I met Uncleji (Rohit Mohindra) on Dec 30th, on my return to Mumbai. Our wives were with us. They posed the question: "So, how was the reunion? Were there any surprises?". We looked at each other, looked back at them, and said "Not really" in chorus. On that note, let me take you through my recollection of it all.
The 10-year reunion
I confess! I cheated! I managed to achieve a prelude to a reunion and a reunion. The idea germinated from a 2004 Roorkee reunion experiment - that one was at Las Vegas, had no kids and spouses and yet, gave me a sense of what to expect at B'lore - the splinter groups, the mingling of families, the batch romances that became dream weddings - all of these were going to resurface and consume the two days before someone completed 'Cheers to the Batch of '96'!
And that's how it unfolded...too quickly...at least for me. I wanted every layer of interaction - G-Base of 1st yr, the F-G trippers of the 2nd yr, the Section C comics, mingling with the entrepreneurs (still hope to follow suit sooner or later), the bankers (a life that I wish to leave behind - have made 3 attempts at it), the ad/mktg spin-doctors, the tech leaders, the new fathers, the young mothers, the cute kiddos, Mumbaikars, the sambhar mafia, the returning NRI's, the tsepak players, the drinkers, the wild dancers, and every social circle that I could remotely relate to over 94-96 and 10 yrs thereafter.
So, how do you beat this mayhem. Do a preview day - yes, a Day 0 of sorts, with a smaller group. So, 6 of us managed to convince each other to buy into this idea (well, there was some arm-twisting). It was great fun and relaxing. Lunch, campus walk, 2X2 tsepak, Athik's, Amoeba, bowling, foosball, Sunny's, 2002 Chianti, Lakeview ice-creams and 4 hrs of incessant philosophy and flashbacks. Brunch the next morning at the refurbished Dosa Hut yonder, and back on campus to welcome 60 other alums over the next few hours. [This second grander event of an almost impossible nature, but yet remarkably contained and successful, was largely made possible by Kapil, Kalpana and Atul - and they deserve a round of applause.]
Phew! ...and all of the above was prior to the actual reunion. No wonder I still feel that my back's broken and my kneecap's gonna disengage - the latter two being the outcome of more tsepak and the dancing on 23rd evening - on concrete surfaces. My muscles, tendons and cartilage seem to have turned to mush, giving the bones no protection for rejoicing on stone. Well, its been a week and I sense hints of recovery.
btw, Happy New Year! (finishing the post on Jan 1, 2007). The reunion culminated a year of introspection for me. I also sensed that it was a dominant mood at the event itself. It was at first an instantaneous leap into the past, a leap that was permitted very simply through a pristine campus and the presence of 70+ classmates, all remarkably unchanged. Everyone has learnt to see themselves a little wider and grayer in the mirror and so, such physical changes in others didn't seem out of place, save a few outliers (more on 'outliers' later in the post). And it seemed that, from that point 10 years ago, everyone was picking up the pieces, counting off a year at a time, to see where they've arrived at, and in what shape and form, and how many miracles of life and death that emerged and dissipated in between, what's separated them from or kept them in the rat race, and what it meant as they moved to another decade under the influence of IIMB.
There were long spells of quiet glances, interrupted by a little one running into a water sprinkler, chased by the parent who stumbled out of his or her stupefied state. There were rare exchanges of visiting cards, more frequent ones of mobile numbers, transactions of a few hundred rupees over beer and teen patti, perfunctory hugs, mandatory hand-shakes, genuine smiles, nervous introductions to spouses and little kids who shuffled behind their parents' legs, repeated unwashed t-shirts, black or yellow limited edition reunion t-shirts (spot them in the photos), casual attires, smart evening jackets and warm shawls to stave off the chilly b'lore nights.
And then, of course, there were the elements of campus that people plugged into, as if it were a one-year reunion, and not a 10 year one.
The games people play: The several rounds of paintball, cricket and tsepak takraw - notable flashbacks included an exuberant Atul in the English soccer team's red, who helped put together the sports, a bold Bhabhe getting gung-ho without his mask at paintball and taking a facial wound below his eye from a rubber bullet, Papa-the-professor running from corner to corner of the tsepak court barefoot, and blistered by the end of it (that's a sure no-no for a U.Mich tenureship)
Footloose: 2 nights of partying (one half of the crowd was hurt retired after Day One though - me included). The first was a mingling with the PGP batch - that was a ear-opener. Twenty-somethings managed to have a handy step for the queerest of music - from a Rang De remix to the more shakeable Shakira to a subdued hip-hop number. With a fair smattering of the gora dudes and dudettes (exchange students by the dozen), the music and moves did threaten to outdo the '96 batch. That stirred up a resurgence - lightened the lead feet, threw up semi-arthritic arms, and bobble-heads surfaced. Yes, the alcoholic content in blood streams did play a part, but its the spirit that was supreme! The ba(t)chelors-by-design (who came without spouses) spiralled through wild bhangra beats and the toast of the dancing couples looked so-very-cute (yes, no better word to describe it) - Harsh/Mishty, Ramballs/Pooja , Divya/Roli and many more that I missed. Oh! Almost forgot - if you didn't know, we still have a healthy count of bachelors (yes, the unmarried variety). Some of them seem to have sweethearts tucked away but at least two - Akshay (of "the name's Kapoor; Akshay Kapoor" fame),and Charnail Singh (dacoit turned Infosyian) - were burning holes in the dance floor with those same twenty-somethings. Akshay focussed on the firangs, given his intent to integrate with London, or perhaps, New York life while Charnail applied his well-honed 10 year thesis on 'whom to target on a dance floor and come out successful' (we were given a verbal thesis extract earlier that evening - fascinating stuff!).
The second evening was at the newly groomed 'Whispering Teaks'. Yes - an erstwhile wooded area (in the general direction of the water tank) has been rejuvenated with teaks and a humble clearing for music and food - nice semi-formal lounge-like ambience accompanied by music more amenable to a 30-40 age group. This event rounded off the 2-day festivities.
Back to the basics: How the organizers managed to hustle 40-50 classmates and their unknowing spouses into L-11 is a mystery, but the class followed the Pied Pipers. There were the usual few playing hookey and these naughty boys discovered the Cafe Coffee Day in the extended acad block. Operational 8-to-8, its priced for alums! The classroom discussion centered around 'giving' and what the class funds should and could be contributed to. After a delicious coffee and chocolate cake, I stumbled into the last 7 minutes of this GD, perplexed by what all the fuss was about and the scary thought of this being the general state of affairs in corporate boardrooms across India. It had the same effect as 2 years of IIMB classes. The spouses must've left a little more dazed than me, since they didn't have a benchmark - at least for me, it was a faint ghost that I had exorcised 10 years ago. One of the more profound questions from the participants was towards the end of this 1 hour ordeal, where Prabal Mitra took the mic to quench his thirst for knowledge 'Daru kahan hain?'
The other 'back to basics' experience was the food at the mess...err, the mess that was termed food. Relatively speaking, I thought our mess food was great then - something's gone seriously wrong in this department or the metallic linings of our young hostel-trained stomachs have gradually corroded. As with everything else in India, perhaps there's a BPO opportunity here (Mr.Batra, Mess Secy - are you listening?) In contrast, the Athik's counters serving maggi, chai, and toast omelette seemed like manna to a starving set of midnight snackers.
As far as reporting from the actual reunion goes, 'That's all Folks'!
Of Normal Curves and Outliers
Everyone who thought normal curves were a wasted statistical theory, or a measure to unfairly dole out A's and D's to students undeserving of both, should reconsider viewing and respecting it as a philosophy or a law of nature to put the world around us in perspective. What better to bracket the Class of '96 than the Normal Curve. Grades apart, its the only sane way of taking such a diverse bunch of personalities (though something called a CAT attempts to deem entry to a bunch of copyCATs) and yet finding that there is some well-preserved quirk, euphemestically attributed to 'individuality', intact in each and every one of us. Yet, there is also the comfort of finding that we are not freaks or superheroes, that there is someone similar on each one of those quirks or behavioural attributes, whether positive or negative. So, draw the curve, mark the 1, 2 and 3 std deviation lines and you will find your place; and the "outliers". And in each of those 'behavioural' normal curves, between each set of the standard deviation lines, you'll find yourself in different company - that, I suppose, is the magic of life.
The curve and its influence on our batch of 180 or so,
- we still have 10 bachelors, by choice - Mathrani, Punde, Akshay, Charnail, Pankaj (Bagri), Bhabhe, Nattu, Mr.Wagle etc. - on the other end of the curve, we have people for whom it was not the right time to get married.
- we still have about 10 people or so who haven't moved from their first job - Bhatta (TAS), Chaitan Rao (Leo Burnett) come to mind. The outlier will emerge in the next 10 - someone like Bhatta will probably yet be at TAS. On the other end, we probably have 10 or more people on their 6th and 7th gigs (Sammy Nair, Ajay Mathrani & Atish share this honor with a few other - for crying out loud, I just took my 6th!)
- Too early to find outliers in the 'kids' section - most, if not all, seem to be at the 0,'Work-in-Progress', 1, or 2 mark (outliers - pls post a family photo on the blog as proof) - this is called a FAT Normal Curve.
- I'm sure the normal curve fits well in terms of net worth as well. Even here, Hitesh has staked his claim as an outlier. In the next 10, others may catch up, with someone else crowned the new outlier.
- Weight changes will probably form the best Normal Curve with some of the sexiest outliers being more Curvy and the laziest ones being more rounded (its after all, a simple matter of concave or convex, interchangeable, based on whose perspective its seen from).
- Even the excuses for being absent fit the curve well: pregnancies, holidays, birthdays, family visits, delivery of their new homes, and Anurag Saboo (from the IIMB neighbourhood) takes the award for the most innovative one i.e. the outlier. He forgot! Asked by someone on 24th evening as to why he wasn't in Mumbai for the pan-IIT meet, he told them it was because he preferred to be at the IIMB reunion - oops, hasn't that been in progress for 36 hours ?! He rushed to campus for the last few hours.
- Professions, geography, transitions, designations, graying, balding and the list can go on - same story, similar patterns, similar curves.
> Some who have stayed in one city all through and some in 6.
> Some who've returned to India after 7,8 and 9 years (me, Arvind and Aruna respectively) while some who are moving out now (Pavan Sachdeva).
> Still haven't heard of someone working in Spain or South America (we have/had 2 in Japan, 3 still in Amsterdam, 1 in Africa whom we sadly lost to a cruel fate).
> We yet don't have a politician, a real estate moghul, a Fortune 500 CEO in our midst but we have Professors (Papa & Ballu - those aren't their Professorial nicknames please; part-time ones in Stu and Puro, perhaps a couple more on the way), we have respectable large co. CxO's (Divya, Hitesh), we have entrepreneurs everywhere (Srini, Uncleji, Sathya, Saraff, PauChau, Ritesh etc.).
> We also have friends who've simply resigned, from their 9-to-5's, to find their country, the planet, themselves, whatever it maybe that's worth searching for - Puro is the most visible example.
> We had people from Atlanta, Ann Arbor, Amsterdam, Singapore, and European cities and had people missing from JayaNagar and J.P.Nagar.
Here's toasting to 180 of us, each an outlier in their own way today, each on the verge of finding themselves an outlier in some other respect next year....here's toasting to the batch - in the hope that amongst all batches from Bangalore and beyond, we find ourselves to be an outlier. Let's keep comparing notes, finding delectable secrets....and we'll celebrate again in 2016.
{Note: All characters in this post are NOT fictional and truly reflect recollection of actual events, discounted to the extent of premature Alzheimer's}
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