A bus down memory lane with D. Shivakumar
When Nokia’s India chief and IIM Calcutta alumnus, D. Shivakumar, agreed to visit his old campus to deliver the keynote address for the b-school festival Intaglio, little did he know that it would include a trip down memory lane in an old Calcutta bus. In keeping with Intaglio ‘s carbon-neutral status, Shivakumar agreed to travel by public transport to Joka, along with a bunch of students. The chat turned into an interview as some of the students were from JokaTimes. Here are parts of the conversation – from bus journeys to lost suitcases and much more:
JokaTimes:Â Tell us something about your experiences on this bus, Baro-C, and the last time you traveled on it.
Shiv: BaroC (12 C) being the connecting bus from Joka to the city, every time we wanted to go anywhere, we ended up taking the bus. One thing I remember very vividly about my trips is the language of the conductor. Every conductor, on every trip, would continuously and most dutifully say, “As the ladies†(meaning ‘wait for the ladies’). There would always be a discussion among commuters on Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal. If one person got down at his bus stop, there would always be someone else who’d pick up the argument from where the previous person had left off and continue with all eagerness. This meant that we spent most of our trips listening to continuous streams of discussions!
JT: How was your dreaded first term on campus? Given that it is the most loaded semester in terms of course-credits and it’s the first few months in a demanding atmosphere…
Shiv: Well, in our days, it was slightly more relaxed. But my first term was not so pleasant for a very different reason. On my way to IIMC as a new student, I took the train from Bombay to Kolkata, and lost my entire luggage in Bihar. I even remember the new blue VIP suitcase that I’d lost! This meant that I arrived on campus with a tennis racquet, two T-shirts, and an airbag. I’d lost my documents, clothes, and every other thing of importance. I spent most of 1st term going to and fro to the police station at Howrah in relation to the complaint! Needless to say, my suitcase still remains lost.
JT: What were the popular sports during your time? For example, we now have our own game with specific rules called footer-volley, based on Sepak Takraw. It’s something every student gets proficient at before graduation!
Shiv: For us, the IIMC-XLRI meet was the only time we played with anyone from outside the campus. We had a pretty strong wing-culture, and there were a lot of tournaments where one wing was pitted against another. But as a college, I’d say football was the most played game. We also played a lot of cricket, hockey and badminton. Among indoor games, Chess and carom were the most popular, and there’d always be people playing either of these games. During every IIMC-XL meet, the entire campus would be charged up and enthusiastic. We’d lost against XLRI during my first year, but made up for it handsomely in my second year!
JT: What were the different clubs and other student activities in your time?
Shiv: We really did not have the club system; it was more like interest groups. We had an extremely active quizzing team. Apart from this, there were regular music nights in which the faculty would take part with a lot of enthusiasm. And we’d have movies screened in the open air next to the badminton court. A funny thing that would happen was, every time a song came along in the movie, there’d be a group of people who’d dance enthusiastically and then would vociferously request for the song to be played again. This led to each song being played four to five times to allow them to dance to their heart’s content before the movie continued! I used to write regularly during college, I’d been the editor of the college newsletter in IIT Madras during my under-graduation, and continued it in IIMC, writing extensively for the yearbook and for the campus magazine.
JT: Given that your batch had a group of around 90 students, how were the campus dynamics?
Shiv: Yes, all of us knew each other extremely well. The campus was a peaceful secluded area with just the faculty and us. We formed a very close-knit community. The teachers took part in and conducted various quizzes for us and we’d have numerous discussions with them inside and outside of class, which constituted a large part of our learning experience. We had three spots where discussions would generally take place. The tyre outside Ramanujam hostel would always have some people sitting on it and discussing topics across the spectrum: from Bengal politics to Keats’ poetry. Another haunt was Mihir’s dhaba right outside campus, and another was the mess. During our second year, a coffee corner was opened in campus and immediately, that became another centre for discussions! Something else that greatly aided our learning was the library. It came up in its present form during our second year, and it had an impressive collection of volumes.
JT: The library is now a peaceful place to read, rather than a source of information. Most library resources and databases are available online. We should say our visits to the library have decreased compared to your time!
Shiv: Yes, these days a lot of things are more convenient. For example, we’d have long and very regular power-cuts during my course! But again, things were also a lot simpler then. Our placements weren’t as hectic as they are these days. The learning process would invariably accelerate during 2nd year, with a lot of people having learnt a lot during the internship process, and hence would add a lot of value to each discussion. And then before placements we’d have a suit season, where for a princely sum of a couple of thousand rupees, we’d all get impressive suits done. This was also the time where one would feel like one was walking into a new place, what with most people suddenly getting rid of their beards and tidying up after ages to attend placements!
JT: Which was your favorite subject during your MBA?
Shiv: Marketing was definitely my favorite. Apart from that, being Calcutta, we had the strongest Economics department, and I immensely enjoyed most of my lectures.
JT: Yes, some of the professors who taught you still teach us! And we continue to be enthralled by their magic. Economics is generally the topic of discussion or contemplation on any of the lakeside sit-outs. Oh, and wasn’t swimming in the lakes allowed in your time?
Shiv: Yes, but not many swam in the lakes anyway. With 7 lakes on campus, we spent most of our time sitting around a lake or another enjoying the view.
January 17th, 2010 at 7:30 am
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