I had made it a point on March 18th, 2008 only, that, I won’t go back to my Alma mater just for the heck of it. Would go back there only when I would be invited! Now, that’s unreasonable n sounds mean…but I don’t knw then, why I decided that…N so the invite came knocking last week when I got a call from the coordinators of the All India IT Conclave’09 which was to be held at the campus. I thought it was an invite to attend the conclave, so I just took it lightly but when I got to know that they wanted me to be one of the panelist for panel discussion, I was left wondering. I just told them, I need some time to come back on that. But, the call came again and this time I had to give in…after all how could I reject such an invite…
N so, today was the day when I went back to walk those lanes again, the roads where I’ve walked hand in hand with friends, where I hav rushed running to the exam halls, where I’ve drunk my nights out, where I’ve even fought some battles, where I’ve been ragged, where the nights hav got cozier, where I’ve prepared for my job interviews, where I’ve sung songs together, where we used to dance all night out, n where I’ve learnt several aspects of life…
As I’ve ushered in several delegates and HRs into the campus during my post-grad, today, I had several juniors ushering me in and the feeling, believe me, was quite different in itself. I thought, it was just yesterday only, when I was doing all this and was wondering at the same time whether I’m in for all this. But anyhow, the feeling was pleasant. I saw the same enthusiasm and zest in the eyes of the juniors…the same very intent…the same positive energy n similar competitive spirit...wow how different those days were…
So the first place where I walked in (or rather barged in) after reaching IMT was the Placecom, well, I must say that I have spent maximum time of my 2 years stint in IMT inside those four walls of the Placement Committee office. Met Pappachan sir who was still so kind and humble as always, it was pleasure sitting back at my computer where I used to track my sector for batch placements. It was heartening to see more computers and more phone-lines there. I remember we had to fight for phones to call up companies during our times (6 phones for 14 people), while now a dedicated phone and a computer for each JPC, well m sure this bigger, neater arrangement n this infra was at least commendable. It was nice to get the feelers from the Junior Placement Committee (JPC) members on how the JPC selection process is still that same terrific 5 round process with the first one definitely in a dark room ;). Mahn, loved that place.
Next I went to the mess (dining hall) and yeah, it has four Sony Bravias now while we used to have only one for us. But the smell in the mess was still the same old tinge. No comments on that!!! Also, was surprised to see that most of the faculty bunch was new and that was a little disappointing. In fact no Renu ma’am and Nilanjan Sir around the Placement committee affairs was definitely amiss. But then, as they say, show goes on!
While I was having my fun campus tour, I was reminded of the task at hand and the panel discussion was soon to begin. So the place for the Panel discussion was Kapilmohan, the same audi where we had held several Open houses. The panel was studded with eminent industry champions to name Mr. R.I.S Sodhi (CIO, PNB), Mr. Makhija (Country Manager, IBM, IMT’93), Mr. Singhal (President, Sai Synergy), Mr. Davar or Radhey (Services Sales-North zone, Wipro, my IMT’07 senior) and yeah I was overjoyed n excited to be the part of this eminent panel.
And so we began with Mr. Makhija’s impressive keynote address on the topic “IT as a sustainable competitive advantage”. Well all was going hunky-dory till I started being the Devil’s Advocate to bring some flavor to the discussion and to discuss the length and breadth of the topic. Gave some conclusive pointers on Innovation, Cloud Computing, and IT for SMEs to steer the discussion closer to the theme at stake. And so, the discussion went really well and the junta was excited with a flurry of questions, thanks to our panel.
Next we had a high-tea or a networking break and then I had to judge the B-Plan competition as a jury member which was again organized by SummIT, the IT club at IMT. I remember, this club was the legacy we started as our batch and it was surely a pleasure to see our juniors continuing and taking the legacy forward. The Bplan competition made me realize how things change and how I used to think in the same way during my B-school days as the participants of the competition and how thinking and perceptions change while you spend even some time in the corporate world.
But I guess it’s better to keep the two worlds separate only and things should better remain the same as they are, coz after all those small mistakes and crazy experiments at B-School only make us learn and have fun at the same time all the more.
N finally, I would like to conclude with what I used to tell my mom every-time she used to ask me my grades at IMT, my reply was always used to be the same ki “Chinta mat karo…mai IMT padhne nahi aaya hu, mai to IMT sirf seekhne aaya hu” and I was happy today that I lived upto my words :-).
