Of Calcutta and Climaxes!

It was a climax in many ways. And forgive for the length of the post. But trust me, it has it’s drama.

So we got off at Calcutta, my parents headed to Ranchi to visit family and I had to stay on reach Calcutta. I was on a train while the Ind-Pak World Cup Semi Final was going on. Oh, what fun it was! The pain of not being able to watch it, the anticipation of trying to figure out what’s happening when people in the train start shouting through all the noise thanks to their 3G sim cards and broadband service providers! It was not that Pakistan would win, because in my memory we always one (I know there are statistics and I don’t care for them). It was just the fact that I was missing the match. But I reached my hotel room with 30mins left of the match. And I did get to see the lovely part of the match. And then I headed out from my hotel to Joka. The rejoicing crowds on the streets went crazy. By the way, there were two men in black with a black dog sniffing up and down the entire train and my cab along with all cabs was stopped by police and questioned on the way to Joka. Security on a high!

I reached Joka in time for a party and woke up next day in time for rehearsals for the PGP 2009-11 batch named the Golden Whistle (owing to the fact that this was the Golden Jubilee year and whistle best left unexplained ; also I thought it was a lame name for a batch).

Now for the last lap:

On April 2^nd, we put on robes and posed for pictures while India and Srilanka tossed for the World Cup finals. We marched on the procession into the auditorium already packed with family and friends to watch up in my black robes, purples sashes and funnily, our black caps. Also slowly as the news poured in of each wicket, each boundary and every ten runs, we heard the speeches and walked up to the stage to pick up a certificate. I walked hesitantly, aware that my dad was filming it, hoping I don’t stumbled over my pink saree and held that pose with the certificate that stands as proof of my successful completion of PGDM at IIM Calcutta. And then there was a rather honest and inspiring speech by our chief guest, the former SEBI chief, Mr Damodaran.

If you think it ended there, well you don’t because you know what happened afterwards. After introductions, pleasantries and photographs, we all went for the dinner where there was live streaming of the match. Soon professors left, parents left and all was left was staff and students. We all found television sets here and there and stuck on to them.

We were all cramped for space at different places, yet together, and as one entity, not just one entity called India, but also the one entity called IIM Calcutta for the last time and the last few hours, we watched history being made. We sat together and watched Dhoni slam that sixer and Team India raise that cup that was last touched in 1983 and teased us in 2003. We jumped up in joy and rejoiced and our last night in Joka resonated with the sound of victory, just like every other part of the nation, except it was rather special for us. On the day of our convocation, Team India renamed the PGP 2009-11 batch as the “World Cup Batch”.

And though I hope memories will help me revisit this label, here is to the official last entry of Joka Days from an Alumnus, IIM Calcutta (World Cup Batch)! Cheers!