The quaint thing that I find about Joka, however, is that, 15 plus years on, many things still look the same, feel the same, and seem the same. Which maybe good or bad, I guess, depending on what sort of eyeballs you have screwed on.  Mostly good, for the set I have on right now.

Take the lakes – still serene as ever, unbridled, unruly vegetation all around, totally un-manicured, some of them over run by water hyacinths as always, and some lined by the oh-so–lovely pink lotuses in full bloom in the early mornings, and yes, the occasional snake slithering in and out of the shrubs by their banks, those crane like birds (never figured what they are called) which dive in and out, literally fishing for a meal, the loud splash you hear but can never seem to figure what, making you wonder if it was a flying fish, or a kingfisher or  rat snake. And the constant melodies of all kinds of birds that floats to your ears, even if you don’t pause during your walk to listen. And of course, you still have to contend with the carpet bombings by the crow at nightfall. All adding to maintain the ever pristine, pastoral feel of the campus.

Or,  take the “Howrah Bridge” – the girders still painted blue (I wouldn’t have it any other way) , still sporting those perennially shaky wooden floor boards (I seriously think Maintenance manages it by design!), and I understand, still the rendezvous for the more adventurous romantic souls and mosquito-resistant bodies.

Yesteryear - IIM Calcutta,1977

Or, the good ol’ Jetty, which if could be googled through, would likely reveal an unending repertoire of spirited (pun intended) stories, outpourings and heartbreak tales, gathered in the wee hours of the morning. The Coffee Corner (Machaan) is still around to save you from hunger pangs, and so is the enterprising Mohan-da. Baro-C and JBS still belt out music, but along the way, the  investment bankers in the making decided to merge it, and I wonder how many inmates can relate the origin of these names to the precious bus routes that used to be our lifeline to the city.

So what’s new? A fair lot of things have sprung up, a bit here and a bit there, but all in a way as if they didn’t want to disturb what was already around, almost as if they didn’t want you to feel the change. I stroll a little beyond Tagore Hall, still called White House, (though it is now painted a dirty yellow) which used to be literally the end of the road when I lived here before; but now it is just that the boundary seems to have shifted a mite beyond and another hostel, rather unimaginatively called the New Hostel has come up. Somewhere along that stretch, there is now, tucked away, a gym and a swimming pool. I see a fancy auditorium, towering in the backdrop and a new teaching block. The old Acad block – same old, same old, except that the class rooms now thankfully have air-conditioners. The library is the same, except that, like the rest of the campus the place is now all “wired”.

And yes, the legendary Tyre is kinda missing from open view, from its venerable perch near the jetty. But thankfully, I am assured that it is just hidden some place, only to surface at the time of the Annual Tyre Raid, which happens with the same gusto and bravado as used to years earlier, except that now there is one more hostel as a claimant.  Tennis ball cricket still draws billings – somewhere along the way it seems to have got rechristened from Trout & Ries to the IIMC Premier League (why am I not surprised?). World War still strikes without fail, with some minor variations, as can be expected and allowed, I guess, in 20 odd years. XL-IIMC meets have become unbelievably raucous. And get ready to get ‘Dunked’, again with some variation at play. Amazingly, the hoary tradition of the ‘Lord’ lives on, the mantle passing on from batch to batch. Long live the Lord! The ‘Phantom’ seems to have unfortunately given up his immortality though! And it is good to hear that after all these years, it is still “Put Lake”, or ‘Put Jetty‘ or ‘Put NC’ – for any unsuspecting, uninitiated folks reading this, you can unravel this seemingly strange tongue when (if) you get over here.

The interpersonal dynamics seem a little different, as it is bound to be, with 400-odd junta now in every PGP batch instead of 150-200, and with technology ruling lives. The food in the messes, I am delighted to add, has improved, but of course still a far, far cry from mom’s kitchen.

Could a few things have been done to make us enjoy all this even better, without spoiling the natural surrounds?  Surely, yes. But yet, for all its faults I may be able to pick, I wouldn’t give this up for any other place more manicured, aseptic or dressed up. There’s something about Joka, I’ll say. You will probably say that I am biased. Sure, I am, but I couldn’t care less. It’s wonderful to come back to a place, “my” place, after such a long while, and feel totally at home, and not a stranger. It’s comforting to know that the bricks you leaned against are still there for you, in all its solidity, and the stone bench by the corner of the lake still there for you, to take in nature in solitude or maybe flip flat pebbles across the lake. Yes, It maybe a little spooky, as a friend put it, to come back (bees saal baad, so to say) and check into the same hostel and almost the same room, even if for a few days! Deja Vu, you can say that again!

And, something tells me that even those who may have had the chance to look back at this venerable Institute with pride and love, fifty golden years after they saw it first, wouldn’t differ very much from me. Doesn’t matter that fifty years is indeed a long, long time.  Oh! I probably missed saying this earlier- I am back here now to do my fellow programme and enjoying it. And if you haven’t ever been here, or if you haven’t been back here for a long time, I hope you start making your plans.

-Venkataraman S.

Batch of 1992,

FPM, IIM Calcutta

Moving on to more pleasant things, the year so far has had 2 very notable things about it. One has been a certain ‘fab’ulous lady from that college across the state border failing to impress on more than one count. The other, of which the first could actually be considered a subset, has been the degree to which sports have played an important role so far.

It all started with the FIFA World Cup. As the Behalas and Belgachias of Bengal bore the banners of Brazil and venom was spouted by anti-European football ‘true fans’, the managers decided to partake in the festivities themselves and donned their own favourite jerseys. It would be going a step too far to say the TV rooms were packed to capacity, but even games like Honduras-Chile drew spectators in respectable amounts. Throughout the tournament, the ‘correct’ gender ratio of ~1:10 that has been deemed respectable by the institute was not for a moment violated by the audience, with only the finals threatening to play spoilsport. Tremors were felt in the Financial world, the Fan world and least of all the football world as Switzerland upset Spain. It was practically a wonder that Joka, the capital of all 3, did not collapse under the huge earthquake as the Sensex dropped by 2010 basis points (one basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point), hearts broke and bookies Muhuhahaha’d. Iniesta’s decider in the 116^th minute in the finals was a great relief for guys starved of goals and girls starved of bare chests.  A despairing sigh could be heard by the males as the ladies present chose not to mimic the goal-scorer in his celebrations and a bigger one by the ladies in the relief that the 2-day old gym-enthusiast also chose not to play Iniesta.

While the insignificant cup had moved from Italy to Iberia, the more important IIMC-XL trophy was to stay put. That’s not to say the other team (insert puns on Excel or jokes on Labour depending on which side your loyalties lie) didn’t try. Men’s basketball was a keenly contested affair, with the Joka captain just about managing to outscore the XLRI squad. And while the drab record books would show the ladies of Joka as having won practically all of their events, everyone agrees that the real winners were the kudiyaan of XL, who yes were very very smart, haye meri tauba tauba. For 2 days, cellphone cameras discretely er… flashed and as the visiting contingent departed with one last lingering look at the trophy, and the managers saw them depart with many lingering looks on their ‘trophies’, another sporting extravaganza drew to a close. (A special mention here for our own Gregory Ipe Kuriakose, under who’s able guidance the IIM-C football team won 4-0).

By now, the Premiership had started, and happy days were here again. Fantasy took a whole new meaning following the XL meet and even die-hard United-haters would sit and hope that Rooney, their captain, would score 9 goals only to be beaten by the other team’s 10. Cries for a penalty had become few and far between, with the said act involving the deadly sins of whistle-blowing and finger-pointing. In the background, the respective Inter-wing footer tournaments also kicked-off amidst cries of ‘Too much’, ‘intention was there’ and songs reminding one of Popeye the sailor man. (A special mention here for our own Gregory Ipe Kuriakose, under who’s able guidance the whatsitsname wing won the OH edition).

The cricket fans too got their fair share as our Men in Blue took on those other Men in Blue. Again. And again. Toddlers in and around Joka started saying that the captain of the Indian team was Kumar Sanghakara. The lines between Muttiah Muralitharan and Murali Karthik were fast obfuscating and forced the former to follow the latter’s steps towards retirement. And just when someone from DMK and/or its AIA counterpart started demanding why Dlishan didn’t use the Dilscoop as often as he did for Delhi Daredevils as when he played Ranji for Tamil Nadu, Suresh Randiv had to go spoil it all by showing rather literally that he didn’t have balls. The outpour began, the distinction between the shades of blue was made and our 22-man squad was sadly halved.

The games will continue as we play host to our partner students from abroad and the nation too prepares to lay out a $103bn red carpet for the Commonwealth Games. Rumour has it that some of the incoming STEP students were under the impression that a visit to India would involve umbrellas worth Rs. 2000 and are offended that the same have not been offered to them as protection from crows and clouds alike. To end the post, I’ll just quote a first-year who I happened to hear wondering if the upcoming ManComm class could be shifted in lieu of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai taking on their opponents in the Archery Men’s Recurve.

(The views expressed by the author are personal. That is why s/he chooses to be anonymous. And a special mention here to our own Gregory Ipe Kuriakose who allows him/her to remain known only as the Masked Manager)

-MM

This news has of course come as a big disappointment to not only the sporting teams from both sides, but also the student community in general. Akshat Patil, the IIM Calcutta Sports Secretary and the main organiser behind the event has issued a statement saying

The president and I are in talks with their council and our Placereps/PGP Reps to work on a feasible date for the meet. We will be putting up a poll to check availability of our students on a later date. We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused to our students.[...] 

 I hope the spirit of the meet lingers on for a little longer as we will try hard to make this meet happen.

However despite the assurance, finding a future date might be difficult, given the packed schedules at IIMC and XLRI. “It is of course very disappointing. We have been working hard on practising for the meet – and we were looking forward to hosting the XL junta on campus” said Jayant Yadav, a member of IIM Calcutta’s football team.

Despite all the bad news, there is still a possibility of a resolution and Jokatimes has heard that the organisers are considering the 6th-8th of March as possible dates for the event. In any case, stay tuned to Jokatimes for all updates!

For Jokatimes
Abhishek Nagaraj