The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), established in 1961, held its silver jubilee reunion for its 20th batch recently. More than 50 of its alumni (the batches were much smaller then) gathered at the Joka campus to catch up after 25 years of doing different things in different worlds. A good number came from abroad; the batch — like any other from any IIM — has gone places.

There were the obvious changes. Suresh Shankar organised a bald heads contest: would you recognise these people if seen from the back? The alumni got thrashed in several sporting encounters with the current students. Walking sticks have replaced hockey sticks and the talk is more of safety nets than net practice.

But there are many other ways the world is different when you are 50 and looking back from the panorama before the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed students waiting to go out and manage the world.

What does the IIM-C Class of ’85 feel about their achievements?

First, as expected, almost all of them have been very successful. (But perhaps the failures didn’t show up; there were some with whom nobody had made contact for over two decades.) But success is no longer measured in terms of money or corporate achievement.

Many are thinking of a second career. Deep within, however, they know they are too set in their ways to take the plunge. Besides, even if money isn’t the issue, what will the wife say if you decide to become a stand-up comedian? Will the children run wild if you become a schoolteacher in tribal Kalahandi? But there is confidence. Says a mutual fund manager with six false teeth: “What’s the big deal? Sure, I did my mechanical engineering 30 years ago. But give me some time to brush up and I can design a better Nano.”

Philanthropy is in; many were willing to give their time for various IIM-C initiatives, particularly in building a global image for the institute. Money is out; a Legacy Fund attracted peanuts compared to the income levels of some of these folks. Why? A B-school is expected to be business-like. If it can’t keep the red off its balance sheet, what can it teach its students? Besides, the effort in getting several people to donate small sums would be better spent in hitting one or two extremely well heeled alumni for large sums. That’s the way the IITs have done it and they have been reasonably successful, despite waking up so late.

Also, India is in and politics out. Some have joined the IAS and become bureaucrats. Says Harpreet Singh, a member of the 20th batch now managing director of the Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Cooperative Federation: “IAS beckoned.” Does the IIM tag help? “Yes. You get more opportunities even in a government job.” But there are no politicians in the entire batch.

The defining feature of the alumni at the meet was diversity; they have ended up in several different countries, mainly the US though. (Urban legends say they all want to come back to India; the reality is that nobody does. “That’s for today’s grads. At our level the job is all about networking. You are a misfit in India unless the company you join has serious global ambitions.”) They have ended up in several different sectors: the IT major is in automobiles; the behavioural science expert is working for a non-governmental organisation. “Each of us comes to new perspectives with time and in our own way,” says Lakshmi Ramanathan, now with an NGO in New York.

Was there a lesson in the reunion for the bushy-tailed? Some worked hard to make the event a success. More than the experience of organising such events, they have valuable global networks of at least the 20th batch alumni in place. Some ignored it. They are the chaff in tomorrow’s world as the multiplying number of IIMs makes the alumnus a commodity.

Was there a lesson for the alumni? There was the discovery that 25 years of a different life can be forgotten in a jiffy. An institute and its culture leave their mark. Remember the Eagles’ hit number, Hotel California: You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

NOT MONEY ALONE

Alumni can help by

• Mentoring current students

• Accommodating students for internships in their organisations

• Providing information on jobs available in their organisations

• Teaching as a visiting professor

• Returning to teach full-time

• Participating in institute programmes in their city

• Building links between employers and faculty for consultancy assignments and case studies

• Volunteering for reunions

• Encouraging students to join the institute

• Boosting the image of the institute

• Making a financial donation.