galore and some of them have already started creeping in. Even as of today, Konnect is not considered official (not a committee, neither an interest group) and perhaps, it should not be made official by force or persuasion. Perhaps, there is much more to be done yet before the current batch realizes that there is no other option but to give a standing to Konnect's popularity...but as I said, unless this dream is owned by more and more people, there is no going forward.

Once I have started on Konnect, let me bring things to the logical sequence by talking about the Treasure Hunt that Konnect organized a few days back. I had to get into the thick of things yet again despite having yearned for seeing people take the entire thing up by themselves...but there has been progress, no doubt with more people joining the Konnect bandwagon. Kudos to the Konnect Team for organizing a splendid first event of the year and kudos to those who participated in Kaptain Konnect's maiden voyage (especially people from the senior batch who proved the dictum wrong that only juniors participate in anything requiring enthusiasm and seniors either sleep or sleep soundly).

Things have actually come to a passé as history repeats itself and my over indulgence in public activities (read taking random initiatives) once again received flak from unknown sources. Like in college, there has been nothing directly spoken to my face (how I wish that had happened, instead) but there have been what can be called feelers (direct or indirect) that point to the futility of it all. Kdio had not been my idea but I had taken it up for the good initiative that it was. After the most polite of hints that I received from some body who wants to know "how many people think Kdio sucks", I was pissed off but later, saddened...more due to my lack of understanding than that of the person(s) involved. Now again, I am going into my emotions which I had promised I will not. So let me end this particular episode by saying that counter to that one action by one (or few) individual(s), there have been so many supporting me that I am sure I will be back with Kdio (and other such initiatives, of course) sometime soon.

In the meanwhile, classes have been pretty sporadic and given the schedule of the visiting faculty for most of the courses, the trend is likely to continue. None of the marketing subjects that I have taken this term have started yet and it has been a dosage of finance that has been keeping me busy so far in this term. Fixed Income Securities, Management of Banking and Financial Services, and Portfolio Management have all started and apart from FIS, I am comfortable with the other two and of course, with the compulsory Strategic Management course. As far as FIS goes, I have to brush up more of my basics (well, almost all of them) if I am to enjoy and utilize the immense knowledge and experience that the course faculty brings to class.

The benches in the back *sigh*

The last time they made me sit on the first bench in class, I almost passed out. I have always been one of those typical back benchers throughout school, college, corporate training rooms and now in IIMK. For the back benchers, there is no need of any blog to tell them the merits of making their home where they choose to, but for all those souls who are ignorant of the multifarious opportunities provided by the back benches and for those poor sods who intentionally avoid the back benches for whatever reasons, here is an attempt to unravel the mystery. Before proceeding any further, however, I would like to acknowledge the source of inspiration for this attempt...none other than the back benches in the new class rooms at IIMK, which are built purely for the back benchers with chairs squeezed in to increase the class capaciy.

Today is the day when all your questions are going to be answered...there are going to be answers to the quizzical glances you always gave to the guy running in at the last minute (a side effect of being a back bencher) and heading straight to the last bench in a class hardly filled up to the third or fourth bench...there are going to be answers to all those times when you got frustrated because the teacher picked you to answer a question and not the back bencher snoring away to glory...even answers to the times when the back bencher was able to answer the question you couldn't despite snoring away to glory a moment ago.

The obvious difference that the back benches make is that of visibility. The absolute lack of it can be further accentuated by a certain shift in posture that only the back benchers are capable of (do come to me sometime if you want to learn the trick...I will try to help you with the best of my experience). This shift makes it virtually impossible for even the keenest of teachers to spot you and even if they do get some indication of your presence, the posture can be modified slightly to appear that you are the only student engrossed in whatever the teacher is saying and in your efforts to retain it all, you have gone into a scientific aasana.

Actually, it is all about perspective. The "global" perspective that a back bencher can gain from the class discussion is unmatched. Sitting at the very top (in case of sloping lecture halls like ours) or at the very back, in line with anything else but teacher's sight (as in schools with level floored classrooms), the back bencher enjoys the sound wave reflection that is unimaginable for anyone else. All the crap that gets around in the class room has to come and strike the back benches on their way to the rear wall of the class (don't ask me what the sound waves are doing near the rear wall) and thus have to come to the back bencher. This, here, is the answer to your pseduo intelligent back bencher you wanted to throw your book at for stealing your point and giving a detailed answer, leaving you with nothing else to speak on when the teacher caught you.

The overall personality development that a back bencher is capable of is unmatched, too. With novels, magazines, newspapers, and the like making the back benches their home (there have been so many occasions where I didn't even have the need to get a book along...it was already there under the desk, left by the previous informed inhabitant of the back benches), the back benches act as information highways. The journey on this highway, aided by the sound wave reflection make sure that the back bencher achieves much more than the ear-cocked-head-tilted first bencher.

There are so many other things that I can count as the advantages of being a back bencher but if you have not decided to attain salvation by now, then perhaps the devil owns you :-). Speaking of the devil and his followers who sit on benches other than the ones in the back, let me assure them that God sees everything in this world and He has given us back benchers a special power to get back at all of you. Of course, since I have that special power, I am not going to be naive enough to share it with you non-believers but for all those who want to belong, let me tell you my sisters and brethren, as Morpheus told Neo...unfortunately, no body can be told what the back bench experience is, you have to experience it to understand it.

Why the long face?

I seriously need to see someone or do something about it. This is certainly not the first time that something like this is happening to me and if I don't do something about it, it is certainly not going to be the last. After some terrible days at the end of the last term, I had had a welcome break of three months in which my stay at home, the experiences in Kolkata and of course, the affection of my family had changed my outlook completely...or so I thought.

Today was the first party at campus and ever since the morning, I had the long face ready to greet it. What went wrong? Presumably nothing and yet the long face...the long face that makes people stay away, think twice before coming over. After all, no one wants to be spoken harshly to or be dismissed by a disinterested attitude. No one can understand why I am the life of the party one instant and an unsufferable bore the very next...and why should anyone make the effort to understand...when I can not understand it myself.

All this again brings me back to so many other things...who are my friends and who are the acquaintances, what do I expect of my friends and why do I expect anything at all? What am I cribbing for and why? What will I achieve by writing all this on the blog? Why am I changing my blog yet again from completely public (meant to be read by others) to something so personal (meant to act as a private outlet of feelings...a cleanser)? Why am I insecure (despite the apparent confidence that I so unabashedly display)? Why can't I pin point the reason for my problems? Why is the tension eating me up from the inside? Why is the positive accumulated over the last three months depleting so fast?

Why am I such a kid...such a loser?

The travails of travelling

As I sit in my room in the G hostel (yes, I am back to G after wishing a heartfelt farewell to it just a few months ago), overlooking the rain and feel strange for the umpteenth time about the difference in weather between this place and back home (compared to the heat wave there, this place is cold, what with the incessant rains for the past so many days), I can still hear my stomach growl. And enough reasons it has to growl, too. The long journey from home to Kozhikode is just that...long and without anyone to accompany you, it is immensely boring and frigtening, too.

The very first thing that hit me as I entered into the compartment of the superfast train to Mumbai was the bad smell coming out of the pantry car which was right next to my coach. Somehow, I knew right then that the poor stomach is going to get a rough treatment and given the heat wave that was lashing against North and Central India with all its fury at the time, there couldn't have been a worse time for such a thing to happen. As expected, the dysentry set in as soon as the train crossed the borders of Uttar Pradesh and with the last of water bottles over, I struggled to the pantry car only to find it locked.

With no water, dysentry having set in and diarrhoea to follow, and most importantly, no stoppage for the next seven-eight hours (this one was a long distance superfast train, remember!), I had a terrible time and could just manage to somehow stay alive till the next day when water came and with it came the comparatively milder climate of Maharashtra (with the Rain Gods having blessed the state a little earlier). As I reached Mumbai in the evening and tugged my heavy luggage along to the local station to get on to Panvel from where I had to catch my next train, I was feeling better, but just a little.

The next day, however, proved to be my saviour as the wonders of the Konkan railway route once again put me in the poetic and romantic and nostalgic mode. I forgot about my stomach pains for quite some time...lost in the beauty and the memories. The frequent stoppages helped, too, as I could get down and stretch my limbs every now and then and the fresh air that went inside me during each of these stretches worked wonders that no medicine could have.

God's own campus is living up to its nomenclature and I can just imagine the amazement with which the new batch would make their first entry into the campus. Last night, we had an introduction session with whatever little of the new batch that is already on campus (people in for the remedial course or the early arrivals). There are some people who are good, some who are very good and of course, the people who appear to be rotten apples as of now. But then, prejudice is bad for health and I will reserve my opinions till I see more of these people and more of the rest of the batch.

The drums are rolling..a la..a la...a la la la

Congratulations are in order (in no particular order...ain't I funny :-)) to:

Yash Sehgal, for becoming a certified derivatives and commodities trader

Vishak Hemchand and Rahul Nallari, for keeping Ernst & Young buzzing all summers and grabbing a PPO (pre-placement offer) each

Rajan Venugopal and Nimish Menon, for doing the same at GE Money

R Vishwanathan, ditto for Wipro

Jaspreet Chandok, who did the same at ICICI OneSource

Kunal Bharadwaj, for the PPO at Godrej and Boyce

Rohit Bansal, for bagging the second best summer project award at Godrej

Kiran Rama, Manish Shukla, and Prashant Kowshik, for receiving a PPI (pre-placement interview) each from Patni

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, for being brave, bullish, and agressive enough to increase the batch strength to 180 (from 120)

The Class of 2006 at IIMK, for the success stories yet to come and for making their mark wherever they went this summer

The Class of 2007 at IIMK, for having decided to spend the next two years of their lives at God's own campus.

Sandipan and poor-ole-me, for having managed to scrape through the summers :-))

A night in BED

This Sunday night, you will be in bed
but not alone and certainly not sleeping

So went the first few lines of the invitation presentation for the Kolkata alumni freshers meet. For all the appreciation and admonition of the presentation that I received directly or indirectly, thank you all the same. It was just a result of an hour of work-less training time and some use of work-unoccupied office resources. However, what was not such a small thing was the planning for the event itself. Although we did lack in so many things from the planning and execution angles, but the end result turned out to be sweet and an organized and smooth sweet at that.

B.E.D. (short for Bars Entertainment Dining) is a great place to have a party at. With a number of bars, an amazing dance floor with some sexy DJs (the fairer sex doing the honours here), lush green lawns and authentic wooden furniture in the open air restaurant with the live ghazal stage right in front, nothing could have been better. With the rains welcoming the guests who came all drenched and hoping to identify someone from IIMK pretty soon, the beginning was auspicious, to say the least. That little bit of worry that the open air garden restaurant and the ghazal thing might have to be replaced by the indoors restaurant was pulling at me a little but with the clouds clearing away to a beautiful night, all worries were laid to rest.

The first to arrive was a fresher, as expected. In time, the rest of them were there and though we fell short of nearly five people who were expected (all of them alumni, of course), the party, however, was on any day with six each of freshers and alumni making it to BED along with the three of us from the Class of 2006. As the group made its way from the waiting room in the first floor restaurant to the main disc and bar, we were greeted with shots (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). Had I been one of the invitees, I know that I would have loved this little thing and I just hope that the rest of the people did. The only thing that might have gone wrong with this was that some people (mostly freshers) did not realize that there were non-alcoholic shots arrnaged for, too and decided against the thing or went for it (the alcoholic one, at that) only after some insistence.

With the DJs in full swing and the place just beginning to warm up to a Sunday evening (it was 8 PM when we entered, pretty early from a nightclub's point of view), we were all set to rock. Rock we did, with the alumni being such a sport and making their own intro sessions pretty interesting and short but fun. When it came to the freshers, the little bit of grilling was always on. Some took nicely to it, others let their ego come in but what the heck, it is all part of the game. A mixed lot, the Kolkata fresher crowd seemed to be with a bent-on-paying dude and an escorted-quick-to-home dudette, amongst others. I am sure that as we see more of them on campus, we will be able to find out and acknowledge more of the good and bad about them.

The drinks were on and as the atmosphere became less stiff and as stories after stories of the past and present started getting thrown about, the discomfort gave way to the spirits. Fosters and Smirnoff were at their best and so were the RCs and the Bacardis. Soon (too soon), it was time to go out for dinner and after repeated calls for going out and repeated returning calls of staying just a little bit more, we finally made way to the best table in the garden restaurant, the one right next to the ghazal stage. The ghazal artists were good and the only complaint I had was that I could not show the presentations with the music on. Nevertheless, I did make the sales pitch for Backwaters after the preliminary IIMK presentation that Rohit had prepared.

Soon enough, the food was there and we were all busy chatting more with our forks and spoons than with the neighbour. Personally, I liked the spread and though it was not very varied, the taste was good and the items complemented each other. I just hope that the selection of the menu went well to the taste of the rest of the invitees, as well.

While we were busy eating, the first of the interesting things of the night happened. One of the guests who had too much to drink came on the Ghazal stage and demanded to be given the chance to sing. Left without choice, the artists gave way to the guy who made a mess of the Sur-Taal thingy and even a novice like me could point out his faults. And point out his faults we did, with shouts to stop the damn thing and claps right in the middle of a song and other typical stuff. The guy finally left the floor and came to us thanking us for our patient hearing...patient hearing indeed!

The next interesting thing in line was not bad, either. After everyone else had called it a night, I and Sandipan decided to make it to the disc and shake a leg or two...if not for anything else then probably just to compensate for the extra that we had to pay for the food (with two people dropping out even before the dinner). The music was eminently danceable and the crowd decent, too...until the 50-something and fully drunk guy started throwing himself on all and sundry on the dance floor. This was one enthu guy, whom even his relatives could not convinve enough to stay away from the floor. There were also these two women dressed in some strongly colored (typical of the red lighted places) salwar suits who were in the disc as company to two tobacco-chewing middle aged, shabbily dressed fatsos. It might just have been my prejudice playing tricks but then again, it might just have been what I thought it was.

Another stint of the Roy hospitality awaited me as I went to Sandipan's home for a second time this summer. A late night entry (even later because of the antics of Sandipan that enabled him to get the number of one PYT dancing away at BED) and the next day full of some more home cooked food made it worth all the while, as earlier. I also got to watch a nice reality show on AXN called The Contender...quite a nice concept and though most of the things looked stage managed due to some shabby editing, the thing was quite interesting if it was the reality that they actually wanted to show.

After endless days of doing nothing, work seems to have picked up the momentum and I have received access to the new system. The cards are all on the table and I just need to make sense out of them in the coming fortnight or so. Looking at the new system that I have just been given access to, and comparing it to the data and process flows of the current system that I have already prepared, the last step in my project is to do a gap analysis between the two...time to get on to it, I say!

My squirrel is fairer than yours

It's that time of the year again as the squirrel gets its share of heat and the war beckons all and sundry warriors whose swords and shields had come close to be declared out of service. Yes, the time is ripe once again for the famous Squirrel wars of IIMK (comes as a sequel to OCS wars, the multistarrer superhit caper that had audiences gasping for breath and rooting for more). The best part about these wars is that they are started by the most unexpected of people on the most trivial of issues (or even if the issues are not trivial...have to say this or I run the danger of being hanged till the next squirrel war...the treatment of the issues definitely is :-)). This time around, it is all about the access...access to what, you may ask...well, of all the things on this universe, the war is about access to the information about the incoming batch at IIMK.

Points are being raised about inadequacy of information preventing people from approaching prospective juniors to make them more aware about the institute and attract the best of the lot towards IIMK. Personally, I feel that it is more to do with getting the email id, yahoo id or phone number of whatever few girls there are in the coming batch. More than anything else (this is not an all pervasive statement...excludes the really serious will-do-anything-for-the-insti sorts), people are more interested in how soon they can make a pass at the fairer one-twentieth of the batch (or is it even less this time?). With the Student Council members wisely restricting the yahoo group (made exclusively for the doubt clearing for juniors) membership, nearly a dozen feathers were ruffled yesterday and I am sure that the mail box is going to be witness to a few more ruffled feathers before long...the SCon reply is yet to come, too...it is going to be fun and for a change, I shall have something to look forward to in the day. :-)

On a more serious note, I believe that IIMK has a lot many things going for it and we do not really need to bother too much about always keeping the sunny side up. Of course, we are the brand ambassadors of the institute as of now, and if the incoming batch (whether the particular person joins IIMK or not) has any doubt about the institute, it is our duty to clear the same...to go out of our way to attract people is perhaps, in my humble opinion, not something that any of us are going to need to do in the conventional sense but when it comes to war, there is nothing that is unfair...or conventional.

With even well-established institutes like IIMC and IIMB doing it, we, being backed up by some really good things to market (our small batch size, our campus and infrastructure, to name a few), can always take the aggressive route and market ourselves well because obviously, it is the students and future alumni who are going to shape the destiny of any educational institute. It goes without saying, of course, that aggressive marketing does not mean telling lies about your product (and in effect, being insensitive to the career plans of people, as in this case) because in the long run, it is the product attributes that are going to sell and not the catchy slogans. All that is needed is to prevent misinformation, ensure information and the rest should follow.

Talking about the students of IIMK, I and Sandipan went to IMS yesterday to play our role in the crusade and talked to the center manager there. It seems that we will be able to get a list of people with K calls and who are likely to have calls from no other higher IIMs...contacting them and arranging an informal meet with them should help. We also had a meeting arranged yesterday with a few seniors (three of them, in fact...Gautam, Pralay and Rupam) and one person of the incoming batch. I can't really call him a junior and once you get to know his profile, you will know why not. An MBBS of the batch of 1996, two years spent doing something in radiology...joined Civil Services in 1998...placed in BSNL right now with a work experience of six years to boot. And so it was that Mrs. and Dr. Jaidev Rajpal were with us as we made our entry to the pub, Someplace Else, at Park Street. This place has a nice lounge bar kind of ambience and is ideal for a little, though expensive, chit-chat. The happy hour allowed us (or should I say, the three seniors) to get away without a serious dent in their wallets...or at least, not too serious :-)

With my long-suppressed desire of having a pizza (it had been ages since I last had a pizza, what with Calicut being such a modern city and all that) coming up at just the right moment (with the seniors subtly hinting that we should foot the dinner bill and we knowing that it will never happen), we went to the now-famous 22, Camac Street. The place being deserted at the time, I did not really carry back the first-timer's fascination with the environs that I had heard about from many first-timers to the place, but the oldest Pizza Hut in Kolkata did not disappoint. A huge place with some colorful decor and more colorful people (by the way, people at Someplace Else were colorful, too and despite Mrs Jaidev bringing some decency to the rogues' group that we were, most of the guys in the group still feasted their eyes on the absolutely obscene and over-the-top skin show), Pizza Hut was good and the pizzas even better.

With a full stomach and a good dinner conversation, I was in for another late entry into the PG. This time, I made the journey from Camac Street to Park Circus in a cab (charged me a bit more than it should have, I guess) and from there to Salt Lake in a shared shuttle van. I must say that Kolkata streets and the vehicles that ply on them are unique...different from any other place in the country. In no other city would you find tram lines intersecting the roads (even the most posh and famous of them) right across and giving a roller-coaster ride to the people sitting in the taxis, cars, scooters and three wheelers. Talking of three wheelers, I feel that it is a sacred and unwritten code for the three wheelers in the city to have as non-existent brakes as possible. I mean, I have had my share of loose brakes in my own motorbike a number of times, but the three wheelers of Kolkata beat me hands down on any given day...scares me stiff especially when they come near a signal at top speed and have to swerve in all possible (and impossible) directions to avoid a major accident and loss of limb (my limb, that is...since I mostly get the front seat...the privileged one, right besides the driver).

Once inside the PG, there was the serious choice that I had to make between a movie and sleep and I am glad that I made the right choice, what with the busy schedule that I have been having at work for the past few days. "When Harry met Sally", the "inspiration" of Hum Tum, and one of the defining romantic movies of Hollywood, was worth the one and a half hours that I spent on it last night. With Meg Ryan looking a million bucks and Billy Crystal making the picture complete with his often-dazed and expressionless expressions, the movie was good. I specially liked the parts where couples kept talking about their experiences between scenes and then the movie subsequently showing Harry's and Sally's lives as being so different from those experiences. 12 years and 2 months...don't know if I will be able to wait that long for anybody or for that matter, if any body will wait that long (or wait at all) for me...but then again, a good story...touches the heart strings some what.

No work seems to be coming my way this week and with the salary processing date coming close, my guide (and the entire HR department) is still busy...I wonder if I will get to leave for Patna tomorrow. If I do, it is good bye to the blog for three days...should be making an update on Monday with the Patna experiences and in all probability, a review of Kaal (the movie releases this Friday and my cousin is hell bent on making one of the first few shows...on my sponsorship, of course :-( )

Stepping in...gradually

I am absolved of my guilt. Her scars have healed and she has moved on to another person, another life and am I relieved! The past used to keep on re-appearing and coaxing me for all the wrongs I had done and the effect those wrongs would have had on her. Now that she is happy with someone else, I am happy in her happiness...yes, I know it is a little (or more than a little) cliched but that is how I feel and I can't do much about the way I feel, can I?

The dynamics of relationships on campus have gone into the forming stages and people seem to have found their niches and more importantly, found others who fit in those niches. In some instances, the discovery is joyous and publicly acknowledged while in others, there still exist some hesistations and stumbling blocks. I am not necessarily talking about only romatically linked couples here but it is also to do with friendships (groups of two or more) that seem to have gone past the acquaintance stages and survived the onslaught of mistrust and apprehensions.

As our batch tries to find its identity, the Batch of 2005 is all set to mark the exit scene. In fact, some of them have already left, some to be back for the convocation one last time and others not to return, not ever. One of the first ever freshers-dominated batches in the short history of IIMK, this batch has had many firsts to its name and then a few more. They have achieved a lot in their two years here and are leaving behind shoes that might as well turn out to be too big for our feet. Whether it be the multitude of competitions across B-schools through which they have got IIMK on the map (right from University Challenge Finals to inter-IIM Case Winners) or it be the excellent initiatives in terms of various seminars and industry interaction activities, these people have really been pioneers.

I still remember the first night when I met some of my seniors in the Chennai Alumni-Freshers meet. Hearing them talk about the entreprenuerial nature of the institute, I was skeptical but having seen what this batch has been able to do with the institute, I am sure that the batches to follow will have a hard time keeping up.

Eternal Adieu...I hope not

Farewell, my dear friends! since we now can ne'er meet;
If our songs have been languid, they surely are few:
Let us hope that the present at least will be sweet--
The present--which seals our eternal Adieu.
                                          (Farewell to the Muse, Lord Byron)




It is time for you to go, time for the end of a story and beginning of another. Your nerves dance and tingle not just at the thought of leaving behind this place and its memories but perhaps even more at thinking of what the future holds in store for you. Life moves on and so do people like you but wherever you go, you carry with yourselves and leave behind you some impressions which the sands of time shall take a long time to wipe away. The batch of 2005, fare thee well !

It was only a couple of days earlier that we were practicing for the group song and I was all enthused about putting up a great show for the farewell. Despite changes in my personal plans, I did not want the team to get affected...tried to talk them into going ahead with the song and dance by saying that I may not join the party and then turning up late...kiddish plans, I know but they worked probably...

And what an awesome performance it turned out to be...not technically of course, but it did set the mood for rest of the night. With the unending prelude music and people off the stage singing the song aloud even before that..and of course the initial commentary of "Papa Kehte Hain" adapted by Vikhyat, there could not have been a better beginning. And they took it places...lines forgotten but compensated for by sheer enthusiasm, people joining in the song in the middle (from both batches), the karaoke and the vocals playing hide and seek and yet everybody laughing along...infectious stuff, truly.

Chiranjeev and Sandipan were up next with their excellent rendition of "Puraani Jeans". Though the reverb was a little too high and the guitar volume a bit subdued, but who bothered. With the people already in the party mode, there was quite a bit of singing and clapping along as the duo went through the song and Sandipan handled the highs and lows of the melody with ease.

Vikhyat attempted something different as he came on the stage for the second time with a piece of paper in hand and feet firmly planted behind the podium. The stuff (whatever it was...I still do not have any clue) might have been good but he should have moved around and done something more phsically involving. The effort was good (I must convince him to do it some other time), though... :-)

The songs over, it was time for some dance now and the talent of Sandeep Gopal was up for display. I had been pestering him for a performance for long and he had promised me one, even if he had to do a solo one. He almost seemed to be living up to his promise as the dance routine started with a solo performance of Sandeep on some Mallu (I thought it was...not sure) song...quite free flowing and with some unconventional stage dance steps. To add a bit of convention, the next song had Kunal joining Sandeep for an English number where they did some of the more common steps. The variety was not over yet as Vikhyat came along (yet again) wearing a chunni and the three dancers did some fluid steps on a cool Euphoria song that must have entertained one and all.

After a few initial hiccups, Pawan did a great job with rendering "Ae nazneen suno na" and done without any instruments or music, it was doubly great. The best part of it was the ease and informal nature of the entire thing. With performances not mattering in the least and the spirit having caught on like wild fire, it was a free for all as the people (Rajat, Karan, Ankit, Rohit...and the rest) went up the stage a number of times, belting out numbers, talking stuff (some senti too) and above all, having fun.

In fact, the entire evening was a reinforcement of the fact that unrehearsed, unplanned things come out the best as far as the satisfaction quotient of the junta goes. Whatever we did do as part of culturals for the farewell could not have been done better, especially not if we had planned the entire thing and gone by any fixed ideas.

Soon it was all over. With the presentation in the beginning (the flash invitation that was prepared by Pranay and JC and sent out earlier to both the batches) making people nostalgic with some cool snaps set to some excellent music, the culturals made sure that the feeling did not die out, at least not for the night. The few speeches in between were decent, too...with Prof. Uday Damodaran addressing us for one of those last times, it was great to hear him talk about how he wishes his students to be non-MBAs and how he likes confused people as his students (he even named some of them from both the batches). XLRI is certainly going to be lucky to have him there.

The photo sessions were the theme for the next hour as a decent dinner (for a change, TAJ did well) was accompanied by a lot of hugging, forming of huddles and quite a bit of fun and laughter filling the hall. The dance started next and went on and on...with the bar in full service too, there was no reason for any one to stop...and they didn't stop till the wee hours of the morning...Kunal's multiple announcements of "This is the last song" would have helped, too :-)...finally, the last few of them had to be dragged on board the last bus.

And...umm...yeah...I drank after ages (almost six years if you discount the engineering college farewell) yesterday.

Aaj naachenge saari raat...

It has all been happening in style...the string of parties at the hostels, each one with their own modus operandi, each one with their unique value to the outgoing batch of PGP at IIMK. Yes, it is time for them to go, the batch of 2005 at IIMK is ready to leave the campus after two enriching years of education (???), interactions, experiences and learnings (with an extra emphasis on the 'e'). For us juniors, it is time to throw them parties, parties that they are probably going to remember for a long time to come, that they are going to use to click snaps that will be the wallpaper of their machines for quite some days (months?).

Last night was the turn of the G hostel juniors to arrange for the party. With quite a substantial sum collected for the party (probably the biggest of all hostels), the food and drinks flowed without restraint and so did the masti. With the core of the BCA and the Dude group, both centered in the hostel, as also that of the emerging Gandh group, there was a lot of excitement built up before the party...what with status messages ruling the roost and people calling each others' parties names with gay abandon. There were plans to have the Big Fight too...between the BCA and the Dude group...conducted by the Gandh group...novel ideas, really.

What about the music...half an hour before the party was to start, Kashyap (the hostel rep and the party Kingpin) comes to me saying that I have to get the music arranged (what he meant was that I had to sacrifice my laptop and as I later came to know, my speakers and risk them against spirits, rain dances, washing machines, and what not :-)). As the party progressed and almost everyone started taking the DJing role up, I thought that I was ok and free but not for long. With the heads getting higher and lighter and the laptop virtually unattended, I had to don the garbs of the DJ (for the very first time in life).

Believe me, there is nothing else that is as irritating. With all sorts of people having all sorts of request and people getting senti over their songs not being played...even angry at my not having their favorite songs in my playlist, it was a tad difficult...but somehow I endured it all. The best part was when I was already sick of the music and the fundas that Neel and Aaditya were busy giving Mayank and Prashant in one corner of the hall,  but there were still a handful of dancers boogeying away with the music...what that translates into was that I could not leave till they had had their fill.

When we did finally wind up for the day at about 4:30 in the morning, it was still early by party standards for some and Madhok was all willing to dance some more but with no one for company, he saw the light and let me see the bed :-(.

All said and done and with all due cribbing about the DJing over, the party was good fun actually. I don't know how far the rest of the junior gang enjoyed it but with the enthusiastic snap sessions and the once-in-every-ten minutes hugging that was going on, I am sure that the seniors had a gala time (probably not as much due to the party as due to the occasion).

The highlight of course was Mayank stalking Richard like there was no tomorrow and insisting that he dance on 'Babuji zara dheere chalo" with a bottle of beer in his hand...do not know for certain but just got a feeling that Mayank had some ideas about what was to follow once Richard started the dancing (which he never really did, of course, apart from shaking a leg here and there) :-) 

sTrEAM BACKWATERS

There are so many things that one takes for granted in life and yet there are so many otheres that we do not wish to believe in despite the apparent authenticity of the same. In the initial stages, Backwaters for me was such an absolute farce that I had no hopes of long term associations or any other such freebie that one would normally associate with any sustained group effort of such proportions. Fortunately, I am now able to say that not only have I proved myself wrong over and over again, I have actually started forming a kind of strong (or what Reddy likes to call 'senti') bond with each one...ok, perhaps not each one, but the majority at least :-)... of sTrEAM BACKWATERS.

The upsTrEAM

Deepa "The Designer" Mohan



Right from the T-shirts to the banners to even the stage backdrop and the certificates, she was behind it all. After all, the NIFT training had to come good some day ;-). Deepa was amongst the quiet ones in the sTrEAM, but at the same time quietly effective. Not one to spare too many words...not even when she was angry (if ever), she used to listen us all out and in her subdued voice, berate someone (most often Vikhyat) for some mischief or the other. The fructification of the "reddy" idea, and of course the sTrEAM BACKWATERS t-shirts will always be memorable for the rest of us. With her soon-to-be hubby, Prashant visiting the insti during Backwaters, the event would certainly have been doubly joyous for her.

At a personal level, I had very little interaction with her right upto backwaters. It was only during the last few days that I actually got to speak to her and I must say that I found in her, a close resemblance to my project seniors at Infy, especially Gomathi and Ramya...she is just the same...from Chennai, the elder sister-esque attitude towards most of us, and of course a lot of fun to be with (most of the times, the fun would be at her expense).


Deepak "The Party" Chowdhry



This one belongs to the 'stud' group. Arguably one of the best dancers in the insti, having achieved quite a lot including a PPO from Asian Paints, and having really worked hard at the hospitality of Backwaters 2004, DC (as we know him) was the experience sharing guy this time. With names, addresses of the hostels, guest houses and numerous tips and tricks up his sleeve to get things done, he was a welcome participant at the Backwaters meetings (that is, whenever he could find time to come :-)).

On the personal front, once again I must say that I have not really formed a friendship with DC though I am sure that if I see him five years hence, I will say Hi to him (and hope that the vice-versa would also be true). In fact, for some reasons or the other, even before I came into Backwaters, I had expected him to be the person in charge and had actually looked up to him in the initial few days. However, with his interest waning (for whatever reasons), I was a bit skeptical about his involvement and the Backwaters in totality, as well.


Harman "The Mess" Sachdeva



Another one of the silent types (at least in relation to Backwaters), Harman wanted to do quite a lot for the fest but could not contribute as much because of his own reasons. He did take care of the proceedings from the Mess and in his own way, came up with substantial help by putting up signs, posters all over the place. Not really a party to the fun that we had in the sTrEAM, he played his part well as far the work was concerned.

Personally, I thought that I had decent relations with him till that (un)fortunate night when in Gaurav's room, he gave me a blasting about practices being followed in the Backwaters committee. With that being sorted out soon however, things have been back to normal right till the present moment. In fact, he did use to approach me for finding out ways in which he could contribute to Backwaters without really making himself conspicuous.


Gaurav "The Planner" Gollerkeri



Most easily the brain behind Backwaters 2004, Gaurav had all good intentions to steer Backwaters 2005 to a decent, if not great fortune. That he was doomed right in the beginning was apparent in his mails that smelt of his frustration for our inaction despite being garbed in the best and the most neutral of words. He did most of the co-ordination in the initial stages and was actually responsible for providing the building block for the junior committee to get and gel together. Though he missed the fest because he had to go to Delhi for the University Challenge Finals, he was there at the backstage throughout the planning and most of the execution.

My interaction with him dates back to the good old BT Acumen debate when we went to Bangalore as a team (he went for the quiz and I for the debate). As per my perceptions, I found him a hard worker, sort of revolutionary in thoughts but not as much in action, and overall a "nice guy". Inspite of the ISB debate being another frontier of interaction with GG (as most of us call him), I never really got close to him as I am sure not many would have. Either he is not that kind of a guy who believes in frivolous associations or perhaps I did not understand him.


Nireeksha "The Exclusive T-shirt" Reddy



She will probably be remembered the most for two things: the registration, first and second, the exclusive t-shirts of the sTrEAM BACKWATERS. She was the one who kept putting up this question in almost every other meeting...after everything else was discussed and under the table, of course. She took up registrations during the fest and really took it up once and for all. With her own support staff in Divya, Tity and later Rahul Gandhi, she did the toiler's as well as the delegator's jobs equally well.

As far as I am concerned, I did have a few misgivings for most part of pre-event happenings in relation to her. She may not have meant it but the impression that I used to get in the meetings when I heard her talk was that either the seniors were not interested in Backwaters at all or even if they were interested, they were not really interested in letting us be interested in the fest. The meetings that we 'came to know' of, the "Is there anything else you guys want to talk about?" questions, did put me off but not for long...for I did realize, though much later, how much Nireeksha was both committed about Backwaters as well as accommodating with respect to the six of us.


Rahul "The Food Stall" Gandhi



Apart from managing MotherJane and being absent for most part of the pre-event happenings, Rahul Gandhi did not have any real time to spare for Backwaters. With studies not being his priority either, he was out of town for most of the one month that was to make or break Backwaters. Not really the one to make his presence felt at the sTrEAM meetings, he was a minor player as far as Backwaters was concerned this year. His core speciality of getting rock groups to tour IIMK and give a handful of people a taste of the rock medicine did not help either, with him not being available for confirmation till the last minute. He did make his presence felt, however, by single-handedly causing the sky-rocketing of the sales of the food stall at Backwaters.

Apart from the rock show at the IT Seminar, I did not really have much interaction with Rahul though I have had the chance to hear a lot about him from a lot of people. Admittedly, he is capable of a lot which he proved during the well conducted rock show at the IT Seminar, but to make him work would have always been a very tough nut to crack.



The downsTrEAM

Malini "The Team Kits" Pande



Always ready with a free laugh and doubly free flowing with her words, Malini had one of those brighten-the-dull-proceedings effect on the sTrEAM. On the work distribution front, she took up the backend work on Team Registrations and though she was not really in the limelight for long, she put up a great show as far as ensuring the lack of any pitfalls was concerned. She came out as one of those who take up their assigned responsibilities with a pinch of salt and a lot of enthu which is what she finally did, and which is what made it possible for her to smile through the work.

One of the first regular visitors to my blog (got to know that from a few referring webpages being the mail in her inbox, that I had sent to the batch and which had my blog's link), we never really hit it off till quite recently and I am still not sure of her. What I did realize after this Backwaters was that though she is a bit too high on the light side and perhaps not suited to the hot and cold moods of mine that my friends have to bear, at the same time, she is one of those who I can chill in front of, without thinking much about what the other person would be thinking of...a cool girl who knows what she is talking about but does not let the other person think too much about the reasons for which she has been talking thus.


Nitai "The good-for-nothing" Utkarsh



Considering the late stage that I came into Backwaters and the absolute lack of energy that two years of work experience has drilled inside me, I was always destined to be this no-gooder who can talk a lot but do little. The worst part was that after having isloated myself from the proceedings initially, I tried my hand in almost everything soon after and came a cropper, as can be expected. Whether it be called seeking attention (as some of my critical friends call it) or typical Gemini violent mood swings (which my close friends know of), I did all that I should not have done and very little of what I should have. The most important reason probably was that I did not know where to draw the line between working for the event and working the event (perhaps the working can also be read as living).


Qaynat "The Play" Sharma

 

The producer (and not the director, please remember...and remember too that she can not be under estimated) of the now-so-famous play, Qaynat did her part in style. Even in her zombie state past 11 in the night, she managed to catch hold of the responsibility assigned to her and not only succeeded in getting on the nerves of all involved (by pestering them into being present for the play practice, for learning their lines and what not), but also made a spectacle of a play in association with JC, Pakow, Neeta, and all others. She was also one of the creative inputs of the team and with Deepa leading the way and Vikhyat and Reddy learning the tricks fast, she could also be counted upon for the a-ha effect inducing work.

Honestly speaking, I had this prejudice against her from the very start of the first term about her being a nakchadi...probably because I have seen most of the girls, who have even the barest minimum of decent looks and even the barest minimum number of guys following them, get their airs up (Qaynat has quite a bit of both, I believe). That she not only turned out to be different but that I can also manage to speak to her and tease her as a friend (even on the lines of Richa, Sweta, et al) now, speaks volumes of what prejudices hold you against. The only thing that she still lacks is maybe that 293 gms (as Ashwarya says) of grey colored matter :-)...jokes apart, a fun person to be with who is also a tad sentimental, has those mood swings, and conks off after 11 PM.


Sandeep "The Stalls" Reddy



With his wavy locks almost about to make the record books and his fiery temper likely to end up in the sets for any Hollywood potboiler, Sandeep Reddy (or just Reddy, as we call him...the new name Laali (Laal=Red) suits too, I think) was one of those rare balances of planning and doing during Backwaters 2005. Not one to raise his voice but also someone who would almost always be heard, he made sure that the committee members stood up for the responsibility that the voters' mandate had put upon them. The deadly toiling away irrespective of what way the others contributed...with an amazing conviction showed us all the way till the very end as he took up the stalls work during the fest, getting the stage erected and making sure that he gets to shake a leg on it, as well.

Not much of a personal interaction in the past here, as well...Reddy and I have been on good acquaintance terms before Backwaters and there was always the customary hello that passed between us whenever we met (typical of guys studying in the same batch in the same school). After Backwaters, though I can not really say that Reddy is one of my closest chums but all the same, I have come to understand that he is a person who goes deeper than many of us, carries a lot of things in his heart and mind without letting much show, but at the same time, he is capable of making people around him very comfortable, in deed...a serious guy with a mature outlook on life and a fun interpretation of it.


Saurabh "The CWRDM" Goswami



Right from being nervous about things being done at the last moment to eating away words when he was frustrated but never really letting it out loud, Saurabh has been a colleague's delight in the sTrEAM. Starting off from the sponsorships, as we all did, he was really particular about the CWRDM hostel and was almost about to get rooms booked there when we realized that we might not need them at all. Absent (while on duty, of course) for most of the first day and thus missing out on all the wonderful snaps that we took, Saurabh was another of those sane voices that do not have to be shouted to be heard. The grass root worker himself, he had a lot to offer to the sTrEAM in terms of his commitment to work really hard without expecting much appreciation, forget returns.

With too many Bengalis already having cluttered my friend list, there was every possibility that Saurabh would have ended up in the same list, as well. But with more than a dozen Bengalis in the batch, I hardly knew him before the Backwaters work really kicked off. Earlier as in the case of Qaynat, I had formed this impression about him being a cock-sure guy from some freaky background who has his way with words and who believes in style rather than substance. After Backwaters, I would perhaps count him as one of those with whom I can share a bad news (perhaps not a personal news...not yet)...a counselor who is a little too confused to follow his own counsel.


Vikhyat "The Financier" Srivastava



Easily the most important driving force behind Backwaters 2005, Vikhyat was there right from the beginning till the very end (whenever and if it is ever going to be). When all others had given up on the festival and almost moved out of the involvement in the event, it was Vikhyat who kept trying to keep the team together and more importantly, committed to the fest. Apart from Reddy, perhaps he was the only other person from the junior committee who really had a vision for this year's Backwaters. With promises of getting Yana Gupta and foreign participants for the fest, he did follow his convictions to the tee and actually went ahead with communications in the regard. During and after Backwaters, he has taken up the Fin Manager's role and performed it to perfection (the GE Consumer Finance summers must have certainly helped!).

Perhaps the only member of sTrEAM BACKWATERS I knew (and knew quite well, I think) before the event started, Vikhyat has been two doors next to me for about seven months now. Apart from the freshers' syndrome (taking every little thing too seriously) and the erstwhile spirited displays, there are hardly any other problems (aren't these enough???) with this guy. I have had quite a few fights with him on quite a few issues and non-issues, too but somehow we have always made up for it later. I am not sure but all this nonk-jhok must have created some friction that might remain for a long time to come but as for now, we are chums (or that is what I believe)...one of those guys who does not mind speaking his mind out loud but only when he can't get the message across earlier, by subtle hints or otherwise.



All things said and done, a great team that I had the fortune to be a part of and I am saying this not just for the sake of it but because it is a fact and that I really think that a team, with not even a single instance of even remotely major ego clashes over one whole month of frantic, frenzied activities spanning all hours of the day and night, must be appreciated.

With the elections over (Qaynat, why did you have to stand for the PlaceCom elections, they did you in...) and Prashant 'Pakow' Kaushik being the addition to the sTrEAM BACKWATERS above, and quite a few others expected to join in once our juniors arrive on campus, things are getting hot for Backwaters 2006. Given the team we have, this show is going to be the SHOW OF THE CENTURY.

As for Backwaters 2005, there have been so many whose efforts went unappreciated. I committed a farce when I first sent them mails saying (though it was said in jest...truly!) that though we can't promise t-shirts, we will try our best. I continued the farce when I made a Thanks list but waited for just too long to send it to enable someone else to send a generic thanks message to both the batches.

I don't really know how many of you would see this but if at all you are readin this, I just want to say Thank You and that had it not been for you guys (and for all others that I have missed, thereby committing my third farce), Backwaters 2005 would not have been possible.

Aaditya S
Roohafza, the BCA play
4L, the marketing game
Sponsorship

Abhijeet S
KonfuZION, the informals

Abhijit C
Brand Killing, the marketing paper
Sponsorship

Abhinav G
Sponsorship
Konsultant, the systems game

Aditya C
Online Games
4L, the marketing game

Amarpreet S
KonfuZION, the informals
Media Coverage
Movie Marathon

Amit D
Get RocKin!, the party

Amit M
Sponsorship
Mess coordination

Anirudh J
Konsultant, the systems game

Anshu P
Roohafza, the BCA play

Anudeep N
Opium, the operations game

Anuj M
Roohafza, the BCA play

Anupam KS
Opium, the operations game
Sponsorship

Anurag P
Online Games
4L, the marketing game
IT infrastructure

Archana V
Cultural Nite

Ashwarya S
Hospitality

Balpreet S
Media Coverage

Debojyoti G
Online Games

Deepak M
Hospitality
Paper presentations

Deepak N
Web Site Development

Devroop D
Publicity

Dhananjay M
Roohafza, the BCA play

Dheeraj B
Sponsorship

Divya I
Registration Desk
Cultural Nite

Gaurav V
Roohafza, the BCA play

Harish V
Online Games
Opium, the operations game

Harsh B
Pitbulls, the finance game

Hemant K
Online Games
Roohafza, the BCA play

Jasleen K
Paper presentations

Jaspreet C
Ten Little Indians, the play

Jena P
Tent & stalls
coordination

Kalyan A
Music Concert

Kanav RK
Auditorium Coordination
Ten Little Indians, the play
Hospitality

Karan B
Media Coverage

Karan S
Roohafza, the BCA play
Sponsorship

Kaushik S
Web Site Development

KNS Srinivas
Online Games
Roohafza, the BCA play

Kulasekhar P
Online Games

Kunal B
Brand Killing, the marketing paper

Lijo JM
Sponsorship
Tent & Stalls Coordination

Manish M
Roohafza, the BCA play

Mayank MA
Online Games
4L, the marketing game

Neel K
Roohafza, the BCA play
4L, the marketing game

Neeta S
Ten Little Indians, the play
T-shirts

Nikhil K
4L, the marketing game
Paper Presentations

Pavan V
4L, the marketing game
Paper Presentations

Pawan P
Sponsorship

Prajakt ND
Hospitality

Pralay KC
Paper Presentations

Puneet P
Ten Little Indians, the play

Rajat K
Roohafza, the BCA play
Sponsorship

Sangita N
Cultural Nite

Sathish VM
Sinking Dollar, the finance paper

Shweta N
Cultural Nite

Sreekanth V
Roohafza, the BCA play

Sundesh SS
Hospitality
Movie Marathon

Tushar C
Roohafza, the BCA play

Nilanjan K
Online Games
Video Coverage

Nitin M
Kautilya, the strategy game
Publicity

Pankhuri J
Roohafza, the BCA play
Music Concert

Pavithra BP
Ten Little Indians, the play
Sponsorship

Pranay HR
Flash Animation
Publicity

Prashant D
Roohafza, the BCA play

Prashant J
Web Site Development

Prashant JK
Online Games
Ten Little Indians, the play
KonfuZION, the informals
Music Concert
Sponsorships

Prashant K
Audio Coordination
Music Concert

Praveen T
Cultural Nite

Priya TS
Media Coverage

R Viswanathan
Konsultant, the systems game

Rahul R
Sinking Dollar, the finance paper

Rahul RA
Get RocKin!, the party

Raul S
Sponsorship

Ravi G
Online Games
Hospitality
Sponsorship
Tent & stalls coordination

Reuben A
Get RocKin!, the party

Richard D
Web Site Development
MBT Live Case Study

Rohit B
Events Coordination

Rohit G
Sponsorship
Publicity

Sandeep G
Cultural Nite

Sharika M
Auditorium Coordination
Sinking dollar, the finance paper

Shounak R
Ten Little Indians, the play
Kautilya, the strategy game

Siddharth RS
Roohafza, the BCA play

Sivaranjani
T-shirts

Srijenani S
T-shirts

Surabhi BP
Online Games
Sponsorship

Suryanarayanan
Ten Little Indians, the play

Swapna S
Ten Little Indians, the play

Tarun S
Web Site Development

Tity ML
Registration Desk

Vidhyut S
Ten Little Indians, the play
Kautilya, the strategy game

Vijay VR
Konsultant, the systems game
Integrated Outsourcing, the systems paper
Media Coverage

Vikram J
Kautilya, the strategy game

Vinay M
Mess coordination

Vipul P
Roohafza, the BCA play

Vishak JH
Web Site Development
Online Games

Saurabh S
Kautliya, the strategy game

Yash S
Cultural Nite