As we, the batch of 46/16 completed a job well done and hummed June mein hum… on our respective ways back to our alma mater, there was that palpable feeling of regret as the realization that many familiar, admired and even revered faces would no longer be there to greet us, finally sunk in. But the wheel of time is a juggernaut that even Joka bows to, and we did concede that the time had come to form new bonds, to foster new friendships and to shape bright new sparks to meet the ever-rising expectations of that wily, demanding yet lovable genius- the omnipresent spirit of Joka.

It is to you, the chosen 300-odd who can proudly claim to hold admission offers from IIM-C for the 2010-12 academic session that I speak now- you’ve done your world proud, let that be a sign of what you achieve in ours. The shoes left for you to fill are gargantuan; we expect Bigfoot’s hindquarters to pale in comparison as you outgrow them. Joka will give you the world, use it well to build your own empires. As the day of your arrival to this venerated 135 acre campus draws nearer, it is with a song on my lips, with love in my heart, with arms wide open, with my mask firmly intact and on behalf of my brethren here at Joka that I greet you. Welcome to the kingdom of 7 lakes, to the land of magnificent managers. Hostels where the Malli Mastan Babu’s of the world began their journey to the seven summits await you, classrooms where the Indra Nooyis once sat beckon. The BC Roy Library, which a certain Ramachandra Guha once occupied in person and now continues to do so in the form of embellished letters on paperbacks, lays its infinite resources at your disposal. Even the rain gods seem to have conspired to offer showers of blessings when you arrive.

The moment is solemn and my attempts to pen it in mere words can best be described as futile. Let me then just repeat the simple yet memorable greeting that the flamboyant young man, now in a corner office in some corner of a foreign field, gave to us on our own momentous early days in Joka- “Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to IIM Calcutta.”

And the thumping shall remain loud and clear forever.

-MM

Well we’ve made a small brochure to help you make the choice! And remember, all of us are available via the various channels we mentioned. Don’t forget to reach out, no matter how trivial your query!

Here you go. Click on the following presentation to see it in full screen or download the PDF to your computer!

for Jokatimes
Mithun Philip

As tomorrow comes, you will have other offers for other places — as you rightly should! And you will seek out to those you know to help you make the right choice. As someone who has been through the process (I graduated from IIM Calcutta this year) my task is to give you all the information you need to make the right decision for yourself.

At this point your mind must be teeming with questions. My first advice to you would be to finish reading this article, disconnect from the internet, shut down your computer and go celebrate! You will get enough time to make the right call but where you want to be right now is celebrating with friends, family and loved ones!

Great, assuming that makes sense, here are a few reasons why we think you should choose to come IIMC and to Joka.

1. Culture

My first point might surprise you. I could have chosen to highlight our great placements, or our faculty, or our great upcoming infrastructure but in my mind what makes IIM C truly unique is our culture. A culture where the administration believes that all of you are adults and trusts you to make the right decision for yourself. What this means is that there are no draconian attendance requirements, you are free to choose whatever path pleases you in terms of academics (the second year curriculum is 100% tailor made according to your choices) and are free to spend your spare time as you please (either involved in one of IIMC’s countless clubs, playing sports or simply sleeping off a rigorous week!). The administration understands that academics is only a part of what makes the MBA experience so unique and hence, never will it happen that you are so overloaded with class-work that you will not get a chance to catch up with friends or go out for a movie.

Calcutta also has a remarkably different way in which students compete academically. There is a very large degree of support from both the senior batch (You’ll be able to get a crasher for anything you wished) as well as from your own batch-mates. Don’t get me wrong, there is fierce competition but it does not prevent people from co-operating and helping each other out.

And then there are numerous opportunities for you to express you innate talent and drive in various non-academic spheres as well. From a nightout at the spacious Institute auditorium practicing for the next Dramatics Cell professional play or putting on your dancing shoes for the Choreography Club’s latest ensemble creation, joka helps pursue all your old interests, and even pick up a new one if you so wish. For the budding musicians, there is JBSBaroC, the oldest music band among the IIMs, and your ticket to becoming the cynosure of all eyes on stage.

The academic curriculum is rigorous, no doubt – but not to the point of trampling upon every other aspect of your student life in Joka.

2. Placements

I would urge you to ask all the people you talk to about making this decision to ask a few questions about previous placements processes of their respective schools. While it has been widely reported that IIM Calcutta bagged what was the highest salary across all the IIMs, you should know by now that this is a poor representation of a business school’s placement process. Yes, it definitely goes to show that we did exceedingly well this year (surprised some of us even!) and it can be safely said that our placements processes across the years have generally been at least as good if not better that any of the other top business schools in India. The highest salaries are always bagged by those who go on to work for investment banks, but it is a possibility that finance is not what gets you going in the morning. You want to make sure that the school you go to will offer career opportunities not just in banking, but also in other extremely exciting sectors of the Indian economy — consulting, marketing, information technology, human resources, general management, start-ups and the public sector / social service. And if banking and finance is what gets you going in the morning, then I’d say that you should sign on that acceptance form right away!

What counts in a placement processes is not height but depth. When you look at placement figures look carefully and ask questions as to which schools were able to ‘satisfy‘ their student’s expectations? That in my opinion is the best indicator of a well-run placement process. If and when you come to IIM Calcutta you will realize all the hard work that goes behind the headlines, and it is no co-incidence that they are a resounding success year after year. While a few students undoubtedly felt that they could’ve done better in terms of their final offers, there are fewer of them at Calcutta than at other places; an overwhelming majority of us were delighted with our respective placements.

3. Your peers (and everything else!)

I will be the first to admit that those that come into the IIM system are invariably pretty similar, but there is a marked difference in those going out. Each one of us embodies a distinct ‘institute culture’. There is something distinctive about the IIMC culture that is just difficult to state in words! While I’m sure other places have this too, I must be partisan here and root for the Joka culture! Given that IIM Calcutta is the oldest of India’s IIMs and you will be amazed at how far the IIM-C name will take you. Go to any of India’s top companies,(or even major banks, consulting firms, marketing organizations abroad) you will find a Joka-ite occupying a key position, and this institutional resource is just hard to beat! Past students often come down to campus to share their experiences in the corporate world and to recruit for their firms. And once you are working with them, they go that extra mile to ensure that you are enjoying yourself. It’s a privilege that has to be experienced to be believed.

Year after year IIM Calcutta has successfully attracted an extremely diverse set of students. Joka is not home to just a bunch of 300 geeks but also the campus-bred eclectics, eccentrics and intellectuals. You will never run short of a new dimension to add to that classroom discussion, all you need to do is delve into that vast storehouse of brilliant minds aka your peers at IIM Calcutta.

In conclusion

Those I believe are the top three things that I love the most about IIMC. I’m sure my batch-mates will disagree. Some will point out how amazing faculty members were, some will point to the long hours of philosophical conversations had over fried-maggi at night in a finance club meeting and others will point to our exchange programme. All this and more makes Joka an exciting place to do your MBA. Ask around and talk to as many people as possible and make the right decision for yourself!

That’s all from me for now! Feel free to use the comments section to ask queries. We are also present on twitter (www.twitter.com/iimc), facebook(www.facebook.com/iimcalcutta) and via our forums here on Jokatimes and on Pagalguy. We hope that you come to make the ‘right decision’ (:D) and come to Joka and join our amazing invisible community for a lifetime!

Sandeep Pandey, the Berkeley-educated social activist, and Magsaysay award winner was the chief guest for the occasion. His speech served as a reminder of all that we forget too often during the day-to-day of corporate life. He stressed the importance of the primary sector of the economy and on the need for ethics in every stage of corporate decision making. He sat down to general applause, acknowledgement that his ideas resonated with most in the auditorium at one level or another.

The day began when the latest batch of graduating doctoral students, PGDM, PGDCM and PGPEX students marched in the Convocation parade led by members of the faculty. Chairman-PGP, Prof. Prashant Mishra, Chairman-FP, Prof. Bhaskar Chakravarty and Chairman-PGPEX Prof. Biju Paul Abraham spoke about each of the programs and awarded academic honours to the top performing students. A variety of other extra-curricular awards were also given out. Chairman Board of Governors, Rediff-founder and IIM Calcutta old boy, Ajit Balakrishnan spent his time at the podium recounting how IIM Calcutta fared in thought leadership for the year and highlighted research achievements by faculty. The ceremonies concluded with mellifluous music and the national anthem.

The day ended with everyone marching out in their robes and with a rain of black convocation caps on the steps of IIM Calcutta’s iconic auditorium looking resplendent alongside the lake bathed in stunning lighting. As family members applauded and looked on proudly, the students took every last opportunity to take pictures and catch up with friends, perhaps for the last time in a long time.

Convocations are sombre affairs masked under the garb of revelry. Achievements etched in paper and invisible bonds sealed for a lifetime, the latest batch of graduates to bear the title of “Alumni of IIM Calcutta” marched onwards; exiting the main gate of the institute onto the long road of life.

What is keeping organizations from retaining their best female talent & promoting them to top management roles? Bain & Company, a leading global consulting firm recently conducted a global survey called “Gender Parity in the Workplace” of over 1800 men and women to learn more. The survey has thrown up some interesting results:

• While both men and women wish to lead, only 66% men and 30% women feel that women have equal opportunity to reach the higher ranks
• This is despite the fact that both men and women agree that women stand an equal chance to be recruited into junior level positions as men.
• Men tend to be more confident than women that their partner would make a career sacrifice. Nearly 80 percent of the men believe their partner would compromise on her career for the family’s sake, while only 45 percent of women said that their spouses or partners would do the same.

The survey brings to light that although women have gained ground on issues like disparity and harassment, they struggle on gender parity issues like career development and access to leadership roles. Also, few organizations have policies to rejuvenate careers of employees who return to the fold after a gap of a few years, which affects women adversely as they mostly perform the role of caregivers in the family. More than 80% women feel that gender parity should be a business imperative in an organization while only 48% men think likewise.

The survey further suggests two ways of tackling these issues:

• Making gender parity a strategic priority in the organization with complete support from the top management.
• Companies need to make their promotion processes  and career paths less rigid and should try to make the re-entry process for an employee seamless.

Companies which follow gender parity have reported a deeper, committed workforce, saving them millions of dollars by putting people on a fast track promotion path after their re-entry into an organization. Managing gender parity is not a luxury today – In these changing times it has become a necessity to ensure continued growth and success.

It is believed that in the last few days, a couple of episodes have effected an upheaval of the digital world. One, of course, is a certain Marathi Manoos unleashing carnage on a bunch of hapless Proteas (Watch Invictus for some inspiration) and the other has been an algebraic identity – Charlie’s Conundrum, which like the P vs NP problem and the Riemann Hypothesis, has entered the gospels of the modern world. This identity stands brutally rock-solid like the Colossus of Rhodes, unwavered by the force of time and any extraneous elements.

There are a few fixations in the world which are true, elementary in nature, so outrightly obvious that we do not understand their underlying causes. Seekers of the Holy Grail are soon to add Charlie’s Conundrum to their laundry list of blistering barnacles and thundering typhoons as they attempt to unravel the mysteries of this cosmic truth. Amidst the entire hullabaloo labelled as the rat race, Charlie rides on his crest of clean sweeps; peerless and clinical in his consummations. Charlie’s all time favourite and most quoted line goes like, “I am going to make you an offer, which you cannot refuse. And I will keep doing so.”

The inside info is that Charlie will soon topple Rajnikanth and Chuck Norris to be the sole butt of all undisputed superhero jokes. A soon to be premiered print commercial of a leading beverage manufacturer targets its bifurcated market segment in this way : “Homo Sapiens – Yeh Dil Maange More. Charlie – The world Is not Enough “.

For the uninitiated, that damn identity which stereotyped the statuses of my Gtalk contact list and disrupted my mailbox courtesy of the gazillion notifications is simply put as below:

“ C > A+B  “

Let the Dhan Te Naan begin !

The Hazmat

It is one of my theories –one that I have developed in the many hours of leisure that were afforded to me post the summers process (always feels nice to say that, huh), that fests are a way of prolonging your madcap childhood days. It is well known that to hold on, or to not let go, is one of the most primitive of human tendencies, and what could be more precious than some of the most cherished years of our lives. Sitting in the auditorium today listening to one of the bands performing in the Armageddon prelims, I couldn’t help getting pangs of old age when the vocalist said- “This next song is about breaking the rules. We’re all teenagers here, we’re all rebels.” Time might have put paid to the teenager in me, but the rebel continues to rule the roost. And what better place to give that rebel room than this particular weekend- Carpe Diem. You know the madness has begun when, amidst huge banners of Axe reeking of capitalistic consumerism, the performing band comes up with an insane number extolling the leftward path and draws tremendous applause from B-school students who will soon be the pillars of profit-making capitalist society.

The weekend looms large and promising in front of me, in front of all of us. Each second holds the allure of unexplored possibilities. I never thought I’d hear an amateurish name like Evil Conscience, or was it Soulful Death, once I’d left college. I never thought I’d headbang like there was no tomorrow until I heard the Unknown Artists’ guitarist. But in those 2-3 hours that I spent at the audi, I realized that I never want these festivities to end. Each step that the cute model in Razzmatazz took, each reverberation that was made by the drumset tonight, each question that will be asked at the quizzes coming up, each movement that is to be executed by the dancers, each thought that is to be articulated at the debates and each note that will be created at Symphony- they all form an indelible part of the youth that I wish had never turned 20. The coming weekend, in however unsuccessful a way, will be a sporting attempt at rejuvenating it. There’s always an occasion for one last hurrah after all.

Carpe Diem. Seize the day. And then cease it.

-MM

JokaTimes:  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 1^st 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 2^nd 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.

 

What a lovely evening” says the impeccably dressed Brandon to his friend and room-mate Philip, as he draws back the curtains to reveal the magnificent Manhattan skyline. “Pity we couldn’t have done it with the curtains open, in bright sunlight”. The “it” that Brandon describes is the cold, emotionless murder of their classmate David Kentley in their apartment. They choke the life out of David for apparently no reason, but for the thrill of getting away with the perfect murder. Thus opened the 3rd production of the Dramatics Cell of IIM Calcutta, an adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s psychological thriller “Rope”.

The play revolves around an evening of intrigue and drama that follows, as Brandon throws a party, literally over David’s dead body, almost challenging the attendees to discover their “work of art”. The party opens with casual pleasantries among the guests – Mr. Kentley and Mrs. Atwater, the victim’s father and aunt, Ms. Janet Walker, the victim’s fiancée, Kenneth, a classmate and their former teacher, Rupert Cadell. However, when the conversation veers towards the art of murder and Nietzsche’s theory of the superman, Brandon’s sense of intellectual superiority becomes bolder. Philip, clearly the remorseful of the two perpetrators, starts acting cocky and out of character under the weight of alcohol and guilt. The plot thickens when David’s absence becomes increasingly mysterious, leaving Rupert wondering as to what exactly the two friends had done.

If the script was intriguing, the execution was simply superb. The cast, Mihir Rathod as the cold blooded Brandon, Nihansh Bhat as Philip, Himanshu Bagchi as the flippant Rupert Cadell played their roles to near perfection as they kept the audience captivated till the very end. Nihansh did justice to the role, his countenance contorted with nervousness, words dripping with remorse. Mansha Tandon was impeccable as Mrs. Atwater., delivering her lines with pompous elegance. Swati Baheti was charming as Ms. Walker, Sunil Chandrasekhar (Mr. Kentley), Mandawi Verma (Mrs. Wilson, the housekeeper) and Naresh as Kenneth, all gave the setting a touch of class.

The acting complemented with the perfect blend of lighting and the intricate care that was taken in designing the set, made it a night to remember. The selection of music was delectable and lent the occasion an air of poignant suspense. Himanshu and Mihir went about it like two thespians, one sharp yet subtle, the other, manipulative and composed. However, critical acclaim must be given to those that deserve it most– directors Naresh Krishnaswamy and Shehzad Kazi, whose efforts culminated in perhaps one of the most brilliant plays that IIM Calcutta has seen.

For Jokatimes,

Gregory Ipe

 

PS – Alfred Hitchcock (who directed the screen version of Rope) called it ‘an experiment that didn’t work out’. The experimental ending worked out by Naresh and Kazi, combined with the hours of practice the Dramatics Cell puts into each of its productions, gave Intaglio’09 the perfect start.

I’m about to answer the n-th growl of my stomach when I find myself drawn like a moth towards the huge flex in front of the tennis courts. Magnificently lit up, placed very strategically right where the road curves and with a design that is reminiscent of classic Prison Break photography- it’s a wonder how I missed it in the morning. I’m bang in front of it now, staring the sponsors face to er… logo. The list is impressive, very impressive- one that most of my friends who’d organized fests during college days would have given my arm and leg for, and then some of their own too perhaps. Intaglio, thankfully, is different from those 3-day affairs. There are no posters of telecom service providers at every nook and cranny, so that you’re never in doubt whether you’re attending a fest or a brand promotion. There are no over-zealous freshers around to swear that the budget is not a cent below 1 crore and how this is so awesome because that rival sister institute fest’s budget was 80 lacs. More thankfully, there are no cynics either, ready to brush Intaglio off as a no-event, just like Life, the Universe and Everything. This is the Asia’s biggest after all, and thankfully, we’re treating it like premier B-school students should.

A rustle, pitter patter bird drops and I’ve taken to my heels. Olympus is just days away and while I look forward to hearing the views of the best in Asia regarding the many challenges that await us, I wonder if even they will be able to do something about this particular challenge. Maybe it’s a job for the Consulting Knights then. Another must-attend event.

Back at my room, I start checking out what else lies in store over the weekend. The online build-up, which was substantial in its own right, seems to be nothing when compared to the culmination. I see Joy Bhattacharya is going to be on campus very soon, Addict promises to be a fun event and if Corporate Catalyst wants to make me an I-banker, who am I to refuse? There’s something for the less frivolous of us too- Modulus for the would-be traders, Marketplace for the marketers, State of Affairs for the Ops folks and Curiosio for, well, me (Grinch-like grin goes here).

Intaglio- 8 letters that’ll be etched on our minds over the next 3 days. 8 letters that form a word that few of us would have heard prior to coming here, but will not forget for a long long time. Rumour has it that the very first Intaglio head was exceedingly fond of his underwear and hence chose to bequeath the fest with a name that was an anagram of Langotii. A more credible rumour has it that the writer of this article was by now, getting rid of ideas and filling up lines with a demented brand of creativity.

To get some answers in this uncertain world, I turned to my goddess Wiki. Imagine my unbound joy and the strong sense of pride, when after reading the inane definitions and variations of the word, I saw:

Intaglio may also be:

• Intaglio, the annual international business school meet of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

Amen to that. Intaglio 2010 Aandozzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

-MM