Reminiscence is the annual mega reunion of IIM Calcutta alumni – the batch that graduated 25 years ago from this prestigious institute. It is one of the most awaited events in the institute! Reminiscence provides the perfect platform for the visiting alumni batch to relive their best moments at IIM Calcutta and the name itself is more than just a word for both the alumni and the current batches. During the two days of the reunion, current students and faculty get an opportunity to interact with our accomplished alumni.

This year, Reminiscence was held during December 26-27, 2014. The 24th batch of IIMC came down to our campus and the celebration stretched over two days and included a variety of activities – from interaction with the dean and director, a walk around the campus, an exciting cricket match, a lavish cruise dinner on the first day to various cultural performances on the following day. There were performances by the present students, a felicitation program for faculty members and the much awaited alumni talk session, IGNITE!

Ignite- the Alumni talk session was introduced during Reminiscence 2013 and proved to be a grand success! It is a fast-paced, dynamic, fun and thought-provoking session where teams or individuals with a passionate idea get a platform to present their idea in front of some of the smartest business professionals in the world to ignite their imagination. The mantra of Ignite is “Enlighten us, but make it quick”.

Several alumni spoke about their experiences spanning over the past 25 years – each one of the speakers shared valuable experiences of their 25 year journey after passing out from the institute. The session began with a powerful experience by Mr. Rajiv Vij, who spoke about his transition from the corporate world to becoming a life coach. He spoke to the audience about finding a purpose and achieving it and how that purpose would be instrumental in achieving a happy life; Mr. Puneet Narang spoke about raising Third Culture Kids, kids of professionals who have lived in different countries. He spoke about the identity dilemma that they face and the role of the parents in raising them. He also spoke about the perks of living across different countries and cultures; Padmaja Alaganandan, a partner at PwC spoke about gender diversity at workplace and how it is best to have a policy of not distinguishing between men and women while making choices as against actively pursuing a goal of maintaining a specific gender ratio; Ashish Gupta, an IPS officer who had joined the services right after graduating from IIM Calcutta spoke to the students on the difference between Bharat and India. He shared his experience of urban India and how his stay at the tribal village areas got him connected to the real Bharat, which was a stark contrast from what he had known India to be. Dr. Ranjan played the host during the entire session and shared witty introductions about all his batchmates; he concluded the session with a thought-provoking story followed by the quote, “There is nothing as cool as having the courage to be you”.

Ignite was followed by a rare and soulful performance- a concert by Sri CP Sriram – one of our alumni from the 24th batch and an established artist who, as per his batchmates’ had been fiddling with the strings all his life! The concert was a fusion of Hindustani classical and Carnatic music, followed by a couple of Hindi songs from the 70′s played mesmerizingly. The two day event ended with student performances, a Gala Dinner and a powerful performance by the college band.