Volume 2, Issue 1, June 2011A Periodic Newsletter for IIMC Almuni

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C o n t e n t s

From The Editor’s Desk

Dear Alumni,

Greetings from IIMC!

This has been a historic year for the Institute asshe celebrates her 50th anniversary. The IIMCcampus at Joka Land was abuzz with activitiesrelated to the celebrations of Golden Jubilee andthe community witnessed several memorable

events in the campus starting with the inaugural event of the GoldenJubilee celebrations during November 14-16, 2010. Many alumniacross batches, renowned personalities from various walks of life,former faculty and staff graced the celebrations with their charmingand eloquent presence. This issue of Connexion brings to youglimpses of those memorable moments.

In the future issues of Connexion we would also like to carry morestories about individual alumni, their thoughts, experiences,viewpoints, etc., and activities of the alumni chapters around theglobe. We visualize our alumni as the brand ambassador of theInstitute, an important asset that we would like to institutionallynurture and leverage. We also look at our alumni base as a repositoryof practice-based insights and wisdom – as a source of intellectualideas that can support and enrich the theoretical work of the faculty.With a view to develop, nurture and deepen the alumni relations,we have recruited one of our alumni, Mr. Roddur Sen as the Head– External Relations and have set up an Alumni Office on campus.The Alumni Office is working closely with the Alumni Cell of theStudents’ Council. Going forward Ms. Pinky Sil, Program Executive,Alumni Office will serve as a single point contact between thealumni and the Institute.

This year has been marked with some significant progress andachievements of the Institute. The new academic and hostelcomplexes have given a remarkable fillip to the campusinfrastructure, its look and feel. The Institute has had a tremendousfacelift in cyberspace with the launch of the new web portal. Manyof our faculty members, alumni and students have been doingoutstanding work and a few of them have been recognized thisyear with some prestigious awards. The Institute has reaffirmed

her pioneering and preeminent status duringher Golden Jubilee and has been recognizedas the best management school in India bythe Business Standard and IndianManagement.

We have ended one eventful and memorableacademic year and are preparing for a newone at IIMC. In the next academic year, theGolden Jubilee Celebrations will start withthe visit of the Hon’ble Prime Minister onAugust 22 to IIMC Joka Campus. Thereafter,like the last year, we plan to organize alandmark 3 day event during November 14-16, 2011 at the completion of the 50th year.I shall write to you separately on this shortly.

Wish you and the family a wonderful timeahead!

With warm personal regards,

Prof. Sougata RayDean and Chairperson, Alumni Relations

Editorial Pg 1Golden JubileeInaugural Events Pg 2-8Events Pg 9-11Placements Pg 12-15Students in Competitions Pg 15-17Musings Pg 17-20Notable Alumni Pg 21-25Chapter News Pg 26-28Need to Know Pg 29-32In Memoriam Pg 33Special Mention Pg 34-35

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Golden Jubilee:The Curtain Raiser

The celebration of the Golden Jubilee at IIMCbegan with a 3 day event during November 14-16, 2010. There was a two-day convention onManagement Education in India during November14 to 15 where directors from five IIMs andrenowned management schools in India andabroad, some noted academicians and industryleaders, IIMC professors and alumni deliberatedon significant issues and challenges facing themanagement schools in India and the way forward.On the third day, the faculty, staff, alumni andstudents of IIMC reminisced about the Institutein a session on “IIMC@50: The Past, Present andFuture”. It was followed by planting of saplingsby different stakeholders. The three-day eventcame to an end by honouring retired members offaculty and staff, current faculty and staff whohave served the Institute for a long period of timeand contributed significantly to building IIMCinto an iconic institution in management education.

Smt. Purandeshwari, Hon’ble Minister of State,Human Resource Development, Government ofIndia was the Chief Guest at the Inaugural functionon 14th November, 2010. His Excellency M.K.Narayanan, Hon’ble Governor of West Bengalwas the Chief Guest for the concluding sessionof the two day convention on 15th November,2010. Legendary musical maestro PanditHariprasad Chaurasia graced the occasion withhis Flute Recital in the evening of November 14,2010.

The Golden Jubilee Logo Symbolizing the Spiritof Celebrations of 50 years of IIMC Unveiled

IIM Calcutta unveiled its Golden Jubilee Logoon November 14, 2010 during the inaugural eventof the Golden Jubilee Celebrations. The logo hasbeen developed through an elaborate democraticprocess where ideas were sought from the entireIIM Calcutta community including alumni. Froma large number of entries, the five best logo designsand two themes were shortlisted by a high poweredcommittee with representatives from allstakeholders. The shortlisted designs and themeswere put to a vote among all stakeholders. NationalInstitute of Design, Ahmedabad was entrustedwith the responsibility of giving the finalprofessional touches and coming up with a logobased on the top three logo designs and mostpopular theme line “Jnanam Sarvahitaya (printedin devanagari script)” which means "Knowledgefor the welfare of All".

The logo symbolises the Institute celebrating its50 years of progress, achievement and sustainablegrowth. The logo shows a gradation from blackto orange as its 50 years of successful journeywith dignity and honour. The orange petals areevolving from the same stem indicating excellenceand growth. It shows accentuation and evolutionof a new journey and moving towards glory. Theoverall logo unit gives a feel of wholesomenessand integrity. The orange color symbolizesvibrancy, energy, warmth, cheerfulness, ignition,joy, enthusiasm, happiness, creativity,determination, success, encouragement,stimulation and prestige.

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Governor of West Bengaland Additional Secretary,MHRD on Future ofManagement Educationin India: Role ofGovernmentThe last panel discussion held on the occasionof the inaugural event of Golden Jubileecelebration was during the closing ceremony ofthe event in presence of Hon’ble Governor ofWest Bengal, Mr. M.K Narayanan and AdditionalSecretary, Ministry Human ResourceDevelopment, Govt. of India, Mr. Ashok Thakur.The Auditorium was packed with students eagerto listen to their views on present state ofmanagement education and how the Governmentis planning to collaborate with the premierinstitutes to give India brighter managers in thefuture.

Mr. Ashok Thakur talked about the issuesregarding autonomy and accountability of theIIMs. Mr. Thakur stated that the HRD wouldnot intervene in any matter pertaining to the feescharged by IIMs or salaries paid to the professors.However, he opined that there should be a capon the fees being charged as high qualitymanagement education would be out of reachfor many people otherwise. He suggestedgenerating revenues from other sources such asindustry, consulting and not depending solely onfees for revenue. He talked about combiningaccountability, autonomy and transparency;improving synergy between government andIIMs. He also touched upon expanding theExecutive Education programs by IIMs and

deriving revenue from it. Mr. Thakur wantedIIMs to be the flag bearers of the new risinggeneration by generating money and collaboratingin creating a knowledge ecosystem that would

create a balanced system leading to all rounddevelopment of the country. He was of the opinionthat IIMs should sign MoUs with Governmentand come out with annual action plans to generateaction in this regard. Another one of his brightideas was of Faculty training leadershipprogramme and upscaling the number of students.The efforts of government in bringing IIMstandard education to more students by creatingnew ones like IIM Shillong and the ultra newones in Rohtak and Ranchi were stressed by him.

The arrival of Mr. Narayanan was met with cheersand enthusiasm by students. Mr. Narayanan, aformer IPS officer has previously served theIndian Government as National Security Advisor(NSA). The former IB Director started off bystressing IIM Calcutta’s legacy – the outstandingcontribution of our illustrious alumni in each andevery walk of life for the past 50 years. He spokeabout the changing dynamics of the world andthe role India can play in it. He was surprised bythe knowledge that around 3000 MBA collegesexist in India and less than 10% of them areaccredited by AICTE and the standard ofeducation imparted in many is a shadow of thatin IIM Calcutta. He also took a strong standagainst the prevailing grading system whichdoesn’t foster free and enjoyable learning. Hesaid that IIMs are the ones that are going to bringa paradigm shift in how India goes about fulfillingthe promise of becoming the world’s largesteconomy in the future.

He was happy with the fact that IIMs were makingsignificant efforts towards improving the presentstate of Management education but was of the

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firm opinion that it’s not enough to have just fourislands of quality education in India. India is fullof talented students and concentrated effortsshould be made to bring the other institutes toan equal footing. Mr. Narayanan wanted IIMs tostart customized programmes tailor made forvarious sectors and devote more resources intoinfrastructure and partnership with Governmentas it has unlimited resources. He was veryenthusiastic about India and China leading theworld into the new millennium. He also spokeabout the rising trends in Managementpsychology. He also talked about the changingdynamics of markets and trade and that a singlemarket cannot be divorced from others. Heconcluded by stating the importance of IIMCalcutta in the present globalized environmentwhere the importance of good managers hasgrown manifold.

It was an engrossing evening and the ideasespoused by the Chief guests about the brightfuture of IIM Calcutta and management educationin India is something that all of us look forwardto.

IIM Directors Discussedon ManagementEducation in India

The Directors’ Conclave was held as part of theinaugural convention on “Management educationin India” on the occasion of the Golden Jubileecelebrations of the Indian Institute of ManagementCalcutta. The panelists at the event included Prof.Pankaj Chandra, Director of IIM Bangalore, Prof.N Ravichandran, Director of IIM Indore, Prof.Devi Singh, Director of IIM Lucknow and Prof.MJ Xavier, Director of IIM Ranchi. The panel

discussion was moderated by Prof. ShekharChaudhuri, Director of IIM Calcutta.

Prof. Chaudhuri set the tone for the discussionby stating the main issues facing the IIMs whichthe panel needed to deliberate upon. Theseincluded “producing impact making research”,“generation of resources for the autonomousfunctioning of the IIMs” and “maintenance ofgender balance among the students at the IIMs”.The panel started their discussion with Prof.Ravichandran presenting his views on the issueof IIMs producing impact making research in thefield of management. He pointed out the inherentderived nature of management as a disciplineand how it restricts the scope of research at thefundamental level unlike disciplines like science.He also stressed on the need to incentivizeresearch at the IIMs. Prof. Singh spoke on theneed to encourage applied knowledge creationin order to foster research in management. Healso mentioned the need to look at problemsspecific to the Indian context as a means to takeresearch work further at the IIMs. Prof. Chandradrew the attention of the audience to the questionof sustainable research. He also spoke on theneed to stimulate curiosity among the studentsstudying in the IIMs and also on the need tomatch benchmarks of research set at the globallevel. “Indian B-Schools need to become thoughtleaders and not disseminators of information”,said Prof. Xavier. He also suggested launchingparallel programs focused on research at the IIMs.

The panel proceeded to the second issue to bedeliberated. This was the issue of resourcegeneration for the IIMs. The IIMs, particularlythe older ones, function with almost no assistancefrom the government in terms of funding. Prof.Xavier opined that money was not an issue forthe IIMs. He instead insisted on shifting focusto better utilization of the most important resourceat the IIMs, namely the faculty. He spoke on theimportance of IIMs taking the onus of extendingproper training to produce quality facultymembers. Prof. Pankaj Chandra mentioned howthe IIMs have been generating resources mainlythrough executive education programs. He saidresource generation was not easy and alsosuggested the need for endowment driven fundingfor the IIMs. Prof. Singh alluded to the increasedfees charged by the IIMs and opined that fees

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cannot be the only means of funding for the IIMs.Prof. Ravichandran concurred with Prof. Chandraon how resource generation is not a simple issue.He drew attention to the role of the industry andalso mentioned the recent financial assistanceextended by the Tatas to the Harvard BusinessSchool. Prof. Ravichandran also stressed on howthe IIMs needed to learn not only the art of givingbut also the art of seeking.

Prof. Pankaj Chandra initiated the discussion onthe issue of gender balance at the IIMs. Heexpanded on the proposed topic to focus on thebroader issue of diversity at IIMs. He pointedout the increasing percentage of engineeringstudents getting into PGP programs at the IIMsand also spoke on the benefits of having a batchof diverse students for better quality education.In this context, he hinted at the possiblemodifications in the admission process. Hementioned how the introduction of subjectivityin the admission process was a tricky issue inthe present circumstances. Prof. Singh mentionedhow several tweaks have been made in theadmission process at various points of time tofoster increased diversity. None of them, he said,had managed to address the issue in totality. Prof.Ravichandran focused the panel’s attention onthe gender diversity not only among the studentsbut also among the faculty members. He alsopointed out how private B-schools fare muchbetter as far as the issue of gender balance isconcerned. He also said that certain institutionshave a regional advantage as far as the numberof female students enrolling for MBA isconcerned. He also mentioned the need forintroducing a certain amount of subjectivity inthe admission process to tackle the issue. Prof.Xavier shared IIM Ranchi’s dubious distinctionof having only one female student in its firstbatch of PGP students. He proposed the settingup of parallel programs directed at addressingneeds of the informal sector as well as the NGOsto increase the number of female students. Healso stressed on the need for increasing diversityamong faculty members by attracting researchersfrom outside India.

The discussion was then thrown open for a Q &A session. Media personnel asked the panel aboutpossible changes in the CAT. Prof. Chaudhurimentioned how the convention had given the

directors an opportunity to engage in fruitfuldiscussion. “However, decisions with regards tochanges in the admission process cannot be madeat such forums”, he said. Prof. Chaudhuri thenproceeded to summarize the key points of thediscussion and offer his closing remarks. He alsothanked the directors of the IIMs for being presenton this occasion.

Experts from Industry &Academia Discussed onManagement Educationin IndiaOn the occasion of the Golden Jubilee Celebrationof IIM Calcutta, a panel discussion was held on

'Management Education in India'. The eminentmembers of the panel shared their views fromthe perspectives of different stakeholders. Thepanel was graced by the presence of Ms. SangeetaTalwar, an IIMC alumnus, who has beenassociated with many successful marketing ideassuch as the launch of the Maggie brand in Indiaas a marketing manager in Nestle and theexecution of the 'Jaago Re' campaign when shewas working as Executive Director of Tata Tea.Other distinguished panel members included Mr.V. Raghunathan, CEO GMR VaralakshmiFoundation and ex-president of ING Vysya Bank,and Professor M.R Rao, presently Dean Emeritusof ISB Hyderabad and formerly director of IIMBangalore.

The discussion started with Mr. Rao sharing histhoughts on the role of management educationin India. It was felt that the society expects a lotfrom B-schools and the management institutesshould take a multidisciplinary approach towardseducation and include perspectives from diverse

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disciplines. There was a consensus among themembers that students should be encouraged totake on more real life projects, especially in rural

areas to sensitize them with the contemporaryproblems and challenges in front of the country.The need for management education to includepublic and non-profit sectors, instead of focusingon the private sector alone, was stressed.

The issue of B-schools admitting only thosestudents who had prior work experience was alsodiscussed. While the members from the academiafelt that this was the norm across all businessschools abroad and IIMs should show leadershipand start making work experience a qualifyingcriterion for admission, the industry stalwartswere not convinced. They had the view that Indianindustry does not allow many non-MBA graduatesto take up management roles. And until this widelyprevalent mindset in the industry is changed,freshers aspiring for these positions would haveno choice but to do an MBA straight after theirunder-graduation.

After the panel discussion, one of the professorsof IIM Calcutta assured the visiting guests thatthe institute has recently taken steps to addressmost of the concerns raised during the discussion.The panel members were awarded honoraryawards at the end of the event.

Retired ProfessorsExchanged Views onIIMC and IIM EducationSystem• Panelists included Prof. Barun De, ChairmanWest Bengal Heritage Commission and FormerlyProfessor, IIM Calcutta, Prof. Kamini Adhikary,Formerly Professor, IIM Calcutta and Prof.

Amitava Bose, Formerly Director and currentlyProfessor, IIM Calcutta. The session wasmoderated by Prof. Raghabendra Chattopadhyay,IIM Calcutta.

Prof. Raghabendra Chattopadhyay: I have greatpleasure in inviting Prof. De as the first speaker.He has been introduced as an academician. Butlet me also point out his role in building thisinstitute. He was with IIMC right from thebeginning. Our acquaintance dates even furtherback when I met him at the Social ScienceResearch Institute.

Prof. Barun De: I am honoured to be here today.First of all, let me offer my heartfelt felicitations

to IIM Calcutta at the beginning of its GoldenJubilee year. I was with this institute from 1963to 1973. I remember how we chose this locationfor the institute. Way back, this land was a hugetract of paddy field. I can still see in my mind thepeople working on those fields. Nowadays whenwe exchange a lot of emotional rhetoric onpeasants’ rights, this is a thought to keep in mind.Over the last 40 years, this campus has grown upand produced a cadre of efficient managers. I willsay that creation and destruction go hand in hand.

Our approach while working here had earned usthe name “engrainmentalists”. While I do notfully agree to the use of that term, I must say thatwe stressed a lot on the social milieu in whichbusinesses have to operate. For this, history, lawand politics were taught. I like to describe historyas my story. In 1957, while I was at Oxford, Ichanced to hear a speech by Nehru. He spoke ofthe tremendous amount of work remaining to bedone for India. The speech moved me a lot andplayed a role in bringing me back to India.

This institute was part of Nehru’s vision for thefuture and so, when we set it up, we always

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mobilised our thinking into how to make it anasset for India’s future. We adopted amultidisciplinary approach and spent a lot oftime on seeing which subjects docketed into eachother and which were the square pegs in roundholes. Those days there were two groups ofthinkers among us, nicknamed the Indians andthe Americans. The Indians were the ones whofavoured a staunchly Indian syllabus. One of myfavourite definitions of management isorganisation and administration in service ofentrepreneurship and innovation. Now I feel thatin those days we overemphasised the nation andthe state and underemphasised the social milieu.I also feel that we created an artificial dichotomybetween the institute and the university system.The Bombay University is successfully impartinga local flavour to management education. So,were we right in criticizing the universitymanagement education system? And, finally,have the IIMs been able to build a culture likethe Indian Statistical Institute and as other modelsof teaching and research have done?

Prof. Kamini Adhikary: I joined this institute inNovember 1962. It has been a long and windinglane of 48 years. I have a short point to make.How we approach the past is important. The pastis what we do with it today for tomorrow. I willgo till the future, using the past, to show how theterritory of management has changed. I wouldlike to base my approach on the following fouraspects:

• Management and the public sector• Management and the society• Management and globalisation• Management and genderI will take up each of these one by one.

Management and the public sector: In itsformative years, the institute was supposed tocater to the needs of the public sector. Over thelast twenty years, we have seen extensiveexpansion of the private industry. The institutehas to shape its response to this changing scenario.What are the ambivalences and contradictions ithas to face? One is of market fundamentalism.The question of increasing the tuition fee is oneexample. In today’s Telegraph, there was anarticle on the disparity in the compensation offaculty across management institutes. This isanother such issue.

Management and society: Nowadays we hear alot about tribal lands being taken up for large-scale construction projects. But we should beglad about the fact that in an increasing numberof cases, social targets were deemed moreimportant than purely economic ones and projectssuch as that of the Vedanta group have beendelayed because of environmental clearanceissues. So, at this juncture, it is critical to askwhat the response of companies has been to thisethical problem. In what ways can the instituterespond so that long term survival rather thanshort term profits is the target for managers?

Management and globalisation: A manager hasto learn how to operate across differentgovernment systems and international standardsin a globalised world. For example, if theinternational community decries child labour,how should Indian businesses respond? Also,how do we bring in transnational knowledge toour management education?

Management and gender: I have noticed that inIIM Calcutta, the gender ratio has barely grown.If I am wrong, I would like to be corrected onthis point. We proudly talk about Indra Nooyi,

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but one swallow doesn’t make a summer.

In conclusion, I would like to say that moralissues emerge in societies as a result of societaltransformation and we have a role to play in this.

Prof. Amitava Bose: I would like to go throughmy personal experience to draw a picture of thisinstitute as it appeared to me. I went to collegeduring the 60s. This period is regarded as an ageof idealism. Locally, management education wasnot considered all that fashionable. I would liketo bring up at this point a remark made by AshokMitra in a review on Amartya Sen’s book. Hesaid that whatever Sen had to say, we all knewlong back, because great-grandmothers in Bengalihomes knew about it. Well, I heard about IIMCalcutta from Amartya Sen. And, my great-grandmother was clueless about it. When mythesis at Rochester was nearing completion, Iwas on the lookout for a job back in India.

When IIM Calcutta was recommended to me, Iwas not all that enthusiastic at the beginning. Inthose days, we economists sported a snootyattitude about B-schools. Now I realize that IIMC was not a typical B-school. There was a lot ofstress on the social sciences and I felt at homehere. One of the enduring debates we had in thosedays was on the role of basic disciplines inmanagement education and how we were amanagement education centre and not a B-school.We constantly looked out for ways to reach outto each and every corner of the society. Oneweakness that I would like to point out about ourinstitute is that we never seemed to work as ateam. For example, once I joined, nobodyexplained to me what my role is. In a way itfosters independence, but at the same time somesort of team spirit was lacking.

Pandit HariprasadChaurasia mesmerizesIIMC AudienceOn the evening of November 14, 2010, PanditHariprasad Chaurasia, the internationallyrenowned exponent of flute, presented amesmerising concert of an hour forty-five minutesduration. The concert was organized by IIMCalcutta with active support from SPIC MACAY.

The enchanting experience at the flute recitalwas an added highlight of the Golden Jubileecelebration of the Institute. Professor Rama Sethtook the lead to make the event happen. Theenthralling evening was a memorable one for thestudents, faculty, staff and other important guestsand visitors alike.

Student Initiatives forCelebrations of GoldenJubilee

The Golden Jubilee Celebrations were a greatopportunity for the students to showcase theirtalent and actively participate in initiatives linkedto the Jnanam Sarvahitaye theme.

Intaglio – the annual International BusinessSchool Meet of IIM Calcutta was the biggestBusiness School meet of its kind with prominentpersonalities such as Smt. Sheila Dikshit, RakeyshOmprakash Mehra, Dr. Pronab Sen (PlanningCommission) and Shantanu Khosla (CountryHead P&G) visiting the campus. The event alsowitnessed the launch of two major socialinitiatives by the student community. Antodaya,a Social Entrepreneurship Business Plancompetition attracted International participation

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with finalists from Harvard, John HopkinsUniversity and the University of Illinois. SunehraKal, a scholarship for the education of the girlchild was initiated this year with a pledged corpusfrom the event budget every year which wouldbe used to sustain and expand the initiative. Twomajor thought leadership Conclaves - The WomenLeader s ’ Conc lave and the Soc ia lEntrepreneurship Conclave - on emerging issuesin Business Management were also taken up.

The cultural fest ‘Carpe Diem’ witnessed anotherfacet of the student activities with the buddingmanagers taking up new roles as ramp-walkers,musicians, dancers and jiving to rock acts byInternational band Higher-on-maiden andrenowned names from across India. The spiritof giving back to the society was forthcominghere too, with IIM Calcutta providing a platformto the underprivileged children from an NGO‘Pehla Kadam’ to showcase their performances.

In February 2010, IIM Calcutta Dramatics Cellmade its first ever foray outside campus. Monthsof effort culminated in the play “Who the hell isJohn?” an adaptation of a Jerome Bixby script.The entire range of activities from acting,direction and production was handled by studentsand the performance earned acclaim from allviewers as well as critiques in the media.

Future Plans for Celebration ofthe Golden JubileeSome of the major initiatives and programmesthat are planned for celebrating the GoldenJubilee of the Institute in the coming monthsare:

1. Publishing a commemorative volumeoutlining the history of IIMC and itscontributions to management education in India.

2. Release of a documentary film on IIMC

3. Two mega events are planned aroundNovember 14, 2011 and 2012 with eminentpersonalities like the Prime Minister, formerand Present Presidents of India as Chief Guests.

4 . Specia l conference/conclave on“Management for a Sustainable Tomorrow”and “Future of Media” during the latter part of2011.

5. Golden Jubilee Re-unions in some of themajor cities in India and abroad in collaborationwith local Alumni Chapters.

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PGPEX StudentsOrganised Lattice 2010Lattice 2010, a theme based event, organizedby PGPEX students was conducted on Dec 19,2010. Coinciding with the Golden Jubileecelebrations of IIM Calcutta, the event turnedits focus on the holistic approach towardsmanagement by keeping the main theme as

“Socially Conscious Leadership”. The eventwas hosted under the leadership of IIMC’sManagement Centre for Human Values inassociation with ONGC.

The list of speakers included Prashanth Ahir-GM HR, Tata Motors, Atreya Rayaprolu-VPIntellecap, Ms Shalini Vatsa- a social activistand a theatre person, Kamayani Swami-representative of the social organization JeevanSaathi, Kaluram Salvi- a NREGA championand Sarpanch, Vijaypura, Rajasthan, and socialactivist Himanshu Tyagi. The Chief of StaffEastern Command Lt. Gen. J S Bajwa deliveredthe keynote address. This was followed bytalks and presentation of views on SociallyConscious Leadership by each of the delegates.This was followed by a student’s freshperspective on CSR. This was moderated andjudged by Prof M.B.Sarkar, visiting from TheFox School of Business, Temple University.

The delegates also shared the stage in a paneldiscussion with Prof. Mritiunjoy Mohanty ofIIM Calcutta and Prof Samir Ranjan Chatterjeeof Curtin University of Technology, Australia,generating ideas that brought together CSR(Corporate Social Responsibilities), initiativesof private organizations, NGOs and socialactivists to create responsible social enterprises.

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Think Tank Session withleading Media heads

In order to develop the IIMC brand in a uniqueplatform, the Institute initiated a preliminarystep in organizing a Think Tank Dinner sessionwith the leading media heads of the region atthe Bengal Club on February 20, 2011. Theevent also witnessed the participation by DeputyConsul General of Russian federation and someleading city-based IIMC alumni. The hostconsisted of Director Professor ShekharChaudhuri, Dean (PI), Professor Sougata Ray,Faculty Representatives to the Board, ProfessorAnup K Sinha and Professor SaibalChattopadhyay, senior faculty, Professor AmitavaBose and all the activity chairpersons along withadministraton heads and important functionariesincluding a contingent from the PGP students.It was a successful interactive session where allthe leading media personalities interacted closely

with theIIM teamand cameout withi d e a sw h i c hw i l ldefinitelyestablishthe IIMCbrand as a

unique one. In this direction, MonideepaBanerjee, Regional Head of NDTV opined tolaunch a Media Management course for themedia professionals.

First Ever SMS ResearchWorkshop in Asia Pacificregion conductedsuccessfullyThe Strategic Management Society, the globalbody of strategy professionals and scholarsheadquartered at Chicago, USA in associationwith the Indian Institute of Management Calcuttaorganized SMS Research Workshop, a high level

research workshop on Strategy, Innovation andSustainability during February 26 – 28, 2011 atIIM Calcutta campus at Joka. The workshopaimed to advance the research capability of newfaculty and senior doctoral candidates throughinteracting and receiving critical feedback ontheir current research projects and was designedto be a collaborative platform between Westernscholars interested in research on emergingmarkets, and aspiring scholars primarily in Indianbusiness schools. While the specific deliverablewas to improve the quality of such research, thebroader objectives were two-fold – one, to buildcapacity among researchers in India andneighboring countries so that they can beempowered to publish in top-tier journals; andtwo, to connect Western scholars interested inemerging markets research with their SouthAsian colleagues. Incidentally, the SMS IndiaResearch Initiative, an idea that emerged withthe 2008 SMS India Special Conference,convened by the late C.K. Prahalad, and co-chaired by Charles Dhanaraj and M B Sarkar,has the objective of building research capacityin and on India in the field of strategicmanagement.

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E v e n t sThe who’s who in the domain of strategicmanagement assembled here at IIM Calcuttawhich included Preet Aulakh from YorkUniversity, Rajesh Chakrabarty from IndianSchool of Business, Michael Hitt from TexasA&M, Suresh Kotha from WashingtonUniversity, Will Mitchell from Duke University,Phanish Puranan from London Business School,J. Ramachandran from IIM Bangalore, StephenTallman from University of Richmond, MohanSubramanian from Boston College and BalaVissa from INSEAD. These scholars have beeninvolved with top-tier journals like Academy ofManagement Journal, Academy of ManagementReview, Global Strategy Journal, Journal ofInternational Management, OrganizationScience, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal andthe Strategic Management Journal.

The international experts felt that there werehuge opportunities to research some of theinnovative business models that had emergedfrom the compulsions of growing and sustainingbusinesses in emerging market conditions.Limitations arising from the accuracy of dataand its reconciliation and support from practicingmanagers were proving to be a challenge forresearchers. The conference participants felt thatthis would be overcome by making their researchmore relevant and closer to practice, aiding topmanagements in decision making processes.The emergence of Sustainability as a leadingquestion for businesses in India was alsodeliberated with active participation from theIndustry. The Innovation track of the Workshopthrew up interesting insights on Venture Capital,technology development and the influence ofIntellectual Property Rights on Globalization.The research findings presented on theimportance of Innovation as a major strategictool in the development of emerging marketfirms.

The 3 day conference attended by some of thetop International Strategy practitioners was ahuge success; the participants felt that thetakeaways from the sessions would aid them infurther refining their research and presenting itin the right forums and formats. There was alsoa call for more such initiatives with the IIMCalcutta model of organizing the workshop asthe guiding model.

46th Annual ConvocationThe 46th annual convocation was held on April2, 2011. The Convocation happens to be themost important day in the Institute’s academiccalendar. The whole IIMC community had beeneagerly looking forward to this day whengraduating students earn academic recognitionin the form of diplomas or titles. MeleveetilDamodaran, the past chairman of the Securitiesand Exchange Board of India (SEBI) andcurrently the Chairman, Board of Governors of

IIM Tiruchirapally was the Chief Guest. Mr.Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO – Rediff.com and theChairman, Board of Governors of IIM Calcuttapresided over the ceremony.

Director, Professor Shekhar Chaudhuri, spokeat length with his Welcome Speech and gave areport on the institute activities for the year2010-2011 while Chairman, Shri AjitBalakrishnan, delivered his convocation speechthrough his well-researched document titled IIMCalcutta’s Contribution to Thought Leadership2010-2011. This document highlighted theresearch and publications of IIM Calcutta’sprofessors in 2010-2011.

Five students received the title of Fellows ofIIMC, 348 students received the PGDM Diplomaand 35 students received the PGDCM Diploma. The Diplomas were also awarded to 44 studentsin PGPEX and 29 students in PGPEX-VLM.

Chief Guest, M. Damodaran, delivered hisConvocation speech with live references tocontemporary sensational events, which wasgreatly appreciated by the full house of theauditorium comprising of students, faculty,guardians, board members, alumni, staff andmembers of the press.

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P l a c e m e n t s

Raining Offers in SummerPlacements 2010They say sometimes that the placements at IIMsare an indicator of the global economy. If thatis to be taken seriously, then the global economymust be doing exceedingly well, for the SummerPlacements 2010 at IIM Calcutta saw impressiveresults. Lasting for 5 days from 10 Nov 2010 to15 Nov 2010 (with a day’s break in between forGolden Jubilee celebrations), the process sawall 353 students from the 47/17 batch in theplacement process placed by the end of Slot 2.No less than 125 recruiters participated in theprocess.

Slot Zero, which extended for the first two days,saw 215 students (62% of the batch) acceptinginternship offers. This was an unprecedentednumber for IIMC campus Joka and also thehighest number of slot-0 offers made in any IIMthis year. While the first day witnessedparticipation from international investmentbanks, private equity firms and global consultingfirms, the second day saw firms offeringmarketing, general management and financeprofiles.

The sector-wise distribution of internships forthe PGP1 batch was as follows:Finance – 37%Marketing – 28%Consulting – 20%General Management – 8%Others – 7%

Investment banks were among the highestrecruiters at the process this year. With RBSmaking 15 offers and UBS making 12 offers,slot 0 began on a high note. Macquarie Securitiesalso made thrice as many offers as at any othercampus across the country. Consulting offersalso leaped up by 44% as compared to last year,with McKinsey, Bain & Company, and ATKearney making their highest number of offersin the country at IIM Calcutta. Marketing firms,not to be left behind, were also generous in thenumber of offers. ITC picked up 8 interns to

become the largest FMCG recruiter from IIMC.Not far behind was P&G that made 6 offers.The league of general management firms wasled by Aditya Birla and TAS who made 6 and5 offers respectively.

IIMC crossed many milestones during thissummer placement process. With a 20% rise ininternational offers over last year, batch 47/17will see 75 students doing their internships inlocations like New York, Hong Kong, Singapore,Thailand, Dubai, Vietnam and South Africa.Further, a $6 billion hedge fund, which ishabituated to recruiting only from Ivy LeagueB-Schools, visited IIMC this year. Only thesecond time that a hedge fund has visited anyIndian B-school, this also marked IIMC as thesole Indian campus to host hedge funds duringplacements. Houlihan Smith, a specializedinvestment bank recruited exclusively from IIMCalcutta. Reputed law firm L&S hired IIMCstudents to work on their strategy. Last but notthe least, summer placements also saw IIMCiansopting to intern in the social sector with NGOslike CRY recruiting from campus.

This year marked another successful summerplacement process. While the last 2 years hadthe campus breathing sighs of relief at the endof the process, this year the end of the processwas marked by faces lit with excited grins.Needless to say, in keeping with Joka’s traditions,the success was celebrated by a party on campus.

IIM Calcutta IntroducesDeferred Final PlacementsThe deferred placement, a concept existingcurrently in very few B-schools in the countryis being incorporated at IIMC this year.

The core objective of the deferred placementpolicy is to encourage students to pursuealternative careers post MBA, careers beyondwhat are offered by corporates though theplacement process at IIMC.

The policy aims to mitigate the career riskstudents face otherwise if they aspire to ventureinto such careers and opt out of corporate jobs

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P l a c e m e n t son offer at campus. The policy reduces thedownside career risk considerably i.e., if a studentis unsuccessful in pursuit of an alternative career,he/she still has an option to enter corporatecareers through campus placement process at alater point in time. The risk is mitigated for suchstudents by providing them an option toparticipate in campus placements process in anyone of the three subsequent final/ lateralplacement processes. They can seek defermentand exercise this option subject to fulfillmentof certain eligibility conditions.

How we are different:Apart from encouraging entrepreneurs (studentswho wish to start up or continue with their ownventure), we also plan to support students whohave the following plans:

1. To work in the social sector to do ‘socialservice’ contributing to social development ornation building.

2. To join a Government Organization involvedin National Service.

3. To pursue higher education i.e., Doctoral orfellow program in management in Indian orForeign universities.

4. To join IIM Calcutta as employees in differentcapacities.

Tanuj Mendiratta (Batch of 2011)

Profile: BE Computer Science, Delhi Collegeof Engineering, 2003-2007.

Startup: Study Craft, December 2010 - present.

Study Craft was founded by Tanuj Mendiratta,an IIM Calcutta graduate, in December 2010.Tanuj had an offer from Unilever, one of themost sought after marketing companies amongmanagement s tuden ts . S tudy Craf t(www.studycraft.com) is a provider of ITproducts and solutions for the education sector.The company specializes in enhancing thelearning environment at educational instituteswith the use of state-of-art products andinnovative IT solutions. Study Craft’s coreoffering is a state-of-art campus managementsystem, CampusNet, which allows an educationinstitute to integrate various interconnectedfunctions such as Academics, Administration,

Campus Finances, Alumni Management andPlacements through a single online channel.CampusNet also promotes collaborative learningamong students and interaction with faculty.

Vivekanandan M (Batch of 2011)

Profile: BE, Mechanical Engg, College ofEngineering, Guindy, Tamil Nadu, 2003-2007.

He had worked in Cognizant for 2 years priorto joining IIM Calcutta.

Startup: ButterflySpotter

Butterfly Spotter is a consultancy firm whichassists resorts to create butterfly habitats. Thecompany will be formally registered by March2011. A butterfly habitat is usually a 1000 sq.ft. open space containing food and hosts butterflyplants, which attracts local and migrating speciesin India. An example of a butterfly park wouldbe one located at Bannerghatta National Parkin Bangalore. Vivekanandan got the idea of sucha firm in 2008. He chose to opt out of summerplacements at IIMC to work on his project.Currently, he is in touch with 3 nationwide resortchains and his pilot project will take off inUttarakhand. One of the resort chains has agreedto give him a set of ten projects upon successfulcompletion of the pilot. As the venture grows,he has plans of expanding the scope of thecompany. He is planning to work with IsaacKehimkar, General Manager (Programmes) atBombay National History Society, who hasauthored 'The book on Indian Butterflies'. Hehas opted out of final placements at IIMC towork on his venture. Vivekanandan says, "Ithink the policy of deferred placements is atremendous help in allowing buddingentrepreneurs to take the plunge. I had a hardtime convincing my parents when I told themthat I wanted to start my own venture, but nowthey have happily agreed to let me pursue mydreams."

Nithin Jaganathan (Batch of 2011)

Profile: BE Electrical and Electronics Engg,PSG Coimbatore, 2003 - 2007.

Summer Internship: JP Morgan, Bombay;Investment Banking Division.

Startup: Schnell Energy

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P l a c e m e n t sSchnell Energy is a company involved in energyconservation and automation. Nithin began hisstartup in 2008. Prior to that Nithin worked asVP (Products) in Salzer Electronics Ltd (a BSElisted company) from 2007 - 2008. Nithin isopting for deferred placements. He addsconfidently, "It was a natural choice [to opt fordeferred placements]. I am really confident thatmy venture will succeed but now, I am elatedthat the institute has also, indirectly, lent mesome support by providing a fallback."

Dhruv Kumar Dahiya (Batch of 2011)

Profile: BE Mechanical Engineering, NITKurukshetra (2004-2008), 12 months workexperience in IBM

Summer Internship: American Express

The rest of his profile and future plans are alreadymentioned in the write-up you sent. Please tellme in case you need more details.

His long term objective is to create a self reliantsocial organization model, making organizationsless dependent on aids and more on activitieswhich generate continuous revenues for them.Many organizations are dependent largely ongrants from different bodies like Governmentof India, UN and other aid agencies. He believesthat by exploring options which serve societyas well as generate revenues, social organizationscan run with no or minimal aid (example –microfinance institutions). He also wants towork and improve NGOs issues like properpublicity, maintaining standard norms andprocedures and improving operationalefficiencies. Dhruv says, "Before joining IIMC,I was involved with an NGO, which is workingin the field of spreading basic computer literacy.I was part of the teaching team and took weeklyclasses. I was also part of one on the projectsstarted by them to collect funds and oldcomputers and accessories. Now I want to restartat the grass root level, most likely in the fieldof elementary education through a nationwideNGO. Working with such a group will help medevelop a broader perspective about functioningof a social organization and the challenges faced.Also by working at the grass roots level as anInstructor or Coordinator will help me understandthe minute details of the work. It will also enable

me to interact directly with people for whom Iam working and know their feedback.' Withtime, I want to develop a niche for myself in thesocial sector. I can use skills acquired duringmy MBA education and work for improvement.Down the line, I want work on a project by anyof the international agencies (like World Bank,Red Cross) or open an organization, in or nearmy hometown. I would also like to be associatedwith many smaller NGOs, helping them improvetheir visibility and resolving their other issues."

Better Placement for the3rd Batch of PGPEXIn spite of continued recession, especially in thetop and middle management domains, overallquality of offers for the PGPEX programme wasgood. Offers have been made and accepted atthe level of Director/VP/GM. Contrary to lastyear, this year the number of offers andparticipation of recruiters was higher. While lastyear saw 33 companies with 30 offers for 34students (Batch strength: 37, 3 students optedout of placement assistance), this year saw 60companies in the final placement with 45 offersfor 47 students (Batch strength: 51, 4 studentsopted out of placement assistance). There weresubstantial increases in both mean and mediansalaries over comparable last year’s figures. Theaverage salary this year was 18.4 lakhs,compared to 18 lakhs last year. However likelast year the highest salary remained at 35 lakhs.Moreover, this year there was an internationaloffer, compared to none last year. The recruitinggiants from India and global multinationalsincluded McKinsey & Co., Deloitte, TCS,Hewlett-Packard, Mindtree Consulting, AmazonConsulting, Accenture and Sapient in Consulting,Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Rediff.com, HCL andInfosys BPO in IT/ITES/Telecom, Opus Soft,Google (India) and Zycus in Sales andMarketing, KPIT Cummins, Wellspun Groupand Siemens in Project Management/Operationsand Directi Internet Solutions, Infosys, TataInternational and Manipal Education Group inStrategy and Business Development.. In termsof sectoral distribution, nearly 50% of the jobs

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P l a c e m e n t sthis year were in the consulting domain ascompared with 31% last year. There were fewerjobs in sales and marketing as well asIT/ITES/Telecom sector. However, this yearalso saw jobs in strategy and businessdevelopment. The offers were as follows: 22in Consulting, 9 in IT/ITES/Telecom, 6 inSales/Marketing, 5 in Strategy/BusinessD e v e l o p m e n t a n d 3 i n P r o j e c tManagement/Operations. About 52% of thestudents joining the programme had prior work-experience in IT/ITES sector. All in all, it wasa satisfying placement season and the trendsaugur well both for the programme as well asthe 4th batch.

56% hike in CTC on thepackage of 3rd BatchPGPEX VLM PlacementThe just concluded placement of the 3rd batchof PGPEX-VLM students shows beyond doubtthat economic slowdown/recession could nothave a bite on the high reputation of IIMCplacement. This year saw a 56 per cent increasein CTC on the average package (with averagepackage rising to 12.5 lakh INR) for the batch.The highest Indian salary offered was Rs. 16.5lakh per annum.The batch had 30 students, outof which 4 students opted out of placementsand rest all 26 students were placed registeringa hundred percent placements with 35 offers.The recruiting companies included Wipro, TataCummins, ITC, Voltas, TCS, Vedanta, HP,Cummins, Bharat Mcnally, Anand Group,Shinsei Bank and Wheels India to name a few.

Students in CompetitionsIIM Calcutta Wins IIMC-XLRIsports meet 2010

True to its legacy IIMC defends IIMC-XLRItrophy. Having won last time by a whisker,with fresh blood added to our arsenal, we wonthe trophy, making the overall score 35-9 inour favor in the 2010 encounter.Given the tight academic schedule, the SportsCaptains decided to have the meet in Augustrisking monsoon rains. At the mercy of the raingods, we managed to have 16 of the scheduled21 events. The score for the meet was 13-3,with IIMC gaining a landslide victory in mostof the sporting events.The score lines were as follows: Girl’s tennis2-0, football 4-2, chess 5-0, boy’s table tennis3-0, girl’s table tennis 3-0 and the other scoresalike. XL had some relief in boys and girlsBadminton. With sledging and colorful XLkekudiyaa, the meet had its usual hues. WithIIMC proving gargantuan for the XLites tocompete, we hope to see good competition thecoming year.

PGPEX students win NCMS 2010 Award

The team from IIM Calcutta consisting of twoPGPEX students, Anand Moroney and SameerKarkhanis, were declared the winners of theEastern Zone and eventually went on to become1st runners up in the national finals of theNational Competition for Management students(NCMS), a premier B-School event conducted

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Students in Competitionsby the All India Management Association(AIMA). Sameer and Anand based their paperon a unique and self developed model calledthe 3i model. The key wheels of the 3i modelwere Infrastructure, Innovation and Inclusion.Their contention was that the majority of theproblems facing the industry could be broadlyclassified into the 3 mentioned categories. Theyrepresented these problems as wheels ofopportunity that need to be turned in order forthe Indian Industry to propel forward in asustainable manner. Anand and Sameer werefelicitated at the 37th National ManagementConvention held on 22-23 Sept 2010 in Kolkata.

PGP Students win Prestigious LiveCase based Competition at BostonUniversity, USAS. Harshavardhan, Aayush Singhania, andUtkarsh Bahadur of PGP 2 won the prestigiousSixth Annual International Tech StrategyBusiness Case Competition organized at theBoston University School of Management, TechStrategy case competition. They were paired in

teams with their counterparts from LondonBusiness School, Tuck School, Haas and KenanFlagler for the event. Incidentally, IIM Calcuttawas the only IIM invited to this prestigiousInternational competition. Again, this is for thefirst time in the history of the competition thatIIM Calcutta became the winner of such aprestigious international event. The event washeld during March 24 and March 26, 2011, atBoston University, USA.There were 16 participating schools from aroundthe globe and IIM Calcutta was one of the seveninternational management schools that took partin this prestigious case competition event, whichwas sponsored by global telecom equipment

major Ericsson. The event was personallyinaugurated by Hans Vestberg, Global CEO,Ericsson.Along with IIM Calcutta, the other 15participating schools were Boston UniversitySchool of Management; Eller College ofManagement – University of Arizona; HaasSchool of Business – UC Berkeley; Hong KongUniversity of Science and Technology; IESEBusiness School – University of Navarra, Spain;IPADE Business School - UniversidadPanamericana, Mexico; Kenan-Flagler BusinessSchool – University of North Carolina, ChapelHill; London Business School, UK; MarshallSchool of Business - University of SouthernCalifornia; McCombs School of Business –University of Texas, Austin; Queen's School ofBusiness, Canada; Richard Ivey School ofBusiness - University of Western Ontario,Canada; Seoul National University, Korea; TuckSchool of Business at Dartmouth and TheWharton School of the University ofPennsylvania.The Collaboration round was a unique exercisewhere teams from different business schoolswere mixed and asked to work jointly towardsdeveloping a business case for mobileapplications in energy and health in 3 hours flatin association with Ericsson leadership. IIMCstudents were part of the 3 winning teams andplayed key roles. There were 4 winning teamswith each winning team receiving prize moneyof US$3000.

PGPEX VLM Studentswin Lakshwiz’10IIM Calcutta’s 4th batch PGPEX VLM students,K Siva Raman and Vijay Kumar won Lakshwiz’10, a flagship event off Lakshya’10, a threeday International confluence in NITIE heldduring October 22 - 24, 2010 which includedparticipants from more than 30 premier Bschools in India. Sponsored by Tata ConsultancySolution, Aditya Birla Group & Take Solution,LakshWiz'10 was a series of Online Quizzesand Case Study Contests covering widely thetopics in Finance, Marketing, Supply ChainManagement and Operations Management.Supply Chain Management and Operations

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Students in CompetitionsManagement module was the area in whichVLM students won. The case named as“FACTORY” was about challenges of planningoperations of an Industrial bakery at Chennai.The solution proposed included RevenueManagement Analysis, Aggregate PlanningStrategy recommendation, Staffing DecisionAnalysis, Profitability Calculations andRecommendations to improve demandmanagement/Supply chain efficiency.

PGPEX Students winTata Crucible Campus QuizParijat Garg and Siddharth Sreenivasan,students of PGPEX class of 2011 have wonthis year’s Kolkata regional round of Tata

Crucible Campus Quiz. Tata Crucible, thevenerable business quiz contest is the biggestand most renowned event of its kind to beconducted in India and is held in highest regardby students and corporates across the country.The contest held on March 5 at the Taj Bengalwitnessed participation of more than 150 teamsfrom different colleges across West Bengal.The top six qualifiers from the preliminaryround consisted of two teams each from IIMCand VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur and one teamfrom IIFT Kolkata and ISBM Kolkatarespectively. After five intense rounds ofquizzing hosted by renowned quizmaster Giri‘Pickbrain’ Subramaniam, the IIMC duo ofParijat and Siddharth beat IIFT to claim thetop spot and a place in the National finalsscheduled to be held in Mumbai in April. Theprize includes a cash award of Rs 75000, anda certificate and a gift hamper for each. Thiswin also ensured that IIMC’s unbeaten winningstreak in Crucible at Kolkata continues.

MusingsS. VenkataramanStrategic Management

S. Venkataraman is a second year fellow studentin the department of Strategic Management atIIM Calcutta. He holds a degree in MechanicalEngineering from NIT Trichy and PGDM fromIIM Calcutta (1992). Pre-MBA, he has workedwith BPL Sanyo and TVS Suzuki as R&D andProduction Engineer respectively. Post MBA,he has worked with CRISIL in ratings, advisoryand research, and also has been CEO & ChiefRating Officer at the first regional credit ratingagency, which he helped establish in theCaribbean.“While I do not claim to have planned my lifeand my career (even from the time I could!)with the greatest precision and foresight, it hasnevertheless turned out richly rewarding forme. I have, at times, let events take their turneven as I have gently pushed and prodded thesand banks here and there to shape the flow ofthe stream. A combination of aspiration andprovidence has shaped it rather nicely andlooking back from where I stand now, I don’tthink I would have crafted it much differently. And where I am standing now is almost whereI started, literally speaking – the Joka campusof IIMC which I left in 1992 after completingmy MBA, and now back to pursue a PhD, afellow programme in Strategic Management.After my PGDM here, my work spanned awhole range of areas in credit rating, economyand industry research, equity research, creditrisk management, and infrastructure advisory.In setting up new businesses within business,and in setting up a new company in a foreignterritory, I had the opportunity to be everyone

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Musings- from entrepreneur to CEO to collaborator totrainer to evangelist. Along the way, work,speaking engagements and I guess, a littlewanderlust, took me to various destinationsacross the globe, in itself shaping my perspectivesand outlook on life and work.Even as I handled a variety of roles, a lot of itrevolved around research - of industries,economies, companies, markets and analyticalmodels - during the course of which I felt thedesire to explore and delve deeper intounderstanding what makes some Indianbusinesses and managements more successfulthan some others; make some adapt better thansome others; make some relentlessly expand,while others were content to stay compact, andyet survive handsomely. The questions weremany and while there were some apparentanswers, they were not always satisfactory. Adeeper investigation though, implied deeperexploration, dedicated time and the rigour ofresearch - not possible in the course of work,limited as it was, by client deliverables andimmediate organisational demands.That’s what got me back to academics to pursuea doctoral programme in strategic management,particularly in the context of an evolving Indianbusiness environment - an attempt to build onmy learning and career experience, to satisfymy own curiosity, and hopefully to add to awider body of knowledge which may be of useto others; in the belief that greater participationby professionals in research and academics, anda more intense exchange between practice andacademia than happens now in India, will benefitand help build a stronger Indian economic andbusiness landscape in the days to come,especially at a time when India and Indianbusinesses are poised to be (and need to be)world leaders.My choice in this endeavour was IIMC, wherestudents and faculty have made a mark in recentyears by publishing research in international“A” journals such as Strategic ManagementJournal, Journal of International Business Studiesand Organization Science, often even beforecompleting their dissertation, a rare feat, evenby global standards.

As an alumnus, the Joka campus holds a specialat traction (http:/ /www.jokatimes.com/2011/03/09/15-years-hence/) for me which defiesexpression beyond my own effort in theJokatimes piece. As an FP student now, theacademic routines are quite different from whatone went through as a PGP student and probablyfrom even what my FP colleagues went throughduring my earlier stint here. Time has broughton its own changes to the campus in terms ofimproved infrastructure and routines; yet I seethat much of what I appreciated remains. Newblends with and adds to the old, definitely, butwithout needless disruption. In a way, evocativeof what I hope to achieve here”.

P. SrikantFinance & Control

Srikant is a thirdy e a r f e l l o wstudent in theDepartment ofF i n a n c e a n dControl at IIMCalcu t ta . Heholds a degree inC o m p u t e rEngineering fromthe University of

Delhi (2000), and a diploma in managementfrom IIM Calcutta (2002). He has worked forseven years as a proprietary trader in Asianequity markets, and his areas of expertise includesystematic trading, algorithmic trading, equityderivatives, and index arbitrage. His currentareas of research are in capital markets andgovernance.

“I joined IIM Calcutta ten years ago fresh outof engineering college. In the career goals sectionof my application form, I had written that Iwould like to work in a top consulting orinvestment banking firm for 5-6 years, and thenenter a doctoral programme in management.After my PGDM, I spent close to seven yearsin proprietary trading desks in the Far East. Thiswas culturally and professionally an enriching

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Musingsexperience, and though my career goalsunderwent a few revisions over the years, Iretained an interest in reading academic journalsin finance. In the course of my work, especiallyduring my ringside view of the credit crisis, Iobserved several instances where marketbehaviour was at odds with academic theories.One of my key motivations in taking upacademics now is to attempt to reconcile theacademic understanding of finance with its rootsin market practice.

It’s exciting to be in a doctoral programme.Studying a subject in-depth is a challenging anddeeply satisfying process. Small class sizes andindividual attention are possible only in doctoralcourses. There is now a serious commitment bythe institute towards becoming a centre forthought leadership – the intake of fellow studentshas been increased across streams, and facilitiesand incentives for research have been enhanced.Recent successes by students and faculty herein publishing in top journals gives me the sensethat IIM Calcutta is on the cusp of becoming aworld-class research institution, and that I’m atthe right place and the right time. And it’s greathaving some free time again to watch movies,play some sports, and turn up for the odd quiz.

Coming back to campus was in many ways aninteresting experience. My batchmates shot memessages reading - “Dude! You back on campusin the FP program!?!? Wow, that's cool. Enlightenme!” Seems everybody wants to know whatcampus was now like – so I should really betrying to come up with some sort of definitiveanswer to this question! There is now an audiand a swimming pool and a gym, and new hostelsand acad blocks. Trams no longer run all theway to Esplanade from Joka; but Mohanda stillruns his shop in OH, and sagely observes thatPGP students are now more focused on theircareers. H2 Top is now a ladies’ wing. Attendanceis now compulsory. People still play footer volleyin the quad. Sometimes it feels everything haschanged. Sometimes it feels everything is thesame.

Possibly the campus experience consists of too

many things to detail. Let me instead try toevoke one particular image by saying that if youwere on the jetty on an evening this time of theyear, the lights of the library would shine softlyacross the lake through the rajnigandha-scentedwarm mist of early winter; and that I wish youcould all be down here on campus to relive thismagical, unreal daze”.

Sankalp PratapStrategic Management

Sankalp Pratap is a second year fellow studentin the department of Strategic Management atIIM Calcutta. He holds a degree in MarineEngineering from Marine Engg & ResearchInstitute, Calcutta (1997) and PGDM from IIMCalcutta (2003). Pre – MBA, he has workedwith NOL Singapore for two years as aMaintenance Engineer on board merchant shipsand two years with Infosys Technologies. PostMBA, he has worked with the Tata Group forseven years beginning with the Tata StrategicManagement Group and then in variousfunctions (Strategy & Planning, Marketing,Corus Integration program, Human Resources)at Tata Steel.

“That business organizations have large impact,for good or for bad, on the society around themis a known and accepted fact. I have had thegood fortune of experiencing this association in

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Musingsall its bloom on account of my association withTatanagar, a city which was born out of thedream of the visionary entrepreneur, Mr JamsetjiNusserwanji Tata, who personifies the right wayof doing business, making profits and gainfullyploughing it back for the welfare of its employeesand the society around it. My father retired fromwork a decade back after having clocked no lessthan 41 years with Tata Steel, all at one locationi.e. Tatanagar and I was born and spent myformative years in the city. Having personallybenefited from being part of this milieu andhaving seen thousands of employees making adecent and honorable life in the city of Tatanagar,I have had this almost innate and primal desireto find more about how some firms createeconomic value without compromising on thebasic values of honesty, fair play and propriety– all that the Tata Group stands for. Oh! Whatwould one not give to know of the ‘’MagicFormula” to proliferate and perpetuate the elusivemodel of prosperity.

I have worked in various settings, under differentleaders and in diverse functions and for over adecade seen how a manager struggles daily toget the best out of the resources at his/hercommand thus contributing to the large wheelwhich moves the economics of the society. Whilethe manager is doing this in the markets, shop-floor and board rooms, at the same time,academicians are building up the next generationof technicians and managers, trying to demystifyvarious facets of the functioning, challenges,success and failures of organizations throughresearch and other scholarly pursuits. Thoughthe managers and academicians are both workingtowards very much the same thing, yet I felt thatresearch and practice seemed to be belongingto different worlds and hardly speaking to eachother in a meaningful way - losing out on eachother’s insights and hard work.

Can I then contribute towards creating bodiesof work/systems/forums which bring researchand practice a tad closer? Can I discover somefacet of the above-mentioned magic formula?These were the questions which drove me

towards coming back to the campus to pursuethe doctoral program.

It is the same campus with the same address and12 C still is a lifeline but I am now seeing theworld through an entirely different lens. To beginwith, the grades that we used to hanker after justdon’t seem to excite anymore. The classes heldin seminar format with a very small number ofstudents (3 – 4) discuss issues in detail with thefaculty while during the MBA program, we usedto be part of a large group of 70 – 80 per classgetting very little airtime and dozing off in classwas not uncommon. Earlier, we used to flit fromone subject to other, while in this program, onehas to reflect a lot and accumulation of thoughtsseems to be the name of the game. And yes, asMBA students, we did ignore the library in abig way – today as a doctoral student, the libraryis my bread and butter.

The campus itself, with its seven lakes, verdantsurroundings and birds of all kinds which wasearlier a place to hang out with friends – acarefree world - is now a place to savour andlive with my wife and my two year old daughterwho loves the vast expanse and just cant getenough out of running on the campus roads.This is the same campus on which I used to ridemy Suzuki Max 100 bike back in early 2000s.Today I am glad that motorized vehicles are notallowed in the students hostel area anymore; itis a nice sight to see so many of us, includingself, using bicycles – reminding one of what onesaw in Holland where the most senior ofexecutives would travel to work on cycles andcelebrate the experience. How I wish we coulddo that in India as well.

A decade back, one could sense that the doctoralprogram on the campus was on the fringes,aspiring to find its place in the sun, while todayone can feel that research and the FP programis attracting increasing importance and eyeballsand its output has begun making waves. I hopeto add my contribution to this positive movementand take my alma mater and the brand of businessI identify with to greater, newer and moresustainable frontiers. Amen!”

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Notable AlumniAmish with Theory of Evil

IIM Calcutta alumnusAmish Tripathi is the manb e h i n d t h e re c e n tbestseller, The Immortalsof Meluha. In an interviewwith Spandana Ramesh, arecent IM Calcut tagraduate, Amish talksabout his life at IIMCalcutta, his career (he is

the national head, marketing and developmentfor IDBI Fortis Life Insurance), being a writer,his motivations and, of course, The Immortalsof Meluha.How did the idea of the book develop? Whydid you choose Shiva as the protagonist?I had never done any creative writing before inmy life. Absolutely nothing, except for somepoems, which by unanimous opinion wereterrible! So I had no ambitions or dreams ofbecoming an author. Therefore, you could saythat the story of my book was given to me asa blessing rather than me earning it throughhard work. The Immortals of Meluha actuallybegan as a philosophy book. The idea occurredto me during a conversation with my family ona TV programme we saw which led to a livelydebate on how we sometimes confuse beingdifferent with being evil. That got me thinkingon a theory on evil. With my family’sencouragement, in 2005, I started writing abook to explain my philosophy.When this book was shaping up, I got somegood advice that a purely philosophical bookwould not really appeal to people. I was told towrite the book as a thriller/adventure and letthe philosophy come along with it. And that ledto the present ‘The Immortals of Meluha’.As for why Lord Shiva is the protagonist - ifI’m writing a book on evil and its destruction,who better to be the hero than Shiva, thedestroyer of evil.You have spoken about how you went frombeing a non believer to becoming a believer.Could you talk about how this happened andthe impact it has had on your life.I was a complete non believer even though myfamily was very religious. During the journeyof writing the book, as I discovered more and

more about the character of Shiva, it turned meinto a believer. Therefore, in the story of thesimple man behind the myth of a God, Idiscovered my devotion to the divinity in Him.I am now a devoted Shiv bhakt and pray everyday. My discovery of faith has made me a calmerperson. I shout and scream a lot less at work –I think my team may like me more [laughs].But seriously, I still work very hard but youknow how amongst ourselves [IIM Grads], wetend to compare and compete with our peers –that has reduced for me. I am in a more relaxedplace in my life. And surprisingly, my careerhas never been better.Could you talk about the practical aspects - how you got the book published as well ashow you marketed it.After the book was done, I sent it out topublishers. I got rejected by 30-40 publishersbefore finding one. That’s part of the deal ofbeing a new author and we shouldn’t getdemoralised by it.Even when it finally hit bookstores, I knew thatits chances were slim - a fantasy/religious bookby an unknown author hidden away in a cornerof a big bookstore. So we had to be innovativein marketing it.My wife, who has beenin the book tradeearlier, came up withthe idea of distributingfree copies of the firstchapter of the book –we got space on thecash counter of retailbook stores, primedisplay space, free ofcost with this move. Sothat idea was really great.Another thing we did at my friend’s suggestionwas to make a live action trailer film for thebook with music by Taufiq Quershi. The variousversions of the film have over 35,000 hits onyoutube - so it generated a lot of buzz for us.I also used facebook to promote the book – itis a good medium because you can haveconversations on it. With 80-100 mn internetusers in India, internet is a powerful mediumand marketing aggressively on the internet canbe very effective and inexpensive.

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Notable AlumniFuture plans for other books?While writing the Immortals of Meluha, I havehad some ideas for stories based onmythological/historical fiction tales like theMahabharata, Ramayana, on Lord Manu, onAkbar, on Egyptian mythology and many more.I hope to write all of them!On a more personal note, could you shareyour best and worst memories of life atIIMC?Some of my best memories are of singing atBaroC. I was a vocalist for the band. There areof course great memories of friends andawesome parties and our traditions! I rememberone particular tradition of ‘junta movies’ – We’dhire 2-3 buses and hoards of us would go watcha movie together. A fun, nonsensical movie -usually Govinda movies [laughs].No bad memories, no. Maybe trying to stay intouch with my girlfriend, now my wife, whowas then studying in Australia - which was verytough. This was before personal email, laptops,and cellphones. I made regular and expensivevisits to the STD booth outside college! I reallymissed her. And we got married very soon afterI left IIMC!Any learnings from life post-college you’dlike to share with us?I think we take ourselves too seriously and wecompare ourselves with our peers too often.I would suggest that for a career; try to pickwhat you like doing, not what job offer comeson day 1 or day 2. A few years down the lineit doesn’t matter whether you picked consulting,marketing or investment banking, what mattersis if you are good at what you do. Because ifyou are good at what you do, you can makemoney in any field. And more importantly, youwill be happy.

My days at IIMCTushar Basu, PGDM, 1974-76, 11th Batch,

I remember fondly anincident in our oldcampus, Emerald Bower - in the beginning of thefirst semester; onegentleman with highpowered glasses, lookinglike a senior student,entered the class and

stood in front of the students for a while whena class mate could not resist his curiosity andmurmured- who are you? The gentleman thoughtfor a while and questioned himself in softertone - Who am I? After a pause for a minutewith deep thinking, said, my name is Dr S. K.Chackravorty and I have come to teach Costinghere. Now I can feel that such an insight withdeep inner meaning could possibly lay the seedof his starting later The Management Centrefor Human Values in IIMC, the only one of itskind of all IIMs.During the summer internship in June, 1975, Iwent to Joka to have a look at the new campusand found large track of land with several lakeswhich could be a good place for planting treesand gardening. I went to an Agri-Horticulturistand gave him a landscape of the place to makea design for Joka gardening. He made one whichI submitted to the management, based on whichthe current gardening plan is made. What Imissed, because of my absence, was thethundering applause of students when Prof JoeEzekiel talked about the gardening design onthe very first day in the opening in the secondyear. I came to know this later when my classmates started congratulating me and called thegarden near the entrance as Tushar Park.In retrospect, one thing we could not predictwas the future of our batch-mates, includingMs Indra Nooyi, who made us proud.IIMC gave me an opportunity to discover agreat talent, I was looking for a long time - onehaving outstanding hand-writing skill, i.e. MrParthaSarathi Chattopadhy, our DeputyLibrarian, who had hand-written our long familytree upto 27th generation, still maintained inour home.My first impression, when I first joined IIMC,was that there were too many rank holders,floating around here and there. So being arankholder was of no special significance. Theprofessors were of high quality and helpful.The students were particularly regular inattendance. When there was a plan to shift to Joka campusin the second year, many were worried aboutIIM Calcutta brand image changing to IIM Joka,which never came true. A wonderful part of mylife was spent at IIM Calcutta. No doubt, wehave been lucky to be in both the campuses.

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Notable AlumniClement & His SelfSustainable NGOS.P Clement is a distinguished alumnus fromthe batch of 1973. After working as amanagement practitioner for 25 years for manyreputed corporations in Mumbai, he decided tomake a change and try and give back to society.He is currently the Convener and CEO of theGrace Vision Foundation, an Indian NGO basedin Sambalpur, Orissa. The Foundation is activelyworking to setup a cluster of “primary visioncare centers" and secondary base hospitals inunder-served areas by using the successfulmodel of Arvind Eye Care System in Madurai,India. The major aim of these centers is to screenpatients for curable blindness.

With a vision of "Creating a sustainable socialenterprise which brings down barriers to healthcare and economic well-being faced by under-served and far-flung communities in India andthe developing world”, Grace Vision has alreadyexamined over 120,000 patients, carried outover 18000 surgeries and examined over 15000children, in the last 3 years.

Year No. of No. of No. ofpatients Cataract children

examined Operations examinedperformed

2007-08 20,000 3,558 3,500

2008-09 32,500 6,281 6,510

2009-10 70,850 9,130 5,540

As an alumnus, Clement provides a differentand refreshing perspective to the community -of an individual who instead of continuing towork for corporate India has decided tocontribute significantly towards improving thecondition of some of the most impoverishedand unfortunate. In an interview with Connexionhe discusses many layers of his life and career.Here is an excerpt:

What was your highpoint at IIM Calcutta?

I think I really enjoyed my stay at IIM Calcuttaand my high point came in the first few weekswhen for the first time in my life I got a chanceto meet and interact with people from all overthe country. This helped me eliminate many of

the preconceived prejudices that I might havehad against people from other regions.The diversity in IIM Calcutta was somethingnot many of us were accustomed to and it wasthis diversity that enabled me to understandmore broadly about people from differentbackgrounds and cultures thereby helpingdevelop a much wider perspective.Are you still in touch with most of your batchmates?Yes! I am in touch with most of my batch mateseven today. As a batch, we were able to formstrong bonds during our stint at IIM Calcutta(probably the strongest of all batches duringour time). Since graduation we have met manytimes at official reunions – 1 was in Calcutta,2 in Goa, 1 in Pondicherry and 1 in Turkey andseveral times in smaller groups in different partsof the country.Could you describe how your time at IIMCalcutta helped you during your career earlyon and does even now?The social bug struck me first when I was astudent at IIM Calcutta. During my time inCalcutta I got a chance to understand the levelof poverty in India. Through our various offcampus projects we got an opportunity to makean impact working in the social sector.In addition to our curriculum, our work in clubsand campus organizations enabled me to gaina deeper understanding of the life and conditionof my cohabitants in Calcutta. The vastness ofIIM Calcutta’s data repositories provided mewith all the data I required – a lot of whichindicated the world to be a much tougher placethan we previously perceived it to be. The moreI read and analyzed the data, the more I realizedthe need for Socio Economic projects that wouldhelp lift the living conditions of the not sofortunate in India.As an entrepreneur running a social, selfsustainable NGO, Grace Vision – how hardis it starting a firm in India as compared torest of the worldI think India as a whole is skeptical of anythingfree due to the abundance of scam based NGOs.Our goal to build a self-sustainable NGOtherefore had to involve the public at a differentlevel. Through our camps and outreach programswe have been able to engage the public in our

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Notable Alumniprojects and this has eventually lead torecognition from the government and otherinstitutions willing to help out and assist inexpanding our reach.Thankfully there are many organizations withincentral India such as the Missionaries of Charityand the Rice Mills Association that have helpedus by providing resources and food therebyenabling us to concentrate on our main goal –To prevent unnecessary blindness in India.How different is it running an NGO fromworking in a corporation?The biggest difference between the two careersis obviously the primary motivation of goingto work. In an NGO we work to give back tosociety while at corporations it is more blackand white – we’re working there to earn alivelihood.I joined the NGO sector with the intention ofcontributing my share for the betterment of thesociety. Society has provided me with manyadvantages in the form of good education andlivelihood and so I decided it was time I startedrepaying my debt by helping the not so fortunatefraction of our society.NGOs are always looking for people to comeand help us towards making a significant impact.The problem is however finding the right people,who have heard the social call. While for acorporation the right fit might be 1:5, for anNGO the numbers stand closer to 1:50. We havea dire need for talent in the NGO industry andthe biggest difference is being able to attractthe right people to join the industry.One thing that plays to our disadvantage is theperception that NGOs don’t pay at all. We dopay and do work to help ensure our employeeshave a certain level of comfort – however theseare obviously not comparable to whatcorporations provide their employees.Where do you see Grace Vision in 10 years?Let’s see – In the next decade we are lookingto expand further within Central India to helpthe population of this region. This region hasfallen behind the rest of India in providinghealthcare to its inhabitants. Through our effortsover the next decade we aim to form a chain ofhospitals that can serve Jharkand, Orissa,Chattisgarh, Bihar and Southern Bengal. Eachhospital would be a standalone entity, capable

of functioning independently, while having achain would enable us to set in a supportstructure to assist in case of trouble.The biggest issue in Indian NGO hospitals todayis that they aren’t often well managed. The exitof a doctor often results in a rural hospitalclosing down. We believe that by planning forthe future and building many individual unitsthat can assist one another we can avoid gettinginto such an issue and help create a sustainableinstitution for the future. Grace Vision alsointends to get working on livelihoodempowerment projects for MMR orphans whoare currently in a state of distress and have littleassistance in finding a livelihood as they jointhe workforce.How can IIM Students and IIM Alumni helpGrace Vision reach its objectives?“Open your eyes to the world of the NGOs.Because what NGOs can do companies and thegovernment can’t”. The digital age has createda large divide between the haves and the have-nots. Students at IIM are traditionally focusedtowards providing for the portion of thepopulation on the positive side of the digitaldivide. There is a lot of work to be done to helpcarry the other half of the population along withus to prosperity and IIM alumni and studentscan and should play a more active role inenabling us to reach that goal.

The Best Days of my Life @IIM CalcuttaAnand Chatterjee: IIMC alumnus of 2002 batch

"Management is aperforming art andnot a science". Thismight be the firstrealization thatevery managementgraduate learns thehard way aftercoming out of thecozy environmentof a graduationcollege and getting

into the uncertainty of a B-school. College iswhere every thing is predictable and all theoriesbeautifully fall into place and experiments areconducted in the controlled environments of

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Notable Alumnithe labs. Every experienced manager knowsthat the cruel world outside is a complex worldof humans who are not rational beings. It couldbe even more challenging in a country like Indiawhere the diversity in Socio economicconditions, culture, living standards is sowidespread that it is a practical nightmare. Allmanagement schools are trying their best tobring the budding young management graduatescloser to the world outside, so that when theymove out of the protected walls of a B-schoolthey know that they are dealing with animperfect world and that all management toolsare just a helping hand and not a solution initself.The tough competitive world of the B-schoolteaches how to get best out of oneself andmaximize the returns. I was amazed how quicklyI got into the rhythm and rigor of the classesand also learnt to deprive myself of the regular8 hours of sleep that I was accustomed to. Thiswas also the first time I was learning the relativeway of life and that nothing was absolute. Icould do miserably in an assessment and stillget A (Grade) and in another I would feel greatafter the examination and end up getting C. Itwas not how well I was doing at an absolutelevel but how well I was doing relative to othersthat mattered. The reality of the corporate worldwas slowly unfolding before me. Definitelyhard work mattered a lot, but what was evenmore pertinent was the application andpresentation of the knowledge. Case Studiesregularly put to test the application of the theorieswe learnt in the classes. The other importantthing I learnt during my stint with IIM C wasthat tomorrow never comes. If I happened tomiss an assignment, the backlog kept on pilingup and I couldn’t recover from the lag unlessI put in extra effort to bridge the widening gap.Immense knowledge that existed in the schoolwas just waiting to be assimilated. Years ofexperience of the professors, and the variousvisiting faculties, everything just exuded withthe light of knowledge and experience. Apartfrom my curriculum I never missed anopportunity to take part in various otherengagements. One such initiative by the institutewhich is very close to my heart is that of INCA,Initiative for Community Action, wherein

students of the institute give free managementconsultancy to various NGOs for the variousprojects being run by them. Organizations likeCRY, People for Animals, Helpage India etc.have been an avid supporter of this initiative.The contribution of the institute in thedevelopment of a young socially responsiblemanager can never be underestimated especiallywhen Corporate Social Responsibility has cometo the forefront as an important indicator oforganizational credibility. It’s a way of payingback to the society to which we owe so muchand as the popular saying goes "don’t think ofwhat the society can give you but think of whatyou can give to the society".Today when I look back at my days in IIM C,I have just one desire - to relive thosemagnificent moments of my life: The Howrahbridge, the World War, lazing in the winterafternoon by the jetty, JBS BaroC - everythingis so vividly fresh in my memory. Today Idefinitely feel that the very man in me and thenever say die attitude was shaped during mydays with this premier B-school.

Anand is the Head of Centre of Excellence ofSCM and SRM of an IT ConsultingOrganization. He has previously worked forPricewaterhouseCoopers, General ElectricCapital International Services (GECIS), andTata Research Development and Design Centre(TRDDC), SAP and ITC. His articles have beenpublished in The Economic Times, BusinessWorld, Express Computer, TEC, NetworkComputing, Business Process Council (includingSCOR and APICS) and ICFAI Reader.He has been a speaker at conferences andpremier educational institutes, such as theIndian Institute of Management and theIndian Institute of Technology. Chatterjee hasa postgraduate degree in management from theIndian Institute of Management, Calcuttaand a B.E. from the Regional EngineeringCollege, Nagpur, India. He can be reached atanand.chatterjee@gmail.com .

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Chapter NewsNostalgia’11 at Delhi on theoccasion of the Golden Jubileecelebrations

On the occasion of the Golden JubileeCelebrations of the Institute, a special drive hasbeen launched to connect with the alumni ofthe Institute all across the world. It was alsodecided to increase the involvement and interestlevels of the senior alumni in annual eventssuch as Nostalgia. The Nostalgia at Delhi wasa testing ground for some of the new initiativeslaunched by the Dean, the Alumni office andthe Students to form stronger connection withthe alumni through the respective city chapters.The event was held at the India Habitat Centreon May13th, 2011. In spite of the event beingheld on a Friday, it witnessed a huge turnout ofclose to 190 alumni, most of them from thesenior batches. The event was organized by theDelhi Alumni chapter under the stewardship ofMr Arvind Bugga, Mr Rajeev Srivastava andMr. Naveen Ahlawat with support from the PGPstudents of the 46th and 47th batches. The hugeturnout at the event was reflective of themarketing efforts that went into the event, thehype around the Golden Jubilee Celebrationsand the keen interest of the alumni in getting asneak preview of the new IIM C website. ProfSougata Ray, Dean (PI) flew down especiallyfrom Kolkata to attend the event and furtherthe association with the Delhi chapter.The evening started with the traditional JBSBaroC performance, followed by a videoshowcasing the campus happenings during thelast year. The loudest applause in the video wasreserved for the sections showcasing the XLRI-IIM C meet, the new infrastructure and the allnew Institute website. This was followed by ashort address by Prof Ray on the Golden Jubilee

initiatives including the Foundation DaySustainability Summit, the new website, studentachievements and the planned initiativesinvolving alumni in the coming year. He urgedthe alumni to come back to campus and explorefor themselves some of the new facilities thathave come up in the past year. Prof Ray alsothanked the Delhi alumni chapter for havingagreed to host a special Golden Jubilee AlumniReunion and think tank session in November-December to coincide with the Golden JubileeCelebrations. The Dean’s address was followedby an enactment of an International awardwinning play directed by PGP 43rd batchstudent, Deepak Dhamija supported by studentsfrom the 44th and 43rd batches. The play waswell appreciated by the huge alumni gatheringpresent for the event. As the evening proceededand bonding took shape, the junior batchstudents had a chance to share and reminiscewith their seniors their fond memories of Jokaand how these had evolved over the years. Withfood and drink in abundance, there were ampleopportunities for old friends to reunite and fornew bonds to be formed. With the huge successof the Delhi event, similar events are alsoexpected to take place at other cities in thecoming months on an even bigger scale. ThisGolden Jubilee year, IIM Calcutta will be presentin all major cities to reconnect with old Jokaiteswho have made the Institute one of the topmanagement schools in Asia.

GuruSpeak –The Game Changer

The IIM Calcutta Alumni Association, KolkataChapter’s signature annual event, GuruSpeakhas certainly changed the stakes for managementpractitioners and students in the city. Its impact

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Chapter Newsis also reverberating across national frontiersgiven the quality of people it has attracted, whohave revolutionized the meaning of businessmanagement in the increasingly competitiveand hard sell marketplace.On December 19th, 2010, IIM Calcutta AlumniAssociation, Kolkata Chapter brought to thefraternity of business executives in the city anengaging business scientist in Prof. Dipak C.Jain, a former dean at Kellogg Graduate Schoolof Management and the incumbent dean ofINSEAD Business School in Paris. The eventwas inaugurated by Dr. Debesh Das, HonourableMinister of IT in the West Bengal Governmentand the Chief Guest was Dr. ShekharChoudhury, Director of IIM Calcutta. ProfessorJain deliberated on the marketing needs for anew breed of customers he has christened “thenanosecond customer.” Moreover, his workshopdealt with the road map to achieving marketingleadership and sustaining strategic competitiveedge in a global arena where the customersdictate terms.This annual event was a big hit with the city’sbusiness executives as well as aspiringmanagement graduates. While addressing thedelegates, Mr. Devasis Gupta, Chairman of theIIMC Alumni Association, Kolkata Chaptersaid “This year’s GuruSpeak was of specialsignificance, as it happened to be one of theflag-off events of the Golden Jubilee celebrationsof IIM Calcutta. The Association looks forwardto holding more events in the future with theAlma Mater to further the cause of Managementpractice in the country.”GuruSpeak, which commenced its magnificentjourney in the year 2004, has over these yearsinvigorated the essence of management learningby presenting an array of hot-shot businessteachers who are also true blue global Indians.

What IIMC BangaloreChapter means to youIt was over two and a half decades ago that agroup of alumni in Bangalore met (in one oftheir favourite watering holes, presumably!)and decided to form the Bangalore Chapter ofthe IIM Calcutta Alumni Association. They hada simple agenda – keep the IIMC flag flyinghigh in Bangalore, and have fun while doingso!

Today, this chapter has grown to a group of atleast 800 alumni – with representation fromalumni from the pre-Joka era (including thefirst batch!) to the youngest “freshie”. Bravingthe traffic and chaos that rule the roads ofBangalore, the chapter manages to set up andget together over drinks and dinner about fourto five times a year.“Nostalgia” - organized when the summerinterns are in Bangalore and when the “freshies”who are starting their careers – reminds thealumni that they really are growing old (“youare from the 46th batch – MY GOD?!??”). Itgives the youngsters a “back-to-the-future”experience to see what they might become afew decades later (“He is actually from the 3rdbatch – MY GOD?!?”).Participating in the PGP Admission process isanother annual tradition that is eagerlyanticipated by the alumni. Sitting on the panelalong with IIMC faculty and evaluating “wanna-be” IIMCians through their group discussionsand interviews is a very interesting experience. Displaying our hospitality to the faculty andstaff provides a very welcome excuse to organizeyet another dinner (with the mandatory bar, ofcourse!).Apart from these events, the alumni do meetinformally over drinks and dinner about onceevery quarter - normally, whenever e-mailsasking “Hey, it’s been a long time. When’s thenext alumni get-together?” start piling pressureon the folks who organize these get-togethers.While there are attempts to organize outdooractivities like treks, picnics etc., it hasincreasingly become clear that the only outdooractivity that alumni are passionate about is golf.There is an active IIMC Alumni Golfingcommunity who tee-off regularly and spendmore time on the 19th hole analyzing theirexploits over the first 18 in a “spirited” manner.The annual Inter-IIM Alumni Golf tournamentis an eagerly anticipated event.In addition to the get-togethers, the BangaloreChapter has also traditionally been organizingSeminars/Colloquia on topics that relate tobusiness trends. “Mergers & Acquisitions –India Goes Global”, “Public-Private-Partnershipi n I n f r a s t r u c t u r e D e v e l o p m e n t ” ,“Entrepreneurship” were some of the exciting

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Chapter Newsthemes for the seminars that have been organizedby the Bangalore Chapter in the recent past. Aspecial aspect of these seminars/colloquia isthat we try to ensure that the speakers are alumniwho have become eminent and successful intheir field.An extremely interesting aspect of the BangaloreChapter’s activities is the effort a small, butdedicated group of alumni have been taking tocontribute to society. This group meets everySaturday and identifies NGOs who are in needof and open to support in terms of managementinputs from our alumni. In addition, the Chapterhas worked on revamping the websites of theseNGOs – making them more relevant to theirstake-holders, easy to navigate, search-friendlyand integrated with a payment gateway enablingon-line donations. Some of the NGOs that havebeen supported include www.rakum.org,www.unnatiblr.org, www.apd-india.org.

IIM Calcutta AlumniAssociation – Kolkata Chapteractivities 2010-11The Kolkata chapter of the IIMC AlumniAssociation had a year full of activity during2010-11. The year started off with the NostalgiaDinner organized at Bengal Club in May, 2010where the Alumni had an opportunity to interactwith the current students and faculty of theInstitute. Prof. Prashant Mishra and Prof SougataRay represented the Institute faculty and thestudents who were doing their Summer Projectsin Kolkata were present in full strength. On theoccasion, DC, Central Division, Kolkata Police,Mr. Tripurari was also present. Mr. MrinmoyRoy spoke about his experience in North Bengalwhere a team had gone to assess the JalpaiguriExperiment which the State Police wereconducting.The Annual General Meeting is always wellattended and on September 20, 2010 the BengalClub Room 300 was filled with members of theAssociation interacting with each other. TheAGM was significant as certain changes in theRules and Byelaws of the Association werediscussed and approved. The new Committeewas elected.To felicitate the new IIMC Governing Bodymember Shri R. Ramaraj, a dinner wasorganized. Ramaraj’s colleagues from the 8th

batch were present in force and an interactivediscussion on how the Association can help theInstitute in achieving its various objectivesensued. With greater alumni representation inthe Board of Governors it was felt that a positivecontribution towards making the curriculummore in line with the industry’s requirementscould be achieved.A Bijoya and Diwali meet sponsored by BirlaSun Life was also organized for the memberstogether with their spouses. Besides providingan opportunity for the Alumni to network, itwas also used as a forum to discuss variousinvestment and saving options.The major event of the year which the AlumniAssociation holds is GuruSpeak. This year’sGuru – Prof Dipak C. Jain of INSEAD – hadcreated quite a buzz in the managementcommunity of the city and it was not at all asurprise to see a full house attending theWorkshop at Taj Bengal. The event wasinaugurated by the Honourable Minister for ITDr. Debesh Das and the Director of the InstituteDr Shekhar Chowdhury and several faculty ofIIM Calcutta were present.The Association also extended its services thisyear to helping an NGO – IPIN in theirendeavour to assist physically and mentallychallenged children. More such activities areplanned in the near future. Anybody wantingto be associated with the Association can contacteither the Chairman Mr. Devasis Gupta(9830847257) or the Secretary Mr. G. M. Kapur(98310 06104).The IIMC Alumni Association Kolkata Chapteralso awarded three gold medals to deservingstudents at the 46th Annual Convocation heldrecently. Sujata Rathi received the IIMC AlumniAssociation Kolkata Chapter Gold Medal forthe best female student in PGDM, Parijat Gargreceived the IIMC Alumni Association KolkataChapter Gold Medal for the 1st rank in PGPEXand N Vinoth Kumar received the IIMC AlumniAssociation Kolkata Chapter Gold Medal forthe 3rd rank in PGPEX VLM.

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Need to KnowIIM Calcutta’s “facelift”in the Cyberspace

On its golden jubilee year, IIM Calcuttapresented a whole-new state-of-the-art webportal for its users, registering its facelift in thecyberspace. The new web portal was launchedofficially on June 3, 2011. The web portalprovides the different stakeholders like Faculty,Alumni, Students, External Organisations andStaff with their own login. The link to the newweb portal is http://www.iimcal.ac.in/. Thereare wide ranging features available which arespecific to the user groups like Course web forthe faculty, Networking facilities with co-alumnifor the Alumni, Leaves and course registrationfor Students, Batch Profiles for externalcompanies for placements and internal workflowfor Staff like booking of Tata Hall, Auditoriumetc among others. Apart from the user group,other specific features are provisions for facilitieslike Chat, Forum and Discussion boards forcross user group interactions.The new web portal was developed with an all-out support from the IIMC community with asingle-minded objective to present a world-class web portal during the golden jubileecelebrations of the institute. It took almost 4-months to complete this web portal withthorough interactive sessions by the differentuser groups at various stages of its development.The just passed out PGP student communitywho graduated in April 2011 and a specialcontingent from the Internet Solutions Group,an in-house students’ community who is theweb solution provider for the Institute took apioneering role to make this project a grandsuccess. The institute hired professionally-managed IT Software companies for the project.SkyTECH Solutions was responsible for project

management consultancy while Web Spidersdid the development and implementation.The home page of the new web portal includesimportant links like organized Campus Tour,Gallery of photographs of various importantevents, Videos of important events andinterviews etc and Faculty resources. The VideoGallery currently has six videos on relevanttopics.Primarily the home page also features threeimportant sections: News, Events andAnnouncements. The section on news featuresthe latest news on IIM Calcutta in various mediaoutlets. The section on events gives a glimpseon forthcoming events which will take placeon campus and the announcements sectionfeatures all kind of announcements likeadmissions, recruitment, tender etc. By default,the current news, events and announcementswould be featured in the home page, howeverthe older ones will go to the archive. The webportal also has links to social networkingwebsites like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter andYouTube.The new web portal is aesthetically rich withproper application of colour and font and thephotography is simply superb. The entirephotography has been executed by Lake SideLenses, a student-run photography club of IIMCalcutta. The campus photographs include thenew infrastructure which is ready for the studentsof the new batch. Overall the new web portalis more informative and entertaining than theold one. In its Golden Jubilee Year this is a giftfrom IIMC!

Rs 20 Crore Grant for Financelab through Union Budget 2011The Finance Lab at IIM Calcutta was honouredwith a Rs 20 crore grant from the Union FinanceMinistry through the Union Budget 2011-12.

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Need to KnowIncidentally, Union Finance Minister, PranabMukherjee was the chief guest during the 2ndInternational Finance Conference held at IIMCalcutta on January 10, 2011 when he wasgiven a presentation at the Finance Lab by theFaculty-in-charge, Professor Ashok Banerjee.This grant will help the Lab grow into a world-class centre of excellence. In order to achievethis stated objective, the Lab needs tosignificantly augment its physical infrastructureand procure international database and software.The Finance Lab will help the financial servicesindustry in India in the following ways:(a) The Finance Lab will design market

surveillance tools (machine learning tools)that will help track market abuse on realtime basis.

(b) The Finance Lab will test any new financialinnovation that is proposed in the marketand report whether the launch of such newproducts make markets more efficient andprice discovery mechanism moretransparent.

(c) The Finance Lab will regularly track thecommodity market, capture and reportspeculative behaviour in commoditymarkets.

(d) The Finance Lab is currently working onnews analytics whereby the effect offinancial news on asset returns on real timebasis is explored. The success of the projectcan help the market players in designingtheir trading strategies and the regulator tounderstand in advance the impact of newson asset returns.

(e) The Finance Lab can identify skills andtraining needs of financial sector, designand deliver training programmes to meetthese requirements.

(f) Organize international conferences andresearch workshops on new frontiers infinance.

(g) The Lab will offer scholarships to brightstudents who would like to pursue researchon financial markets.

International Assignments byIIM Calcutta faculty

It’s a high time for the IIM Calcutta facultymembers since some of them have receivedprestigious international assignments off late.Prof. Bodhibrata Nag of the OperationsManagement Group of IIM Calcutta has beenawarded the 2010-11 Fulbright-Nehru SeniorResearch Fellowship sponsored by the USDepartment of State's J. William FulbrightForeign Scholarship Board and the UnitedStates-India Educational Foundation. He willbe conducting research on "Modeling USARailroad Operation Strategies for Evaluationand Adaptation in the Indian context" at theDepartment of Industrial & OperationsEngineering of the University of Michigan (AnnArbor) in association with Prof. KattaGopalakrishna Murty, Prof. Romesh Saigal andfew major US railroads.Professor Subrata Mitra of OperationsManagement group of IIM Calcutta wasawarded the Fulbright-Nehru Visiting LecturerFellowship at the Krannert School ofManagement, Purdue University, WestLafayette, USA, January – April/May 2011. Hewould offer a course titled “Sustainable SupplyChain Management: Models and Cases” toMBA/PhD students at the Krannert School ofManagement, Purdue University for the Springsemester of the academic year, 2010-11.In another development, Professor V K Unniof PPM Group of IIM Calcutta along withProfessor Sudip Chaudhuri of Economics Groupof IIM Calcutta have jointly received the project,

31

Need to Know

“Impact of Patents on Innovation: Economicand Legal Perspectives from India, Brazil, SouthAfrica and Thailand”. The project, supportedby the Ford Foundation, is done by the MailmanSchool of Public Health, Columbia Universityand is co-ordinated by world renowned Prof.Richard Nelson (Professor of Economics atColumbia University). It is an interdisciplinarystudy of the different aspects of patents in India,Brazil, South Africa and Thailand. The othermembers of the team are experts from Brazil,USA, South Africa, UK and Thailand.

IIM Calcutta MentorsIIM Ranchi

We cheer the 9th IIM atRanchi. IIM Calcuttatook on the responsibilityto mentor IIM Ranchi asdesired by the MHRD,GOI. The maiden PGPsession of 2010-12started with a bang in

Ranchi on July 7, 2010. The new IIM was bornin just six months. A Task Force was created atIIM Calcutta, and Professor B B Chakrabartiwas chosen to be the Convener. He did amarvelous job in gifting his place of birthanother IIM to nurture and spread qualitymanagement education. Professor Chakrabartigave a detailed account of how IIM Ranchi waslaunched:

Q) What was your feeling when you werechosen to be the Convenor of the Committeefor mentoring and starting IIM Ranchi?What motivated you to take up thischallenging responsibility?

A) It was a great opportunity to serve the countryand spread the goodwill of IIM Calcutta. Also,it was a huge responsibility since we knew thatwe would have to start from scratch. Even thebuildings for offices, classrooms and hostelshad to be searched. However, I was confidentof support from my colleagues in the Committee,and the officers and staff members of IIMCalcutta.

As far as motivation is concerned, I must saythat I was born in Ranchi and it was essentiallydoing some thing good for my place of birth;secondly, IIM Calcutta will have the satisfactionof starting a new IIM, which will help inspreading management education in our country.

Q) What challenges did you face in startinga new IIM in such a short time? How didyou overcome those?

A) We could start our work in December 2009and the target was to get the 2-year PGP runningin July 2010. When we reached Ranchi inDecember 2009, we were shown three facilitiesby the Govt. of Jharkhand officials. We decidedthat we could start the IIM in Suchna Bhavan,a building belonging to the GOJ. The hostelfacility was available in a nearby GOJ TrainingInstitute. The state was under President’s ruleand we met the Adviser to the Governor, ChiefSecretary and Secretary, HRD, to present ourrecommendation regarding the buildingfacilities. We received communication fromGOJ in January 2010 that two floors of SuchnaBhavan and 30 rooms in the Training Institutecould be spared to start the IIM.

Then, Mr. R. C. Bhargava, Chairman, BOG,IIM Ranchi, announced the launch of the PGPin 2010 itself in a press conference in Ranchiitself on February 5, 2010. The members of theTask Force prepared the PGP manual, coursestructure, evaluation system and academiccalendar. In fact, all the activities carried outby us were approved by the Task Forcemembers, MHRD, GOI and GOJ. We made avery detailed plan for the speedy execution ofall the elemental activities and assigned clearresponsibilities with regular follow-up andcontrol.

I must put on record the great support providedby our faculty members, particularly our

32

Need to Knowcolleagues in the Task Force. We started thestudent admission process by the end ofFebruary and completed it by June, 2010. Thiswas a great achievement for our AdmissionsOffice, considering the fact that the process wasinitiated after the regular IIMs had almostcompleted their admission. We simultaneouslystarted developing all required infrastructurefor classrooms, library, offices, students’ hostel,backup power, computers, internet, dining andrecreation facilities. We had only one person,Officer-on-Special Duty fromGOJ in Ranchi. As such, allt h e a d m i n i s t r a t i v e ,engineering and supervisionactivities were performed bythe officers and staff membersof IIM Calcutta.I am very happy to say thatthey did a great job. We werecommitted to provide facultysupport to IIM Ranchi. So,our PGP Office startedcontacting our facultymembers and prepared adetailed schedule of classesand traveling. We alsoarranged the services of adoctor, tie-ups with nursing homes/hospitalsfor emergency, medical insurance for studentsand tie-ups with banks for loans. Finally, IIMRanchi was inaugurated on July 6, 2010, by theHonourable Governor of Jharkhand, and thefirst academic session started on July 7, 2010with 45 students.In sum, we faced a tremendous challenge instarting a new IIM at Ranchi in such a shorttime. We could overcome all the hurdles withthe enthusiastic support of our faculty, officersand staff members, and with careful planningand execution. We also received very goodsupport from the Government of Jharkhand andthe local media.Q) Please share with us some of themilestones.A) The most important was, of course, thecommencement of the first year classes on July7, 2010. This was followed by the inaugurationby the Honourable Governor of Jharkhand on

July 6, 2010. We also arranged for a classicalprogramme by Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on thatday. Another major event was on February 5,2010, when the Chairman, IIMR Board, Mr. R.C. Bhargava, announced the launch of PGP in2010. And we should not forget the formationof the Task Force at IIMC by our Director,which set the ball rolling.Q) What are the major tasks still ahead forthis project?A) Almost all the necessary infrastructure has

been created by now. Thewebsite has been designed andthe servers are getting readyfor hosting. We have alsorecruited most of the initialmanpower necessary to startoperations. For the next year’sbatch, admission process hasalready started through theCAT system and IIMCAdmissions office has donethe needful. A fully-furnishedguest house with four roomshas been set up in Ranchi.The most important task aheadis the creation of infrastructurefor the next year when two

batches of students will be in the campus.Faculty recruitment is another major imperative;and then building the permanent campus.Q) When do you expect IIM Ranchi wouldfunction independently?A) Well, the new Director has joined; our rolewill primarily be advisory instead of executive.We will have to transfer the accounts from IIMCalcutta to IIM Ranchi and also the managementof the academic programme. Hopefully thesewill happen soon. However, we will continueto provide the mentoring support to IIM Ranchifor some more time.Q) How does IIM Calcutta benefit bysuccessfully mentoring IIM Ranchi?A) It was a national task because MHRD, GOI,decided that IIM Calcutta would mentor IIMRanchi. We have successfully launched IIMRanchi within a very short time without muchhassle. That is certainly a matter of greatsatisfaction and pride.

33

In Memoriam

CondolenceGod saw you getting tiredand a cure was not to beso he put his arms around youand whispered,"Come to Me"

With tearful eyes we watched youand saw you pass awayand although we love you dearlywe could not make you stay.

A Golden heart stopped beatinghard working hands at rest.God broke our hearts to prove to usHe only takes the best

Prof. M. N. PalBorn : 30-09-1946Died : 16-12-2010

When we lose someone we love it seems that time stands still.What moves through us is a silence, a quiet sadness,A longing for one more day,One more word,One more touch.We may not understand why you left this earth so soon,Or why you left before we were ready to say good-bye, but little by little,We begin to remember not just that you died, but that you lived.And that your life gave us memories too beautiful to forget.

(Courtesy: Funeral Poems)

December 16, 2010, was a very sad day in my life.Even though it is close to six months since theuntimely passing away of Prof. Manabendra NathPal, I find it difficult to believe that he is no morewith us. In every activity that I am involved at IIMC,whether it is teaching, training, research oradministration, the image of Prof. Pal keeps comingto my mind frequently. That is the extent of hisinvolvement in all these activities, in giving shapeand direction and in constantly improving them. IIMCwas his passion and he truly dedicated his life tothe Institute. He was so committed to its well-beingthat he was available for Institute works despitebeing in a very poor health. The regular trips tohospital for dialysis hardly had an impact on hisvigour or his passionate commitment to IIMC.

In 1999, as a young recruit, I turned to Prof. Pal foradvice whenever in difficulty. He was always thereto help. On the academic front, I benefitedenormously from my interactions with him. He alwayssupported me in any changes or new experimentsthat I tried in teaching and training. Of course, Prof.Pal belonged to a different era in his relationshipwith the students. He belonged to the school whichbelieved that discipline was very important andtherefore used to be very strict in his interactionswith students. He used to confide in me that heconducted himself in that manner as he felt disciplinewas a very important ingredient to success in lifeand whatever he did was only for the long-termbenefit of the students. As an alumnus as well as ateacher, he desired to see every IIMC student wellplaced in their careers and always wished the verybest for them.

I have lost a close friend and the Institute a truesoldier. May his soul rest in peace.

Courtesy: Joka Times

Memoirs of Prof M N Pal byProf Balram Avittathur

A Brief Profile of Prof M N PalEducational:● M.E. [Jadavpur University]● Ph.D (Engineering) [University of Calcutta]● Fellow [IIM Calcutta]Tenure with IIM Calcutta:● Joined as Assistant Professor on: April 7,1975● Became a Professor on: May 1,1980● Died in harness on: December 16, 2010● He was the Professor of Operations Management group and Chairperson of PGPEX

VLM ?He also acted as Chairperson in CMDP and IPC before.Faculty Activity:● Participated in:● International Centre for Management Development at Bucharest in 1977● XIII World Conference on Operation Research at Lisbon, Portugal in 1993● 3rd Conference of the Association of Asia Pacific Operational Research Societies

(APORS’94) at Fukuoka, Japan in 1994● 14th Triennial Conference of the International Federation of OR Societies at Vancouver

British Columbia, Canada.● International Conference held on 18.11.2000● XI Latin-Iberian American Congress of Operations Research – CLAI0-2002 at University

de Concepcion, Chile in 2002● 2nd World Production and Operation Management (POM) Conference, Mexico in 2004● Information Resource Management Association (IRMA) International Conference at

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 2007.● International Conference on Operation Research, CLA10-2008 at Cartadena de Indias,

Columbia, in 2008Invited by:● the Japan Society of Science (PSPC) and Department of Science & Technology (DST),

Government of India, to attend the 3rd Japan India Joint Seminar on “Production/QualityManagement & Micro/Nano Manufacturing Science” as a visiting Scientist in Tokyo in2008

Study Visit in:● Japan, in different plants, along with 30 VLMP students in 2008 as a Team leader along

with Prof. Ashish K. Chatterjee.

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Special Mention

Reflectionsby Sudas Roy

Three score and five yearsof life spent, out of whichthree decades and threeyears spent with IIMC. Byall counts, this prolongedassociation gives me, ifnot anything else, at leastthe bragging rights fordisplay of almost filial

loyalty to an institution. With the benefit of thislong association, I would like to reflect on myexperiences as a student of IIMC PGDM inthose “innocent” years of the 60`s.I still recall pretty vividly that Monday morningof July, 1964, when as a fainthearted nineteenyear old, I crossed the precincts of the EmeraldBower campus of IIM Calcutta. Thesurroundings were not exactly edifying. Callingit a campus would perhaps liable one to beaccused of hyperbolic exaggeration. Barringthe Emerald Bower itself, which stood in solitarygrandeur, the rest of the campus was ratherunkempt and somewhat derelict. But theselocational facets carried almost no meaning tome. I was very excited with the prospect ofentering the first post graduate program inmanagement offered anywhere in India. Theicing on the cake was the fact that Sloan schoolof MIT was the collaborator.Since that first day, the next two years (roughly)were a blur of hectic activities, late nightpreparations, unending series of tests andquizzes, attending classes (no compulsoryattendance), heavy partying on the weekendsetc. But through all these, the sense ofwonderment and a feeling of being part of a“ c h o s e nfew” neverleft me. Somy view ofI I M Cduring mystudent dayswas a viewtinged withadmiration for faculty, pride for the alma materand an overall sense of a pioneering adventurer!What I cherished about that period, were the

climate and culture of that place. As a fledglinginstitution, both were evolving with very gentleguiding hands of the Founding Director and hiscollege of faculty. Fresh out of undergraduateprogram of an Indian college, I was a little awestruck by the spirit of freedom that pervadedthe atmosphere. Faculty invariably dealt withthe students with utmost courtesy and offeredus sufficient adult space. It was quite “heady”to be offered a “smoke” by a Professor whenone had dropped in his chamber for discussinga term paper! This sense of freedom andadulthood were two enduring gifts that IIMCoffered me as a student. I could begin toappreciate the meaning of terms like “collegialculture”. I started looking at my faculty membersas mentors with whom I could discuss any issue- academic or otherwise. Through the wonderfulinstitution of “faculty advisers”, the Institutefostered this mentoring culture. We wouldliterally look forward to the occasional dinnershosted by the faculty adviser, as invariably thoseturned out to be great occasions for free wheelingdiscussions, good food, banters and gentle legpulling which bonded the students and theprofessor.There was a sense of purpose and energy in theair. Even as students, we could feel as if alongwith the faculty, we were part of a veryinteresting exercise in institution building. Mostof the paths were uncharted. Faculty was testingout certain curricula, pedagogy and teachingmaterials, to create an elusive animal called anIndian “MBA”. In this pioneering journey, we,as students, felt both serendipity as well as anoccasional feeling of being made a “guineapig”! Blending Indian insights and practiceswith established “western” concepts andapproaches, was a perpetual challenge faced

b o t h b yfaculty andstudents andnot oftensuccessfullymanaged.O n einteresting

aspect of our PGP course was the amalgam offaculty representing three different strands, soto speak. We had American professors-MITbred or otherwise, rubbing shoulders with a

35

Special Mentiongroup of Indian NRI faculty from well knownNorth American Universities forming the facultyteam along with some prominent Industryprofessionals. This blend was awesome in termsof scholastic and industry experience. However,what it also did to us poor students was to leaveus somewhat confused and disoriented. Differentstyles, accents, pedagogy and world views thatthis amorphous faculty group brought to theclass room posed a major intellectual challengeto the students in terms of comprehension andassimilation. In hindsight, I can now see thatwe had brilliant minds offering us peeks into

the world of ideas which were, in a stand alonesense, extremely appealing but did not gel intoa comprehensive learning paradigm. The senseof academic freedom enjoyed by the facultymade the PGP program a disparate set of brilliantinputs without a cohesive overhanging learningideology. Paradoxically, this was hailed as the“strength” of IIMC. It apparently helped “adult”students to create their own internal “learning”templates which were then fleshed out by facultyinputs, selected and sifted by the student learner.

In a very fundamental sense, IIMC has notchanged much since then.

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CALCUTTAJoka, Diamond Harbour Road, Kolkata 700104,

Phone: 91-33-2467 8300 – 8304, Email: newsletter@iimcal.ac.in

Newsletter Editorial Team:Professor Sougata Ray, Dean (Programme Initiatives), Professor Shantanu Dey, Professor Chetan Joshi,

Shri Roddur Sen, Head : External Relations, Shri Anshuman Srivastava, Ex Alumni Secretory,Shri Deepak Malani, Alumni Secretory and Aloke Guin, Public Relations Officer

Reunion at Hong Kong

Reunion at London