IIM Ahmedabad – Ramana's Musings

Passing Out.

In a recent exchange of messages in our Senior Citizens group, two long lost classmates from our National Defence Academy tried to place each other by asking when each had passed out. They obviously meant this kind of passing out where the ritual of throwing a cadet is normal. This is from one of our Officers’ Training Academies.

It is also quite common to ask fellow alumni in our Business School Alumni meeting to ask each other as to when one passed out.

If I am around and I get a word in, I inevitably ask “how and when did you revive?”

For me, this is what is meant by passing out:
My mind keeps asking why people cannot use the word graduating instead of passing out. I think that it is more appropriate. What do you, my dear reader, think?

Mind Mapping.

The Indian Institute Of Management, Ahmedabad, Alumni Association, Pune Chapter, held its Annual General Meeting yesterday. Unlike the usual AGMs, this meeting also included a presentation by a fellow Alumnus Sirisha, a Leadership Coach, who introduced me and some other older alumni to the concept of Mind Mapping.

She informed us that the presentation would normally take three hours but considering the brain power in the room she reduced it to just over 45 minutes including brainstorming sessions to get a hands on feeling for the process which was very interesting.

We have submitted our work sheets to Sirisha and she has promised to get back to us with her feedback soon.

For me, it was a mindblowing learning experience and since this morning, I have used the technique to work my through a couple of problems. It is very effective and I recommend it to my readers.

Two States.

The uber efficient Geeta kept badgering her fellow alumni to join her and Koushik to see Two States, an Indian movie based on a campus romance between a Punjabi lad and a Tamilian lass which took place in the Institute Of Management from where all of us had graduated. It was pointed out to us by her that a number of scenes in the movie were shot in the Institute and it would be nice to see the movie in a group.

So, I took her invitation seriously and went to see the film yesterday afternoon. The day incidentally was the hottest day this summer clocking 40.3 d C. It was nice to have lunch before the movie in air-conditioned comfort at a restaurant that I had never been to before at Dorabjee’s in what we call the Camp here in Pune with Mitali who agreed to join me and my fellow alumni for the movie and also the movie and post movie coffee at the food court in the mall where we had seen the movie also in air-conditioned comfort.

The film is a worth-going-to one with some excellent acting, direction and photography depicting two vastly different cultures quite crisply and showing the various emotions on display with delicate touches of direction and acting. The humour which is part of the plot comes through in subtle metaphors and since our crowd was quite eclectic we were able to catch the nuances and enjoy them. Since Shekhar had had a roaring campus romance during his stay there, he was in raturues! The scenes at the institute took us back on nostalgia trips and that was a nice feeling too.

The story incidentally is based on a highly popular novel written by a graduate from the institute and is supposed to be autobiographical. If that is true, the conflicts in the story line have been handled with great delicacy and I particularly could identify with the strained relationship between the hero and his father. It was also quite fascinating for me to revisit Delhi and Chennai where I have lived.

As I have experienced before too in this particular theater, the sound was too loud and that was the only jarring part of the experience. I will remember to take some cotton to plug my ears the next time I go there to see a movie.

Thank you Geeta for getting me out of my comfort zone in the heat to go through a thoroughly enjoyable outing. Thanks Shekhar, Shilpa, Mukund, Koushik and Mitali for the post movie coffee session which was enjoyed more than us by the visitors in the neighbouring tables.

Apart from all those expressions of gratitude, a special one again for Geeta for the unexpected treat that she gave me. And another special one for Mitali who has decided that I am an alley cat.

My rating for the movie?[rating=5]