MY MBA BATCHMATES

(As I write this I am struggling to adhere to the unspoken and un-written rule of ‘what happens in campus, stays in campus’. Hence trying not to reveal as much or as many about people and experiences as possible).


The turning point of my life was doing my MBA from a reputed institute. This meant being holed up in a remote campus for two whole years of my life, with some of the smartest, brightest minds in India and getting to learn and think like them.  It is but natural to thank them from the bottom of my heart and count them as one of my biggest favourites in my life.

I would also like to think this was a really special bunch of folks who IMHO  were the most unassuming folk that took on the additional special responsibilities bestowed upon them and went on to complete them selflessly without any complaints, and move on to their careers and personal life.

An MBA is quite unlike, say an engineering degree where you spend four years of your life bonding with your best buds beginning from getting ragged by your seniors and then slogging it out over campus and moving into adulthood with them.

So, my MBA batch was no different.   There really was no time for camaraderie, nor any effort spent in developing strong bonds.  Most were uncannily dilbert-like, avoiding contact and conversation as best as possible. (Except for one raucous bunch, which most would look upon as those, who’d ‘gone rogue’!). In fact, I was quite sure that I was never going to meet some of the guys ever again in my lifetime, when I said bye to them in campus (you know you get that odd feeling) – and truly, this hasn’t happened.  I have sometimes brushed past a few of my batchmates and alumni at both airports, cinema halls or shopping malls and there would be a polite nod of acknowledgement – and I don’t think it was just my shy personality, there is a good chance they would do this to most of the other batchmates as well.

In fact when I look at their profiles on social media, I’d like to think I fitted in real well.  The majority of my batch are extremely low-profile – this includes everyone from those in the C-suite (how can you be a country head or a c-level leader for fortune 100 companies and have absolutely no PR mentions at all?). Only a very few are active on social media.  The few who do get to come on mass media are distinctly uncomfortable (one actually went on to work on a TV channel for a short  while surprisingly!).  


As it draws closer - the 20^th reunion is quite unlikely to see most of the batchmates return to campus – just like me! And I guess, most just feeling a short twinge of regret at missing a good time, but then stamping that regret out and moving on with our lives.

Sounds like a fun park ride – so, really why is my MBA batch making it to my faves?

Even before I get there, I need to first explain that my batch had the most special, frustrating and extenuating circumstances.  We were literally the first batch to move into the new campus, and more or less had the pleasure to literally set up the systems and discover the place and the fauna around there.

Another minor detail was that we were at the point in time of global change - when the world wide web was being invented, adapted and rolled out globally. Even the WINDOWS system was only being adapted gradually and only a few companies were using it in India. This was also when the Indian market was being liberalized and the effects were to be felt in a couple of years (ie. sadly, a year after completing our MBA).

Earlier to this, every MBA batch used to attend classes at a makeshift building in the middle of the city, and the residential arrangement for students were spread across a few kind folk who’d taken the students as paying guests, located mostly around the classroom building.

Our batch was the first one to join into the new established campus and ready to begin life as an academic fully residential batch .  Needless to say, there were teething problems from the word go. We had interesting animals for company (scorpions, snakes etc.). The electrical system was not earthed properly and so you were easily charged up while taking a shower! Most rooms had their doors fitted in the wrong way (like mine) – where the door frame made of steel was fitted in reverse, so you couldn’t latch the door securely because the latch bolt frame was on the other side.

Around the middle of the first year, there was a crisis in the state we were in, which shook the country. The country had more or less shut down and there were riots in some cities. And the city adjoining us being close to the epicenter of action, had to shut down too and enforce a curfew.  Our campus had run out of supplies, but of most concern was the fact that we'd run out of cooking gas  and there'd be no food if we didn’t sort this out.  A few batchmates, however, managed to get this organised – visiting the city and getting the required cooking gas cylinders as well as food for the campus.   When you see the crumbling law and order in the country and how even a minor incident can transform into a riot and tragedy – I think it was a significant achievement, though risky!

But these were minor glitches, which we never had time to absorb once the academic system got going, as we really didn’t have time to reflect on any thing besides studies.

What about the faculty you ask – what was their contribution? Shouldn’t they get an honourable mention at least?  Honestly, I think we were truly lucky to have some real stalwarts – some professors would spend close to half the year in the US consulting fortune 100 companies and return to campus when their semester of teaching were due. And like I mentioned earlier, we were at the cusp of change – so a lot of faculty too were with us in the learning process for the new systems – especially in technology.

But faculty can only help you to a point, and that’s why it’s so important to join an institute which has a strict admission policy.  My institute did, and in a strange way succeeded in ensuring my batch was mostly of the same profile (described unflatteringly above).

To begin with 90% of the batch were engineers – mostly from the IITs and NITs and other premier engg colleges – and to add, a couple of gold medallists from the IIT to help blow the grade curve to impossible standards.  A good majority had already achieved impeccable credentials working with companies from  Tata group, Siemens etc and were far better trained on cutting edge IT developments than even some of the faculty were.

(Needless to say there are quite a few success stories – the brightest IMHO chose to start their own entrepreneurial ventures. A good number contribute to the 1% of the USA that the 99% protestors were ranting about outside the NYSE. Besides country heads and C-level execs, a lot of them in academia – a few went on to further studies at various international univs from Oxford to the ivy leagues, and one was in the first batch to pass out at the Kennedy school of Government at Harvard).

So my batch worked in sorting out the working systems, redressal, facilities etc. within the campus – which actually would take a great deal of time ironing out, given how bureaucratic Indian Institutes could be.

A more important consideration for us, was to also to 'sell' the institute and ourselves, and I can say it was not easy - not only were placements hard, given the economy (just before being forced into liberalization) – but also our location meant most companies would easily skip the early morning flight, instead choosing to drive over to a lesser known institute within their metro.

I know this because three of my neighbours on my hostel floor were part of the placement committee, and I know the struggle they put into getting things organized.  Right from a brochure to making calls to different clients through classes, while also calling in favour banks to get leads.   We managed to pull off a 100% placement record, and I think given our terrible experience it was only natural that we didn’t want a repeat for our juniors and would help as best as we could.  (The stories of the placement week, where the most unassuming batchmate would become your brother in arm, and give you a helping hand - cannot be shared here, its a bond that remains within the batchmates)

My batch I think put a strong united front in pulling each one of us through – which is amazing given how wonderfully un-social we were.

(and in spite of what I write here, I have been lucky enough to visit some of my batchmate's homes, stay with them and even be part of their weddings - a good portion of them were social and I thank them for their warmth!) 

The first afternoon on campus after returning for the second academic year, I was greeted by our mess/canteen manager who congratulates me and says you are the first batch from this institute, where everyone has returned after the first year, and let us hope everyone now passes the second year and the full batch graduates.  And being the mess manager who keeps records, he was ready to rattle out how many guys failed in each of the different batches before mine, when I asked him.

This didn’t sound like much of an achievement till the first semester completed for our oncoming junior batch, and two guys were asked not to return to campus for the second semester – one of the kids being an engineer from a reputed insti.

My batch went on to have a 100% pass percentage and everyone graduated. (yes, including the odd interloper i.e. me, myself!!!)

This is the reason I am writing this blogpost.  It might seem like a minor detail - but behind that rather in-expressive, un-social and stoic exterior was a strong sense of humanity which worked in helping pull each other out.  The brighter students would volunteer and help out the weaker ones into getting at least the pass marks. Whenever we had crazy project schedules, especially in systems where the programming was a nightmare, others would pitch in to help out.  It was only natural that our batch managed to pass in full strength.

(would this have been possible if we were spread across 30 different houses in the city? – extremely unlikely!).

When I look back, I still can’t get over how amazingly sorted out some of the guys were(as compared to me who still after four decades on this planet, does not know what to do or where I am headed). Most of my batchmates were clear they wanted to head to the US. A few were clear they wanted to study further. Many had earmarked a company or industry of their choice. A good example of how sorted one could be - is a batchmate who would easily stipulate and sign on a request to reduce the "cut-off time" for a test  to be reduced to half an hour (We were not allowed to leave an exam hall for at least an hour after a test began).  He'd sometimes doze off after half an hour, and then wake up to run back to his hostel room to catch up on more sleep.

The batch also included folks who made the most of their time in campus. One guy lost so much weight through dieting and jogging, he should've been on Oprah.!Another learnt the guitar with the juniors and has a popular youtube channel of his music.

Another feature which might seem unrealistic and unrelatable in the present period is how ‘equalised or normalized’ this batch was.  Everyone, yes everyone, would travel by second class train (even those with railway first class passes would prefer joining us in the second class compartments).  The few who had walked into campus, joining us with an air of entitlement, had lost most of it by the second week in campus.  So nobody had a car, everyone used to queue outside the phone booth, everyone ate from more or less the same middle class dhabas or restaurants around the city.  Class differences, if any, were rarely noticed, as the batch practically was one group even after we reached our respective destinations. It didn't matter if they lived on Malabar hill or a chawl in malad or from a smaller town in Madhya Pradesh - you really wouldn't even know this, if you were to meet us in a group.

(In contrast, one of the juniors from the next batch, who’d joined complained it was too hot and had an AC fitted in her room which was a luxury by our standards – needless to say she quit after a month – preferring to join a smaller institute in her home city).

A sign of humility and humanity, could be seen in  how we handled different situations.  When a few students returned and joined the next semester late (by one day!) they were penalized by asking to write the new software for the library system, which they did ungrudgingly and I think it was one of the best softwares operating within the campus. (even in this world of apps and visual interface, that  system I’d like to think was far user-friendly and efficient!)

On one of the train trips back home a shoe thief was caught by our batch in the midnight, and we merely handed him over to the police – where he was no longer under our protection and at the police’s mercy (he had that air of befuddlement , as to why are these guys not thulping me for trying to steal their reeboks and Adidas shoes!).

For me personally, the contribution of my batch mates to my life, is beyond measure. I discovered inspiration and enlightment working with some of the brightest minds in the country (easy ,given how human and humble most folk were and are, till this day).  I gained confidence learning to study beside them and working with them on projects. There was always help at hand on any subject, with easy volunteers who’d take out time to explain and clear my doubts patiently.  My batchmates also helped me in gaining my first break into the industry of choice (and here’s an acknowledgement and deeply grateful thanks to Shady, Ratty and Pinto for conveying and helping convert that opportunity to me).

So, as the 20^th anniversary takes place and many more in the future – here’s raising flutes to everyone in my batch and thanking each and everyone, for helping me, and each other – and creating a force for good that has hopefully made big differences across the globe… :-)