All arrangements were made for a one week retreat to Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India. While glancing through the itinerary, I made sure that there were enough days left to reach Calcutta on time after the vacation. The scheduled activities in the Andaman Islands included an exhaustive sightseeing of Port Blair, spending time at the famous beaches of Havelock and a visit to the aborigine reservation areas at Baratang. Spice-jet airplane that took off from Madras flew over the Bay of Bengal to Port Blair, the capital city of Andaman Nicobar Islands, India. Towards the end of the flight, the pilot made a rate one turn and then glided very low over the main islands, slipping in a generous view of that disparate land and the abyss around it.
I was received by a group of family friends and taken to one of the best resorts in town that had an unrestricted view to the Port Blair harbor from a hilltop. At night, I could see the fishing boats leaving for treasure hunt and in the morning, I was awakened by the sirens of the ships sailing into the harbor. A ferry ride from Chatham Saw Mill routed me to Mount Harriet, the highest point in Port Blair Island, from where, I could see an IMAX view of the land and ocean around. The infamous cellular Jail in which, the Indian freedom fighters were imprisoned during the British Raj is an iconic Port Blair location. A quick walk down this prison will take you to the newly built water sports complex from where, one can get a boat ride to the gorgeous Ross Island.
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Havelock, Andaman Islands
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Ross Island, Andaman Islands
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My usual trips to India are typically for a couple of weeks, where I would touch down, spend some time with family, attend selected friend’s gatherings and then fly back again to the west. This time it was different, there were more than a couple of months that I have planned to spend in India. Even though it sounds like a great length of time, there were many things to be accomplished during that period. My parents’ wanted to host a party at their beach house after my Andaman vacation, to celebrate a grand family reunion. This function was planned to augment my short two days’ of family time at home town, Calicut, before I was scheduled to fly to Calcutta. Every close relative was invited and my maternal grandmother was made the guest of honor. The party was an immense success indeed, as most of the invitees flocked to make it a memorable occasion. We were all happy to see each other at such short notice and quickly merged our life stories to its most up-to-date version. The whole day passed by with no sense of time, as all of us sat together in big circles catching up on major events, making fun of each other’s stupidities and praising one another for their successes in life.
The family event ended with Kerala’s traditional classical dance performance - Kathakali. The story that was performed on that day was Kiratham, in which Arjuna (One of the lead characters in the Indian mythology – Mahabharata) knowing that there was a war coming, goes in search of powerful weaponry to increase his readiness to fight. For some reason, the story connected with me, as I was also in search of better knowledge to further my own prospects and the lives of many who, in future may depend on my decisions. Life as I look back, has gifted me with many pleasantries both in terms of luck and opportunities. The difference I see between luck and opportunity is very simple and yet profound. Luck brings good things to you without any of your hard work or strategic positioning. Being born in the right family could be seen as being lucky. On the other hand, opportunity is a set of choices that are made available to one, based on their past value adds, present situations and future ambitions. I believe that the final output of an opportunity is greatly dependent on the choices one takes and the efforts one makes.
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Kathakali, Kerala, India
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Baruch College, New York, America
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One such opportunity showed up during my effort to maximize return on my MBA investment. “Do you know that this college has an exchange programs with other colleges throughout Europe and Asia” - a Study Abroad staff explained at the fresher’s party for the newly enrolled full time honors MBA students. I moved closer to that table and listened for a while as she explained the process and procedures. The big buzz at the next table made me more curious, so I zoned in my ears towards that commotion and tried to overhear. It was a representative from the Field Center for entrepreneurship discussing a different topic. “Do you know that we have an inter college entrepreneurship competition. The participants would get mentors from within the college and from the industry as well. Besides, the winners of the competition would get seed money and a free office space for three months in Manhattan, New York.” My brain reprioritized on which topic I should be listening first and I quickly situated myself among the entrepreneurial bunch.
The story as it unfolded over the first year of my MBA was in line with the priorities I made during the MBA fresher’s party. I enrolled for the entrepreneurial competition, made a solid business plan which passed through all the 3 milestones and took our team to the final pitch in front of the investors. Venture Capitalists were optimistic in our idea and the projected return on investment; however they feared about the disruption it would bring into the market place and the enemies that it might create. One potential investor said – “These are uncertain times now, let’s wait for a year or so; mean while you can develop a prototype and show it to us.” The mentors supported but I felt that the VC’s terms were a bit flakey. The words of my entrepreneurship professor echoed when I did a cost benefit analysis of my options – “A true entrepreneur should know what to pursue and when to pursue, otherwise they will be just creating a market for someone else to exploit”. After I rapped up my newly found venture for future epochs, there was some spare time to think about my next big adventure. This led me to the subsequent thing in the list from my MBA fresher’s party – Study abroad.
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Vidyasagar Bridge, Calcutta
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Calcutta Cabs, West Bengal
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It was mid-June when I landed in Calcutta, the weather was unbearable, the sun was blazing and the humidity was at its peak. Not even a single leaf on any tree I could find ever moved. It felt that even the wind had given up trying to beat the ridiculous heat wave. The prepaid taxi counter at the airport had two big fans running at full swing. None of it helped the people in the long lines standing past the counters. As the line slowly crept forward, I was still getting used to the crowd and their fuzzy way of standing too close to one another. It had been more than a decade that I was out of the country and hence was a bit rusty with the ways of the land. Yet I knew enough and quickly gathered my composure to adapt and improvise my attitude from intolerance to reconciling. From the moment I stepped out of the airplane, I had two strong arguments brewing in my brain. The rational side of me was trying to initiate an exit strategy to fly back to America and finish my MBA in New York itself. On the other hand, the adventurous side of me wanted to experience something different things and possibly find nirvana.
The physical blending-in was not much of a problem, as I looked very Indian. Many figured out that I was not from around Calcutta, as I could not speak a word of Bengali other than “Kmon Ach” and “Balu Acha”, which I learned from a Bangladeshi street vender in New York. Few realized that I might be from abroad, looking at the Brook Brothers T-shirt and Dockers pants. However, once I started talking, my accent gave away my location. I need a taxi to take me to Joka management, I said to the counter clerk. He looked at me and replied - 360 rupees sir, then asked if I was from America. I gave him a 500 Rupee note which he twisted and turned, then showed it to some sort of florescent lamb and finally rubbed the corners to make sure it was not fake. It kind of embarrassed me as I thought they were checking the currency because I was from a foreign land. Seeing the surprised look on my face, the cashier quickly responded – there have been a lot of fake ones in circulation these days, one has to be very careful. I felt relieved as it proved that the problem was more generic in nature and the mistrust was not upon me, in particular. Once he was convinced about the authenticity of the currency, he cut me a coupon that said Indian Institute of Management – Joka, Calcutta.
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Howrah Station, Calcutta
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Eden Gardens, Calcutta
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While pulling my two suitcases and a handbag across the road to get to the prepaid taxi parking area, a porter came running to help me and to make a few bucks for himself. I didn’t think twice to employ his service for getting my things boarded on to one of the taxies. It was annoying to notice that many of the prepaid taxies were not willing to take customers even with a paid receipt. My porter negotiated with two taxi drivers before he could reach an agreement to load my bags into a cab. I tipped the porter for his service and got on to the cab, contemplating how I was going to get through the muggy weather for the next two hours in a non A/C taxi. The traffic was bumper to bumper, people were zigzagging their vehicles all over the place. The drivers were yelling at each other, but none of these concerned me. I was in my own world, constantly drinking water and thinking if my body had lost its ability to retain H2O. I had no one to blame other than myself - lives at some places are truly stranger than fiction.
Back in New York where I was doing my MBA; the home institution - Zicklin School of Business (ZSB), Baruch College, CUNY gave me a scholarship and sent me to IIM Calcutta. Like all MBA’s that boast about their own world ranking, ZSB takes its pride in being ranked (Forbes in 2011) the 50th best business school in the world. There were quite a lot of bureaucratic hoops I had to jump through before becoming a contender for the exchange program. This included a high GPA, assessment on my adaptability to handle foreign culture, language, environment etc. The selection questionnaire went on from multiple choices to four essays on various topics. Once it was done, there were a list of vaccines to take and a few health counseling sessions to attend before leaving the country. I felt the college’s strategy was to make the process so exhaustive for candidates that only the serious one’s would prevail and anyone else who just wants a trip out of the country would give up. At one point, it felt as if everything was collapsing except the possibility of visa rejection, as I was still an Indian Citizen.
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Belur Math, Calcutta
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Dakshineswar Temple, Calcutta
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One possible factor that pulled me through these hardships and uncertainties was an attitude of endurance that was built upon the inspirational words of Swami Vivekananda who said “Arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached”. However, mere inspiration would never have gotten me so far if it was not backed by resilient ideals and resilient convictions. The curriculum vitae points were easy to isolate – A network builder, calculated risk taker, a differentiator, an economic parity scouter, an entrepreneurial observer and other related attributes, that a natural academic can make out from an exchange students thinking pattern. However the unarticulated personal viewpoints I carried were beyond the simplistic assumptions that an outsider could decipher. Each of our mental models work differently and it’s vehemently linked with the ways we have built ourselves through different levels of contextual exposures and life experiences. As it applies to company, each individual’s comparative advantage comes from the leverage they can derive from the value system that they have established over years. I had few good reasons of my own to study at IIM Calcutta. Firstly, it was an effort to understand the legacy of a much enlightened Bengal during and just after the British Raj, from the vintage points of gem thinkers and social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and Subash Chandra Bose.
Secondly, it was a partial fulfillment of a father’s dream about his son. Few years ago, while my father and I were walking through Harvard yard in Harvard University, he got me to buy him a T-shirt that said Harvard-Dad. Ever since then, he had been excited about me, one day studying in Harvard Business School. One can never blame parents for being over ambitious about their kids, as they think that their child would achieve things that they themselves couldn’t possibly aspire. Perhaps a late start in my own life or due to the lavish nature of spending time chasing things that didn’t matter much or perhaps due to the fact that I have not invested enough in my own value system to build a comprehensive portfolio which was in tune with the HBS student profile; I was forced by time to make some hard choices -To settle for a non-ivy league college for my Masters in Business Administration. Doing a semester at IIM Calcutta was in one way a reckoning to satisfy my father’s desire. In an unorthodox way, I believed that I could suffice my father’s longing by establishing a parallel that I have studied in IIM, one of the finest institutions in the country of my origin and that I would have gone to HBS if I was born in America. Not that any of these matter any more, but it was a factor that I took into consideration when I was contemplating the study abroad program- A son’s tribute to his father for believing in him.
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Tagore Residence, Calcutta
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Shantiniketan, Calcutta
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Beyond many other motives of smaller magnitude that are not worth mentioning, there was one more reason that remained as a key driver for me to return back to India. I wanted a happy ending to a story that was almost due for a finish. A clean closure to an assurance that was offered by me years ago, in return for the full free education that was given through Navodaya Vidayalaya by the taxpayers of India. It is very tough to explain what my presumed offering to the country was, as they were emotionally rooted sense of gratitude against the above credit conferred upon me. I can probably partly restate my offering as a gesture of goodwill that - I might, if required, capable and given an opportunity, would do something good for my motherland. I felt it was time after so many years, to check back and see for myself if she needed me. Even today, I cherish and believe that India had given me the freedom to grow up with an attitude of accepting the world as one big nest as Rabindranath Tagore penned it.
I was not new to the “Buddy System”. Microsoft, where I previously worked had the same procedure to help out its new employees integrate with the culture and practices of the organization. I looked through my phone list to get my IIM buddy’s number, after I came to my senses that I was not bleeding water from my skin but it was a natural way for the human body to keep itself from not igniting itself. “Hey buddy – Can you hear me” - I shouted to dwarf the horns and the weird sounds generated from the strange automobiles around me. I told him that I was in the cab and en-route; he replied that it might take more than an hour or so to get to the college. Oh – that is a long ride, if I don’t distract myself I might go crazy because of this heat – I said to myself. I was happy to find my camera in the carryon bag which was lying besides me. Curiously, I started taking pictures of anything and everything that was interesting and non-interesting. As I switched between one window of the car to the other for better viewing angles, the cab driver got a bit worried thinking that I might have gone crazy because of the heat. He said: “Babu Pani Piyo …” which in nutshell meant - Drink some water man and you will feel better. I laughed out loud obnoxiously, which made him even more nervous about my condition.
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Human Cart, Calcutta
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Mother Theresa's tomb, Calcutta
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I kept on taking pictures and the chauffeur didn’t utter a word after his initial comment until he stopped at a big gate with markings - Indian Institute of Management. I ringed back my buddy informing him that I was at the gate. He asked me to sign in at the entry register and drive straight through the gate. Once you come through the security gate, take the first left, then head past the Tata hall and on your left, you will see a building marked Ramanujam hostel – I will meet you there; my buddy continued. The cab driver drove along one of the 7 lakes in the campus and stopped in front of Ramanujam Hostel. He felt more confident as I had stopped laughing and had put on a more serious face. I tipped him handsomely on top of the prepaid amount for which he returned me a big smile. Forget about the general inflation or the rising gas price against which he has to adjust his income, I was more empathetic to the fact that he has to sit in that non A/C cab the whole day. May be there is no real way to build human compassion other than being in each other’s shoes. Suddenly, a yawning question popped in my mind for Mother Theresa - Is travelling at length, meeting many people, listening to their uphill battles, seeing their sacrifices a good way to assimilate the virtue of compassion? The question was too long and heavy that my head bowed forward and a deep sigh came out.
After entering the campus, I was immediately assigned to the Ramanujam hostel, one of the oldest but relatively more popular among men, because of its proximity to the classrooms and the women’s hostel. The lake in front of the hostel had lots of Water lilies necking out of water. There was also this jetty or pier (if I may call it so) that remained floating in the lake, which was linked to the land by a small wooden bridge. Just at the first sight of the pier, I fell in love with it and it soon became my favorite place to hang out. On weekends, I spent some morning hours walking along the lake to spot the most beautiful water lily of the week. On weekdays, I always carved out some time to be at the pier, no matter what other activities I had. Someday the pier was the place to cool off after a long run around the lake, on other days it was a venue to eat an ice cream. Some other days, it was a place to feed the fishes and on many other days, it was the spot to watch birds make their nests for the night and to see the moon rise along with the Orion constellation and million other stars.
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Indian Institute Of Management, Calcutta
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Water Lilies and the Pier, IIMC
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Campus life turned out to be very exciting especially because of being thrown into a wing that nested a crowd of diverse and interesting bunch of people. I knew beforehand that I will have to make many convenience tradeoffs with the switch from a nice day-scholar college in Manhattan, New York to a fully residential college in Joka, Calcutta. One thing I didn’t want to do was to convert my hostel room into my New York apartment. I felt that it would defeat the purpose of the true spirit of learning the ways of the local life. However, I did get myself a room cooler just one day after my arrival, to live through the next few months of Calcutta weather. I made sure that I had enough comforts so that I am not tempted to run away from the hostel. I remember from my childhood days at Navodaya School hostel, I had often contemplated escaping and living a life of Huckleberry Finn in some strange land since the living conditions in school were not at par with the one’s I had at home. Years have passed since, but I felt I haven’t changed much in my heart – A free spirit who always aspired to live in a free world.
My “wingies” (wing members) as they are called, were pretty cool in the sense that they became good friends in no time. They gave me insight to many secret societal activities in the campus. One such thing was the instantiation of the new batch of students. The first years were scheduled to join a week from the day I landed in campus. Taking into consideration the secrecy of the rituals that has been continued by the institution for the major part of its existence and the need to preserve the freshness of the idea among the new batches that will join in the future times, I feel it will be highly inappropriate on my part to disclose, describe or even discuss any of it in the public domain. Since its mention may have aroused a level of curiosity among the reader; to be fair, I would conclude this topic by saying that the initial few weeks for the first years would be a time of great surprises, and full of occasions to make new friends and everlasting memories. Even I, a pure bystander truly enjoyed those unusual moments, so you can imagine the adrenalin rush the activities bring for its participants.
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India Museum, Calcutta
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Depiction of Indian diversity, India Museum
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My favorite place in campus, the pier had been a podium of many interesting, friendly and heated debates. Themes ranged from American presidential election, consequence of Arab rising, Indian leadership crisis and many other contemporary topics. Some of the topics that got the best participation were about the role of government in business and its limitations / boundaries, fundamental human rights and the use of technology as its enabler, ability of Indian industries to withstand true global forces based on free market economics, Impact of global recession and the consequential policies leading to nationalistic principles. The flow of free ideas without the fear of being judged against was the true success of those conversations. No one talked about the same topic again nor did the discussion trail past the pier. We treated the pier as a virtual island surrounded by the lake where the participants believed that they could say anything they felt and then walk away without ever being bothered by what they said. The mike time was never moderated but was naturally controlled by the amount of quality input one person could deliver. The unwritten rule was the same as that of Las Vegas – What happens at the pier stays at the pier.
Time and again, the discussions ended up blaming the governments for all that were wrong in the world. Democracy may be the best form of governance we humans know as of today, but we have to acknowledge that it has also started to show its age. From a personal stand point, I felt that it was too much to expect from any government, where the people would elect their representative once in five years and remain mum rest of the period. I think each citizen should be aware of the power and influence that government has on each of their lives, whether it be in terms of taxes/grants or be it in the way it makes laws that would suppress/liberate its citizen’s aspirational lifestyle. If individuals are not ready to stand up to their rights and become committed to their duties through continuous inputs and feedbacks, even the best of governments will be sidetracked from the true needs of its people because of the inherent inefficiencies of upstream thinking. If the governments of our generation do not come up with systems and controls that are agile and in the interest of its citizens, there will be revolutions around the world that are similar to the one we have seen in the Arabia. One question that future historians will ask would be whether the Arab spring was a call for the foundation of a new order of governance, based on a better model of democracy powered by technology and real time non-government civilian involvement.
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Nathaji Bhavan, Calcutta
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Cellular Jail, Andaman
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During my stay in Calcutta, I tried to find time to visit as many historic places as I could. One such place was Victoria Memorial, a true monument of British legacy in India. This building now holds the history of Bengal, predating from the rule of Moguls up to India’s Independence. It also highlights the role of some of Bengal’s prominent citizens. Another institution of such scale is the India Museum, which holds relics from the past and also shows the human diversity of India. I thought the museum had a wonderful collection but was not organized well enough to gain the real appreciation it deserves from the public. Belur Math, the headquarters of Ramakrishna mission, holds the personal artifacts of Swami Vivekananda and his guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. A Trip to Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral home was a unique experience in terms of learning how much an individual can adopt and stretch one’s vision from the heritage they possess. It was quite unbelievable for me to see a dedicated maternity room and a safe play area for small kids sectioned out in the Tagore residence that was built during late 18th century by the Poets grandfather. Rabindranath Tagore’s educational institution Shantiniketan and his way of life redefined my whole concept on what a world citizen should be like. He showed that a world citizen is one who is not just a believer in humanity and its virtues but also a person who inspires and directs human beings towards the next level of their individual evolution.
The life and role of Subash Chandra Bose was enunciated through some of his personal artifacts, pictures and videos at his ancestral home, Nethaji Bhavan in Calcutta. His great escape from the British house arrest is well demonstrated with the help of his foot markings and positioning of the getaway car in this house. Photos of his adventurous journey to Germany, the formation of Indian National Army and his iconic landing at Andaman Islands to liberate the freedom fighters in Cellular Jail is depicted here with precision. I believe everyone who visits Calcutta should pay respects at Mother Theresa’s grave inside the Mother’s House. Her life puts to shame mostly every human being who says “what can one individual do to change this world”. A foreign lady by birth, who came to India as a missionary, who didn’t have enough to feed herself, fed many others who were hungrier and devoted her entire life to the needy among all communities in Bengal.
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Howrah Bridge, Calcutta
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Victoria Memorial, Calcutta
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The Hooghly River a tributary of River Ganges was one of the primary reasons why the Britishers decided to establish their colony in Calcutta. The Dakshineswar temple stands on the other bank of the Hooghly River facing the present Calcutta city. This temple has a very unique architecture from the ones you might see in India. Howrah Bridge, which runs across the Hooghly River, is still a British engineering marvel, as its construction used no bolt or nut. At times, I wander through the streets of Calcutta, from one street to another and from there, to a different one in search of famous personalities to whom I had a few question to ask. One day, I found the “Maker of Modern India” standing atop a huge pedestal. I realized who he was and asked - Hay Raja Ram Mohan Roy, do you think it is easier to bring social reform during my time in free India or was it easier during your time of British India? I didn’t think the statue had an answer for me, so I turned around and started walking back asking a new question to myself- How long or much should human dignity be intimidated before the spark of self-respect lights the hidden fire of liberty within each human heart? How does a human know that he is been exploited unless he has something else to compare his state with. May be resilience of society to change, which some consider as an attribute of strength, must be reclassified as a weakness to adaptability. The dogma of the past should never be allowed to overshadow the pace of progress towards future.
It is quite easy to preach than to practice the values we prescribe for others. However, the articulation of human values should never be diluted because these are the surreal stars that each human aims and aspires. The consumption and practice of human values should have a positive increment from generation to generation, based on responsible social roles and affordable individual sacrifices. Of course one should obviously figure out for themselves what the optimal weight of virtues one can manageably carry and not stop there but continually struggle to improve upon its magnitude along a consistent upward pathway. Asking the right question to the right person may not always fetch you the right answer, unless you are the right person asking. I may not be the right person to ask these questions but I feel that I can sprout out a few questions which might be heard by a few right people who might then have the audacity to ask it back to the right people. Is corruption the biggest problem or acceptance of it the bigger problem? Is the extent of government the biggest problem or not having a parallel substitute like enterprises a bigger problem? Is it that India does not have a present day infrastructure to support its citizen’s aspiring lifestyle the biggest problem or is it that the country has lost its vision of how the next century responsible India should look like the bigger problem?
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Tiger, National Animal of India
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Peacock, National Bird of India
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Today’s world which is driven by economic parity, I feel India is charging like Jhansi Rani on her horse back with saddle in one hand, sword in the other hand and her kid tied to her own back against a much powerful artillery regiment. Of course, the bravery of the act is undisputable, so is the consequence of the action. Unless India strategically positions herself at a higher grounds – economically, politically and socially, she will soon in future be cornered to a predetermined outcome written in favor of the new global powers. The only things yet to be decided in the future economic war are the weapons that will be used, frontiers in which it will be fought and the alliances that will be formed. The clarion of globalization should not be taken lightly and the guard of excellence should never be let down. No matter how the Indian contingent might use their tactical maneuvers, it will be too late and too little to avoid the eminent catastrophe unless clear and wise decisions are made today. If India lets itself drift along with no control over its own destiny, history will repeat itself and will again push generations to a mindset and lifestyle of servitude. The essence of true independence of each individual will be lost again.
Of the few days that were left before my flight back to the west, I wanted to travel through the north east border states of India and see it with all passion as I might never get another chance to do the same. Most of the goals which have brought me back to India were accomplished. Firstly, the exploration of Bengal’s renowned citizens during its age of great renaissance, secondly, the partial fulfillment of my father’s dream and thirdly, the repayment of an emotional debt to the nation. From my interactions with the students at IIM, a so called sample of India’s brightest minds, future executives and upcoming policy makers, I felt there was not much value addition I could bring being inside India. This unbounded the spell of emotional debt I have been carrying, becasue the first principle of me being needed by the nation was not any more valid. Now I can fly out of the Indian airspace feeling emotionally lighter at the same time with a void created by a loss of responsibility. It’s hard to tell what it takes to build a free world class nation with equal opportunities for all, but for sure each accountable citizen should realize that it just doesn’t happen by itself.
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