Meeting Beneficiaries of Liberalization

2008 has so far been a year of nostalgic memories, meeting old classmates, talk of days gone by and discussions of global wisdom to solve India's problems!! Our batch mates, Loyola Batch Of 82 got together at Pune in April this year, followed by one in North America where our classmates based there got together. The get-together numbers were quite impressive, over 80% attendance of the possible attendees.

Getting Together after 25 years
Meeting after 25 years and at an important milestone in all our lives, just after we've turned 40! We had classmates flying in from Canada, Dubai, Germany, Bangalore, Hyderabad. There were the usual no-shows, surprising its always the same few who are always busy or otherwise unavailable!
Several discussions followed on the reasons for the success of the get together. Was it?

1. Timing - 25 years after school, 40+ age, mid-life crisis
2. Technology - email, internet, phone, etc. that helped almost 95% of batch mates from Australia to USA to be traced and contacted
3. Efforts of a few - connectors and mavens (as they are called by Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point (http://www.gladwell.com/) of the batch to ensure all were personally contacted (in addition to the emails that went out to all)
4. A bachelor get together at 40+ with the prospect of belly dancers, booze and more.
5. One batch mate even suggested that the success was due to the fact that India, USA and the world are going through a tough time and all of us at our wise middle ages are searching for collective solutions.

I personally think its a bit of everything (from 1-4) and not limited to pt. 2 which many (especially in the IT sector) think is the reason for this successful get together.

What did everybody end up doing after school?

Our batch was divided by training into the engineers, doctors, accountants and a few who dared to think differently and joined hotel management and commercial art. The majority were engineers (mainly due to the new engineering colleges that sprouted in Pune at the time when we passed 12th standard) and many ended up in IT and in the US, irrespective of the engineering discipline they had studied (the herd mentality or the money?). Around 20% went to the US to study for their MS/PhD and continued working there. A few went into the hospitality sector working for hotel chains or airlines.
No one in the government sector, NGO space and just two in public sector corporations. No one joined the IAS, IPS or IFS. Maybe due to the heavy private sector and engineering influence in Pune where we grew up. Most joined the private sector in India, US, Dubai and a few other countries. Some, especially in the IT sector started their own companies (through VC funding) after working for a few large IT companies and made their exits. Most who came from a business family or took early risks started small businesses in construction, engineering,trading or started their own design agencies. Many classmates who studied medicine went to the US for further studies and stayed back, while a few started their own practices in Pune. Surprising exclusions - no lawyers or architects in our batch!

What are their 40+ plans?

Now that most of us have spent 20+ years in the industry, have had global exposure, solved corporate problems, designed and executed business plans, worked for major global MNCs, what do most of us plan for the second half of our careers? Well, not many who are planning any big career switches. A few have ventured out on a new course, some are "planning to" and most are not even thinking they need to change anything. The talk of their careers, bosses, money earned remains the same. Many though do want to either come back to Pune where they grew up or "plan to" do something meaningful for Pune. Being early beneficiaries of liberalization - both educational (1983-84) and economic (1991) I would have expected many more to be ready to take the risk to do something different and more meaningful or plain giveback to society. However the cliches of kids, financial security, careers, cars and houses still abound, although most would have the financial security to take a few risks and still maintain decent lifestyles.

Meeting men of valour

About 5% of our batch mates went into the armed forces. Don't know what global numbers are, but I guess this is a representative percentage for any group anywhere in the world. Sick of hearing corporate talk and the limited vocabulary of the corporate sector, I was glad to meet with some of them and hear stories of their careers. Fresh from the visit to Ladakh/Kargil where you see the work of our armed forces every kilometer, I could relate to a lot of the valour stories.

Army is as professional as MNCs

A batch mate who went through the IMA into the army, and has done well to rise up in the army ranks enthralled us with stories of the cold borders. We met him at sharp 7:30 pm at the RSI club (actually three of us did, most others didn't show up, much to the chagrin of the always on time army host). Stories of walking continuously for 3 days, waiting two hours seeing a soldier with rabies die in front of his eyes in his cell, of having one of his soldiers die in his arms in a border skirmish. Or of flash floods in Ladakh that killed some of his unit members in a matter of minutes or finding the body of one his soldiers after 9 months, frozen under a avalanche and still in perfect condition. His impressions of the movie Lakshya and Mission Kashmir and also the "royal traditions" of the army including immaculate,protocol based dinners, farewells and welcome parties. We spoke about the promotions in the army and how evaluations are done. For all those in the private sector,fairly and professionally much like in the MNCs! The only crib was that he would like to be back in Pune and wished the remuneration in the army would be much better, especially the hardship allowance in the high reaches of the Himalayas, from the present princely sum of Rs. 150/- per day!

To check what the 'Loyola Batch of 82' did in their middle years, check this space in another 10 years. A group that has seen the ration economy era, until the age of 18 and then been the first beneficiaries of educational and economic liberalization. In many ways, we are probably the torch-bearers of the new age in India and are in a position to act with lots of global capitalistic knowledge and exploit the opportunities while we temper our actions and avoid wastage and excesses by applying the wisdom of the ration economy.