PGP 75 Reunion: Dec 12 to Dec 15, 2025
By N.Krishnamurthy and C. Gopinath
Memories are golden, especially when they are shared with those who helped create them. We relived those memories between the 12th and 14th December 2025, when our PGP 1975 batch met on campus for our Golden Reunion (GR). We had joy, we had fun! Hugs and back-slaps seemed to never end. After all, we had waited a long time and traveled many miles for this.
This reunion was special in many ways. We had all changed, I am sure, and yet in many ways, we had not: at least not for one another. “Different careers, paths, cities, and countries. We did big things, small things. But at heart, when we all come back to the campus after 50 years, we are all the same. That is what binds us together”, said Nadira of our class at the gala dinner on Dec 13 evening.
Campus events
Planning for the GR started several months back. The core team of AK Srinivasan (Singapore), Krishnamurthy (Bangalore), Veena and Vikas Mankar (Mumbai) and Nadira (Delhi) had scores of meetings and made a recce trip to the campus as early as July 25. Bala Dharan (USA) provided support, especially to reach out to all classmates. Events for the alumni, for the spouses/partners, and the common programs were all meticulously drawn up. An event manager was roped in.
We held all our indoor events at the PP Gupta auditorium.
We had an emotional session to remember 21 of our classmates who are no longer with us. Sadly, 4 of them passed away even before 2000. Aptly titled “In memoriam”, we celebrated their lives with close friends recounting memories. Sadly, just two weeks after the reunion, we lost another dear friend, Shushanto Ghosh.
We had a session called “Memories”, dedicated to interesting episodes from the 73-75 campus life. While most of the incidents recounted were fun, some were grim. We recalled a series of incidents involving stalking and harassment of one of the girls by a classmate who later received psychiatric help. But by then, considerable emotional distress had been inflicted. If the stalker had adequate counseling, could this have been avoided? We were heartened to note that the campus now has an Emotional Welfare Service Centre to address mental health issues.
Srilata narrated how she and Gopi interviewed Louis Kahn when he visited campus. “Did he know then that his master creations would not last the test of time?” we wondered. The interview was for the newsletter “Indinman“. This was in 1974 and 4 days later, Louis Kahn passed away.
And then there was a session called “Sharing”. This was about “Life experiences”. By popular consent, we chose not to dwell on career achievements, but on other experiences that made an impact on us. Many shared their stories.
A desire to participate in a case discussion led to a case study titled “BYD and the Global EV industry”. Aks Zaheer ably presided over this session. The case was distributed earlier and led to a vigorous exchange, but then, do you really need to read the case to participate? Most had not. Old habits don’t die, even after 50 long years.
Our campus tours: What has changed in 50 years? Some enthusiastic PGP one students took us around the new and the old campuses. We could get a glimpse of the changes from what we had 50 years ago. Vastly improved sports facilities, mikes, projectors, and roll-up boards in the classroom, laptops for all, and quizzes on the Moodle Learning platform. From an interaction with a PGP two student, we gathered that some things have not changed. Most professors still hand out cases in hard copies. Pressure on CP (Class Participation) is still intense, though the new term is DCP-D for desperate. In a novel celebration, there is now a PGP 1 survivor photo shoot! Books and case study material are all stacked, and the survivors of what still is a gruel in the first year, take photos wearing a T-shirt that bears “PGP 1 Survivor” on it.
Two precious gifts for all classmates
The organizing team, after many consultations, decided to have “nostalgia” as the theme for mementoes to classmates.
First, and the one that involved ginormous effort was the Year Book. Carefully put together and edited by Veena and Nadira, this is nearly 120 pages and carries a photograph and a write-up on everyone in PGP 75 and the FBA program. Our theme, “Celebrating Friendships-Reliving Memories-50 Golden Years,” was used to make a class video. Based on the original song “Those were the days—“, the song was recorded in a studio in New York. Other batches may have used this song as a base for their batch theme song. But we had the unique privilege of having a Grammy award winner, Chandrika Tandon of our class, providing the composition and vocals in her mellifluous voice. This onerous project was again led by Veena and Nadira.
The three-day celebrations ended with the Director Prof. Bhasker’s felicitations and a grand dinner hosted by the institute. We handed over our pledge to the IIMA endowment fund to the director, an effort that was coordinated tirelessly by Srilata.
Kudos to our “CEO” of the core team, AK Srinivasan, who meticulously planned the Golden Jubilee Reunion. Our gratitude to the Alumni and External Affairs team of the institute for their support. This reunion will be long cherished by the class of 75.
