The silver jubilee batch of IIM Calcutta celebrated its re-union on campus this year on 28th and 29th December, 2008, in one of the biggest and most memorable events of the year gone by, Reminiscence 2008, the annual Alumni re-union. This year the batch of 1981-83 visited the Joka campus to commemorate ‘the best days of our lives’ as they put it. The Alumni Cell, the student body which oversees alumni relations on behalf of the institute was responsible for getting this august gathering together.

Almost half of the Silver jubilee batch had turned up for the event. We also played host to close to seventy alumni of the various other batches too, all of them down to have a gala time on campus. The schedule of events on the 28th included ‘A walk through the campus’ – a guided tour of the campus which showcased the changes that had taken place in the last twenty-five years. The afternoon was time for some action with the IIM C Challenger Cup Football Series where the alumni re-lived their youth and competed with the students of the current batch in a keenly contested game of Bengal’s favorite sport. The badminton match that followed was closely fought and eventually won by the alumni, with the cup being presented with a drink as a mark of victory.

The Interaction Session, scheduled in the evening was a source of inspiration for the current batches with the Alumni sharing their learning and answering a multitude of queries from the students. The keys to success at corporate level and entrepreneurship seemed to be the flavor of a most enlightening evening. In addition, there was variety in the form of experience sharing by people who had traveled all around the world, in choosing to do a Doctorate perhaps or having taken up teaching in the later part of their lives. What was supposed to be a mere hour turned into four, with both the alumni as well as students losing track of time in what turned out to be an engrossing and impromptu knowledge-sharing session. Dinner was followed by an ethnic style party and the Joka Nightout League whence we even saw the birthdays of few of our alumni celebrated in typical IIM C style at mid-night.

On 29th morning, the Alumni-Faculty meeting was held, during which feedback regarding the course curriculum and other aspects were held forth on. The evening was reserved for cultural performances by the various performing arts clubs on campus. The Dramatics Cell staged their adaptation of The importance of being Earnest which was followed up with a theme performance by the inimitable Choreography Club. A felicitation function, where all the alumni were presented with mementos was held. The batch of ’83 then gave a flavour of their times in Joka when they staged a hilarious on-the-spot skit and sung the classic ‘Baar baar dekho‘ taking us back to a bygone era. A wonderful session of poetry about their days at Joka added spark to the evening.

The Gala dinner at the Auditorium lawn consisted of many mouth-watering delicacies. The party that followed was entertained by IIM C’s very own musical band JBS BaroC. Reminiscence 2008 was a memorable event not just for the alumni who visited the campus, but for the students who had the wonderful opportunity to interact with esteemed alumni.