The Class of 2008

[ It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll / If you wanna be a star of stage and screen / Look out it's rough and mean ]

Summer of 2006: The young ,energetic lot of SITM 2006-2008 is ready to take on the world ....

Summer of 2008: We have been unleashed into the outside world...Battle scarred and hungry for success. We are ready to take on the world but it is a different thing whether we want to. Ruling it seems more easier.

We have, as a batch, had our struggles, sorrows, triumphs, victories, heartbreaks, joys and exhiliration. In the two years at SITM, we found much more than what we envisioned we would, we realized where we stand in the world, we gained new perspectives and regained focus.

How do you measure the success of any batch? Is it by the salaries that they are offered? The achievements they mete out or the benchmarks they set and reset for the future batches? It is not with pride but with humilty we say that we achieved all this, a 70% increase in Highest Salary, Focused media attention on events and achieved academic and extracurricular merits.

But, we do not believe that this is what measures our success. Our success lies in us...Each of us...THE CLASS OF 2008

[This is the snippet I wrote for the for our class's home page as an intro]

Almost an MBA

(In the beginning, there was discovery, a confusion of elements, a first snowfall of impossible change. Old lives undone, left behind, strange faces made familiar, new nightmares to challenge sleep, new friends to feel safe with. Only then comes control, the need to impose order onto chaos through determination, through study, through struggle, all in defiance of a thundering truth. They're here, and the earth shudders underfoot)

What does it take for a man to find himself? Does he need Tragedy? Love? Triumph? Falls? Ups? Highs? Near-Death? Or Death?

None of these in my case. All I needed were 18 months in the sweet hell of a business school. The 18 months of all the experiences in the first passage…Well, almost all except death.

It seems lofty to pronounce that the 18 months at my school were life changing but hell, they were! I went in as a raw unpolished stone and came out after 18 months as…no, not a diamond, but a shiny cube which reflects and refracts the world around me. It made me aware of the world, helped me connect with the web of human activity (Human Activity systems, as Konher put itJ)

As my long ago previous post showed snippets of what my initiation into MBA was let me continue and dive straight into more incidents.

Almost an MBA (Part II)

1400 HRS, 23.11.06 – Dereliction of Duty

“Bloody, what do you first years think of yourself? Its bloody work that you are ignoring not some bloody assignment…”

“6…7….8…” Sharma counted under his breath. Audible only to me and Prashant “Jugadu” Anand

“If I hear more bloody complaints about your work or bloody non-work I’ll dissolve the junior editorial bloody team”

“9…10…11…” It was Jugadu’s turn to count now. I could detect the upsurge of bottled up laughter inside me and Saurabh “Cisco” Sharma next to me.

Anymore of the famous “bloody” word from the head and we would guffaw right there, right now. In spite of the fact that we were there for a serious dereliction of duty. We as members of the editorial tam from first year were supposed to be de facto correspondents of any major events. Like the National telecom Seminar 2006. This found us sleeping in the back rows of the Vishwabhavan while the senior committee was sweating it out, trying to capture every word of the delegates.

“Bloody get out and finish the report now!!”

“12”, Finally... Out of the room in 12 Bloody Counts!!

2100 HRS, 08.02.06 – Work & Fulfillment

“….and that’s why I insisted that both the streams are a good bet for the kind of intern profile you are offering us.”

“Hmmm…” SK, Director, Project Management-Asia mused “I think I am ok with that then, Harish. I will expect the resumes in mail by tomorrow 9:00 AM then?”

Thoughts swirled in my mind, “College opens at 10, Need to finish TBM PPT by 10:30, need the latest sign up list”

“Yes Sir, Definitely” I replied.

Madhav’s message when I was voted into the Placement Team flashed in my mind. ‘Congrats, someone deserving made into the team. Sorry abt ur personal life though!’

It was epiphanical. Here I was, at 9 in the night on a con call with the director of one of the worlds leading telecom companies and trying to convince him to consider both streams in our for internships.

Although, looking back, I don’t have any regrets of joining the team. To the novice, Placement Team, in any business school is the group of 6-8 students who handles with varying degree of autonomy, the entire placement process of the current batch. Internships, final placements, process, recruitment days et al. I say varying degrees of autonomy because in some cases they are just glorified clerk and in some, like my school, they have a great degree of freedom.

Back breaking grueling work, managing the aspirations of the batch at one end, pressure from the management at another and at a third vicious end the corporate who expect nothing but the best! This is what makes the life of a Placement team member…worth living. We live for the day to erase the hundreds of inscriptions of no: s, action items, plans and names and just see “Shop Closed 100% Placed and Mission Accomplished” on the huge white board.

I had the feeling twice…both after Summers and Finals…and nothing in my 25 years on earth have come close to that euphoria!

101°C

I am in Pune now. I left Bangalore 3 months back. No, I didn’t runaway, nor was I chased away or expelled or expatriated. I left because it was time for me to chase my dreams. I left because what I was doing there, going through there was mind numbing. The daily drivel sapped me not only of energy but also free-will. How much ever a city is attractive its like a gilded cage which cannot but hide the fact that it is, indeed, a cage, bereft of freedom.

16.06.06, 2000 HRS, Clear Skies, 24°C, Bangalore Cantonment

One of the cool Bangalore evenings you always dream about. This time it was different. The train was moving away. I could see the distance already. I am going away from my family, my friends, my Bangalore…chasing a dream…I could see the sight of Ashwin, Divya, Vinay and Musheer fading away as the train rounded the corner…just the sigt was fading not them…

17.06.06, 1836 HRS, Partially Cloudy, 28°C, Pune Central

I took my Pulsar on to the slick wet pavement. I could feel the pulse in my hand, the trembling and slight muffled roar of a crescendo waiting to be unleashed. He was impatient too, being shackled inside a railway compartment for 28 HRs can do that for anyone. I gave him life and he roared. We rode into the bustle, wind running its dew laden hands through my hair, the machine a part of me, unbridled, free, joy

18.06.06, 0900 HRS, Slight Drizzle, 19°C, Apartment B403

We woke up together and we knew it was for real. After eons of separation, the half smile and the hug in the morning was enough to tell me that the choice I made was right. For now, I need to make coffee…

19.06.06, 1100 HRS, Sunny/Cloudy, 28°C, Convention Hall

Induction day was supposed to be hectic, demanding, grueling and taxing. Assignments, Presentations, Verticals, ARPU…it was al that an also provided insights into the minds of the other 101 people around me who make up Batch XI in this prestigious institute…Like this?

“Ma’am…”

“Yeah??”

“On the induction form it says I have to enter any two identification marks, but I don’t have any!”

“What do you mean? There is a mole on your forehead…write that!”

20.06.06, 1030 HRS, Warm/A.C, 17°C, Convention Hall

“So…in 80s when we had to give a Scooter as dowry for our son in law we booked it when the daughter was born, can you imagine the state?” No, we couldn’t. This was Airtel VP talking to us as a part of our induction to Symbiosis. A dynamic exuberant persona not unlike the 12 others from the various walks of corporate life who addressed us during the weeklong program.

18.06.06, 1500 HRS, Heavy Drizzle, 6°C, 5600 FT ABOVE SEA-LEVEL, SINHAGARH

We sat watching the mist roll by the mountains as the cliffs themselves sat nonchalantly. We sat under a thatch roof, 6 of us who had separated from the rest of the class while trekking Sinhagarh. Hot piping tea, smoke and silence. The place seemed untouched by human hands since 19^th century where Marathas fought their guerrilla wars. Suddenly, burst of a Himesh Reshamiya song from the teashop owners mobile shook us out of our reverie. Well, something’s’ spoiled…

03.10.06, 1730 HRS, Sunny, 18°C, Convention Hall

“So, much as we would like to select all of you, I’m afraid that our requirement is for just two”, said HR Manager from HP, “So, we have the names with us here and we would leave the honor of announcing it to your Placement Team”

I was pacing in the library after this announcement. In two minds, whether to wish I get through HP for my Summer Internship, which would mean a prestigious start to my career or to stay in Pune where I could be closer to her. Suddenly, Mohit and Diggi rushed in and the enveloped me in a crushing hug. “Congratulations Dude!!!!, You got through”

Three months into college. First company that came in for summers. I was in!