EPGP first reunion! 18th Sep 2010

One of the primary disadvantages of doing a one year MBA is that there are no seniors (or juniors) that you can learn from and interact with. So the first ever EPGP reunion was a chance to reconnect and strengthen the ties with our seniors. A lot of hard work had gone into the preparation of the event with extensive efforts to spread the message among the dispersed senior batch. Nitin, Rajesh and a few other students of the organizing committee had put in considerable efforts in coordinating the entire event. A facebook page was created, the professors were invited, the venue was booked and the entire logistics for the event was planned and executed despite the stress of the beginning of our placement season. It was indeed a tribute to their efforts that it turned out to be a well organized show.

The event started out with Dr Pankaj Chandra speaking about the genesis of the programme and his thoughts on how it has evolved. This was followed up with L Prasad, the EPGP chairperson, giving his views on the programme and requesting that the batches help mould the programme when the first three year programme review comes up. The faculty present also gave us their views and as usual Professor Krishnanurthy had the audience in splits with his witty remarks. This was followed by the senior batch members sharing their thoughts on how the one year that they spent at this programme had shaped their outlook. The frank and disarming manner in which the seniors spoke helped break the formality of the atmosphere. Our batch consists of folks with top notch intellectual skills, and it takes considerable effort and dedication to be among the best in the class The top 5 of our batch academically (Vikas, Vishnu, Anirban, Nitin, Ankur) were recognized by the chairperson and it was great to see Nitin go up to receive his prize accompanied by his wife and son.

The rest of the evening flew by in a fun filled blur. During the break the senior and junior batches mingled discussing the one topic that all MBA students talk about most of the time – Jobs and salaries. It was a great time to renew and form new connects. The venue of MDC woods formed a scenic backdrop and soon it was time for the one and only ‘Bopps’ to start the fun voting event that he had come up with. ‘Bops’ is a very cool and no nonsense chap (though for the un- initiated, he can be very intimidating- he must be the only person in IIMB to have his entire name displayed in capital letters!) He set up a multiple round voting contest in which the audience voted for a few selected nominees in various categories. The categories varied from the best ‘Dostana couple’ to the ‘coolest’ person in the batch. The loud cheer as each nominee’s photo came up on screen was as much fun to hear as was the sight of slightly embarrassed nominees’ reacting to the cheers.

The evening drew to a close with a relaxing dinner. The short time left to us before we graduate, brought a subtle poignancy to the atmosphere. Most of us would soon be dispersed across the world and few of us could say with certainty as to where the turbulent currents of life would take us. However the tradition that we started that day would sure be the nucleus that would help us keep alive the connect and the bonds with the institute and with each other.

Highlight of the Korea visit -Trip to the DMZ

Our tour guide to the Demilitarized Zone told us a very interesting story of the contest between South and North Korea on who would have the bigger flagpole. Apparently in response to the 50m high flagpole setup by South Korea on its border, North Korea responded by setting up a 80m tall flagpole. South Korea then decided that this would not do and increased the height of its flagpole to 100m. North Korea had the last laugh though by setting up (possibly) the largest flagpole in the world at 160m. At this point, the guide said, S Korea decided it would not continue with this contest. I found this story highly amusing especially the spin that the guide put in the end on the S Korea decision, by claiming that it was a magnanimous and broad minded gesture on their part. It did serve as a memorable example of the sometimes ridiculous nature of competitive national rivalries and reminded me of similar sentiments expressed by my friend who had visited the Wagah border.

Going to the DMZ dramatically brought home the point of the extremely short distance between Seoul and the border with North Korea. The guide casually mentioned that in case of a missile launch, the South Koreans would have only about 8 seconds of reaction time!

The Korean War formed the backdrop to any conversation that we had in the trip about Korea and its history. More than anything else, it has shaped and modulated opinion and policy making long after the end of hostilities. Almost all the speakers who spoke to us repeatedly emphasized the almost total devastation that Korea in general and Seoul in specific faced at the end of the Korean War. The widely pervasive negative perception that Korea have of Japan sometimes creates distortions in their historical narrative. Almost all speakers claimed that Japan at the end of the Second World War had far lesser devastation compared with Korea. As a person interested in history, I knew that this statement was simply not true. Having recently read "American Prometheus" the biography of Robert Oppenheimer (and also from other readings), I was aware of the terrible devastation brought about by the firebombing of the various Japanese cities. The almost universal ignorance of these facts by more than one presenter was for me a pointer of how the national narratives can sometimes distort the actual reality.

The 4 Km DMZ had a couple of farms within it and was said to have some extremely rare species of flora and fauna (I did see a few birds but unfortunately was not able to appreciate this aspect of the DMZ with my limited knowledge). I found it ironical that a zone dividing two nations can engender such a beautiful habitat. North Koreans had built a number of tunnels under the DMZ to use in case of a military invasion. Four such tunnels have been found and the South Koreans had created the infrastructure to enable visitors to see these tunnels. I went down tunnel number 3 and after a long time when I thought I had reached the tunnel, I was told that this was only the end of the access tunnel and that the actual tunnel starts from that point. There was a mineral water fountain at that point, and drinking and fortifying myself, I went on to explore the actual tunnel.

The tunnel was not very tall even taking into account the shorter height of the Korean people. It was even more difficult for me to traverse the tunnel stooping down. It was only the hard hat helmets, mandated to be worn by anyone entering the tunnel, which saved my head from cracking under the low roofed tunnel. The height and my lack of fitness combined to make it a very arduous trip to the end of the tunnel. There was no proverbial light at the end of the tunnel but rather a locked door! The trip back up the tunnel was extremely tough but I was glad that I had seen this rather exotic place that is in many ways a constant reminder of the dangerous neighbourhood.