PGP batch of 1997 meets in Goa to celebrate 20 years of togetherness. It has been 20 years since we graduated from IIMA. Professor Basant, Dean AER, joined the two-day celebration.
It’s been twenty years since we graduated from IIMA.
Gosh!! When did we all grow up so much? God knows, it certainly doesn’t feel it’s been that long when we meet up!
We are the Batch of 1997. And in December 2017, about seventy of us headed to Goa for two days, to celebrate the fact that we have now known each other for more than half of our lives!
Why Goa? Well, we went back to Insti for our 15th, and we’re going back for sure for our 25th. We figured, this time, it would be nice to take our teen/tween brat pack to a place where they’d find plenty to do on their own, and therefore leave us alone in peace!
Our batch has had a reunion from the 10th year onward, once every 5 years. In the past, the organization has happened over email and sometimes, we couldn’t get word out to some of our batch mates adequately in advance. But this time, WhatsApp made the whole process something else.
We are blessed with several Enthu Cutlets, who set out to create a batch WhatsApp group at the beginning of the year, a good twelve months before the planned reunion. People who had not been in touch for years, were tracked down laboriously, and added to this group.
One of our enthu-est cutlets came up with the idea of a batch “Spotlight”, where every two days the focus was turned onto a specific batch mate, who would provide us all with a set of fun facts on himself/ herself, including their work coordinates, their family, and most importantly, a recent picture, to aid all our fading memories! Other people shared anecdotes, gossip and accomplishments about the “Spotlightee” from our years at Insti, and later. The Spotlight was a roaring success and kept everyone connected and going for the better part of the year. It was like getting to know everyone in the batch, all over again!
After a year of planning and organizing, the day of the Reunion was finally upon us. The excitement was palpable as people shared flight details and arrival/ departure dates and times. Several folks planned to stay back to connect in smaller groups once the formal reunion was over.
To be honest, at Goa, we did miss the red brick walls. However, we were fortunate to have Professor Basant grace us with his presence for one morning. Loads of ideas were exchanged, from building visibility for Brand IIMA in an international context, to giving back as a batch, and raising money for several areas that needed funding. We have a very committed group from our batch, working on this as I write, and while we may not quite be there in comparison to how Alums of International B-schools give back, I think our batch contribution is beginning to look pretty good.
And yes, we discovered during Professor Basant’s talk that the back-benchers were still the back-benchers (some of them prominent CEOs now), while the CP Kings and Queens continue to reign supreme to this day! Well, you know what they say about tigers and their stripes☺
After giving Professor Basant a resounding send off with a full-throated Tempo Shout from one of our batchies, who is particularly talented in this department, we stopped pretending to be well behaved grown-ups. After all, it was party time!
The rest of the day was spent resurrecting Insti favourites from our era, like Frisbee and Volleyball. We did have a casualty, but he turned out to be a great sport in more ways than one, and insisted on staying on and having a good time, with his leg in a brace! One sporadic episode of dunking was reported, but alas, it didn’t catch on. If you dunk, you shall be dunked. And I guess people were afraid of starting a war. Sadly, it seems there is some difference between being 22 and 45!
By evening, everyone’s spirits were high and it was time for the Finale. No WIMWI event for us could ever be complete without a Ramp Party, and we were more than ready to shake a leg! One of our batch mates, a Partner at a Consulting Firm, is surprisingly also a DJ’ing enthusiast and he brought the evening to a fever pitch crescendo, with songs from our Ramp Party days.
In those final few hours, the past twenty years seemed to dissolve into nothing, as though time had stood still, and we had magically gone back to being the youngsters that we once were.
I remember, at one particular moment, looking around and feeling very emotional.
While some people found their life partners at Insti, others had discovered lifelong friendships, and business associates along the years. What had started as a cohort of Marketing, Finance, Ops and Tech professionals, has grown into a much richer and varied set of people over the past twenty years. We have a renowned author, a couple of filmmakers, a world class Physicist, an IAS officer, several highly successful and budding Entrepreneurs, many who have dedicated their lives to making a Social Impact, Homemakers, even some people who have gone down the path of Spirituality, … and yet, somehow, each one of us miraculously fits in.
This is our tribe.
We’re all connected to each other through Red Brick Walls, Harvard Dinners, Tempo Shouts, Ramp Parties, late night group meetings, endless cups of tea, a WIDE (!!) range of CGPA’s spread across a Bell Curve….and yes…we all belong!
To WIMWI and Beyond.
