Does it suffice to say that the sojourn at IIM-Cal was the shortest two years that will never return? To say that it was the most varied learning experience ever possible? That the carroms, table-tennis, dodgeball and soccer were the most energised? That the food was the most tasty?

Oh but let's not lie!

What is certainly true is that the three batches that one came into contact with while at IIM-Cal were certainly the most sopho, the coolest, the cutest and sexiest bunch of gals and guys that one had ever met. And if one married inhouse, so to speak, at least one person continued in that role even after those short IIMC days...

Of course, everybody's memory of the times is vastly different from others'. But the ties that bind are the same. There was the sense that here, in this waterlogged paradise, was the last bit of fun and (man)games that one would be able to play in a long while. That somehow, for engineer, economist, scientist, artist, literateur, commercialist alike, this was the greatest opportunity to meet with and hobnob with and (case)study with some of the best minds and most compelling personalities of one's time.

In IIM-Calcutta, we didn't just shoot the bull. We Group Discussed!!!

And yes, the phrase Bee Ess took on the most appropriate of connotations. (Sorry, I show my phobias...)

Strangely, the most prevalent emotion that seems to be born when one reminisces about IIM-Cal is an yearning to establish those ties again. Somehow, we all feel, those contacts made many years ago will survive the passage of years and the separation of miles. After all, we had all ordered the same "aykTa gol chaa" in pidgin Bengali and what could be more unifying than that?

In my own small effort to make that possible, even if merely via the medium of electrons, I have for many years been trying to encourage those alumni who visit Indian newsgroups and listserves to provide me with your addresses and I have more recently joined forces with Radax and Derek to make this directory accessible via the Web. Theirs are two of the coolest IIMC Web sites that I know of.