Experiential learning ...Part II

It was an angry morning.

Dark and dim sky stared down at lesser mortals who panicked at the sudden change on what would have been a sunny and sultry summer morning. It wasn’t pouring when I drove down from home to office but it was about to begin. It was only a matter of time. The heavens kept grumbling and shouting and it was pitch dark at 8 45 in the morning when vehicles queued up and scrambled at the huge gates of GIM.

It was exam day… the seniors writing their first exam of the third semester and the juniors writing their first exam of the first semester. GIM wore a look of gloom, to a degree due to the fuming sky but mainly due to exams which was always a tough affair.

Jansi Williams and her team of faculty assistants were busy in pasting role numbers room after room after which the peons will lock them and keep the students at bay till the first bell goes on air at 9 30 am. The kids sat, stood and walked with books, some teamed up discussing possible questions, some sat alone, some stared at the dark heaven hoping for divine intervention. Some assumed the role of teachers where they taught (more because in the process their concepts got clearer and less because the listener’s welfare was a concern) a few who cared to listen …Still others kept searching their laptops for power points and reading stuff the faculty would have provided long back when he or she taught but which got lost among other important things like hottest songs and spicy videos… No one sat idle or without reading or writing, as in GIM all said and done exams was not an easy phenomenon…

The list of invigilators was published a day in advance and I knew that I had to do the boring job of going around in the exam hall, around and around peeping into papers, gawk and gape at violators, be suspicious and above all pretend to be alert and stern as the cameras watched unkindly. I have always felt that exam time at GIM was testing time for the students of course but more so for the teacher who invigilated.

Faculty members please listen… came out Dr Joseph the ED, from his cabin to the common area of the faculty room…..

All heads turned and all eyes posted at the old man who stood in a stylish posture which he would have thought as similar to the James bond 007 but de facto looking like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura….

It is assumed that the seniors know all the rules, but it cannot be the same with the juniors… he declared.. the faculty members are asked to announce it before the commencement of the exam….

He listed out the rules,( which if all of them were to be broadcasted, would be taking half the time of the exam) and then said…… All the best to all of you…

Satirical he tried to be occasionally and most of the times it sounded like a gibe……To survive an exam season at GIM was tough for the taught and the teacher …..

Anand called me in intercom…

Hey Suk…. He said …. We are in adjacent halls… hall 5 and 6 in second floor…today we should finalise our plan for operation apple cart….

Well I needed to … after all GIM had chosen me as the anchor for its EMEP programme which will turn around the future of the MBA guys…and may be turn around GIM as well…

Exams when it began were as usual a mixture of hilarity and horror …. hilarity for the observer and horror for the partaker … I was in class 6 which was the last hall in the second floor and from where, the two rows of windows if opened we one could see the endless limits of the sea… The A/C was in full swing and windows couldn’t be left open as per the rules… GIM hated knowledge and noble thoughts that came from outside, understandably so, but fresh air too?

Walking up and down in a large class room for an entire stretch of 3 hours was not an easy task, particularly for the lazy academics that did no work physically as most of our work was intellectual, and using the brain (again that is a supposition, assuming that....
1. every teacher had brains or intellect as they call it,
2. it worked always and ....
3. the outcome was fruitful for the students at large…)

I did a lot of thinking during such sessions, walking up and down noting down stuff, ideas ,philosophy, verdicts, names, instances ,judgments and any such crap in my note pad.

My mobile vibrated …

1 message… it said

Anand Mohan ….

Breaking news …..Prof Latha is sent out from the exam hall by Jesus, for sitting and reading India Today … …. the SMS said…

I don’t remember who this Prof was… well I mean knew her who joined recently but wasn’t close to her, for want of time and interest … It was pointless in GIM… people came and went as in a railway platform… relations became a burden when they left…

Jesus walking in seeing the lady in her chair, relaxed with India Today, the kids in sharing info verbally via gestures and physically… some in a shock with his answer papers in the neighbors table, some with two question papers in his possession while the hapless neighbor has none…….

Annoyance, angst, alarm …. I tried to visualize the exam hall from where the faculty invigilator would have had to go out with head down, reluctant and disgraced ….

I walked even more briskly after the SMS… kept my note pad in table and feigned to be more vigilant, as the cameras beamed their eyes on the hall and also as I knew that Jesus will come out from nowhere with salvation and surprise to the suffering…

Anand never came from hall number 5 to 6 to discuss operation apple cart as he called it. I was relieved that he didn’t, as apple cart was not a darling project of mine (I know I was the chosen one though) and as I didn’t want to walk like an accused…

Hi sir… said Suhail khan who emerged from a hall after the exam, as I walked down with the answer sheets to be deposited at the exam coordinators office.

Hey how did you do your paper …. I asked him just for courtesy

Fine sir… he said but a smile was missing…

Any problems in your class sir..?

No why? …I felt it anomalous… oh yes…. may be he was referring to the prof who was caught updating her information on India today……Jesus was an idiot to reprimand a faculty in public…

Prof Anand caught three guys copying….. and they are debarred from writing further exams….. said Suhail Khan….

Anand will not do that …..was my first response but I kept it to myself…I wanted to see him….

He didn’t come to the faculty room for some time. Most of the prof’s had returned with their answer sheets… students were seen here and there; especially the studious ones who dared to do some post mortem of the QP with their teachers but Anand didn’t and his mobile phone was not reachable….

I went and stood at the main door of the faculty room to get hold of Anand the moment he comes in……

The dark skies still loomed … and all of a sudden power went off…GIM was engulfed in darkness… for a long minute it lingered and no one made any sound……then came down a thunder with ground breaking ferocity… the doors clang and I ran outside fearing an earthquake……then came a huge uproar from all the floors, in unbelievable unison, the students shouted /cried/sang and it reverberated across the corridors and walls…

Rains lashed down after hours of waiting and so did the guys in all the 6 floors of GIM… scattered they were and yet it all came together…..

The darkness was welcome, and even a deluge would be greeted with cheers…

GIM stood trembling in the thunder… it stood shivering in the rain, and as if ashamed, it kept its head low, slowly bowing unable to swallow the infamy….

Even in the thick of dimness I could feel the smell of denim and yet, I missed him….

The Outsider !

The hot tea and banana fries went in to make some change in me.. The hunk who never indulged in oily stuff ordered a vegetable sandwich (cheese free) and waited….I kept gulping the hot banana fry as he sat there watching me.. Advice was to follow… hit the gym… eat healthy.... bla bla bla…

But nothing happened…

He was unusually silent….

I guess Sukesh.. he said ,possibly unable to endure the dirty sounds that I was blatantly producing… the time has come…

I looked at him questioningly… time to hit the gym and compete with him in looks? Aura? Majesty?... huh!! no way…

Time to change things here…. Time to upset the apple cart…. Said Anand looking somewhere far through the window, and talking to the world…

I laughed… Banana fry could wait but these communist style utterances from a US educated, branded, neo colonialist, capitalist symbol of a man was quite bizarre and once in a life time chance to encounter with….

You mean in the GIM? change things here?… I laughed again as if he was kidding….

Yes in GIM… we can do it… this EMEP programme is a God send opportunity to do it….he uttered with an unyielding expression…

I didn’t smile… I didn’t even react… I couldn’t unravel this puzzle named Anand mohan…

I know .. he said quickly…. You are a statusquoist ….. and you remain so… but imagine what is the fun in passing off like a ship in the night…? Sukesh Menon….. just another academic? You want to be the role model of the hundreds of kids here… the aspiring young managers…

My banana fry got over and his sandwiches had arrived…. He kept talking while I tried to make both ends meet… connect the apparently unmatchable threads… this story had a hero for sure, but who is it..? Anand or me? This story had villains for sure? And is this guy one?

Suhail khan for instance… he was helpless and you stood there even more helpless… you should have helped him… you should have gone to Jesus and told him … Said Anand,,,,

I woke up… he was referring to the episode outside the HQ some days back… Suhail khan had shared with me his plight and predicament in this same canteen and later outside the HQ…

You pretended to be apathetic… and then he came to me… said Anand… and you know what he said… ?

I didn’t know… I just knew that Anand went to Jesus and saved Suhail from his troubles… and also knew that Suhail would be eternally obliged and would be worshiping Prof Anand Mohan as his hero…

Even Sukesh sir is not able to help me… Said Anand… I repeat.. Even Sukesh sir…

You know why that EVEN came there… asked Anand?

I didn’t know… and I kept quiet… today it was my day to listen and I decided to do it….

He admires you a lot… simple… The sandwiches were getting over and a fresh glass of carrot juice came….

Huh… I said in desperation… I don’t believe it… why should he? And ok… I accept it for argument sake… he does… even if he does, what do you expect me to do?

Help them… said Anand… in management teaching dude, the teacher is a model not only inside the class, even otherwise, particularly young ones like us.. most of them see them in us.. see a possible them in us…

Was it new to me?

I myself had been a student in a B school some years back and have admired some teachers, revered some like a fanatic fan, and have detested some with vengeance… But in a place like GIM was it all possible?

It is dude… EMEP will start after the exams scheduled for day after tomorrow… we will make a plan and that plan will change the GIM system… trust me man it will… he said with a smile, even as I paid the bill and walked out…

He quickly followed me… you didn’t say anything…

You know everything… I said with a smile… you even know what is in my mind… and what more you expect me to say… ?

Anand plucked a flower from the garden… Dr Joy was an avid admirer of flowers and plants and that made the GIM gardens a wonderful place…… remember Gray??… he asked me…..Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,….And waste its sweetness on the desert air….. remember?

I nodded…

I knew what he was hinting at but couldn’t commit…May be I would have if it was not for Prof Ram who came across the garden and stopped to talk to me…

Anand kept walking as I expected… walked some distance and turned back throwing the flower to me and to say…. I will wait… operation apple cart cannot launch without you….

I couldn’t reply, since Prof Ram was already there just opposite to me….

I am sorry…. Prof Ram said… for the EMEP thing… I didn’t know that it was thrust on you….

I smiled… here was the most senior of GIM professors, in the midst of this garden apologizing to a much junior professor, young enough to be his son….

No issues sir… I said touching his hands which he locked with mine ….

This is a good opportunity Sukesh… Said Prof Ram to me as my face opened wide and my eyes fluttered… it’s the first time that such a big responsibility has passed on to an outsider…

That was again a GIM parlance… Outsiders are those in GIM who didn’t subscribe entirely to the management philosophy there as compared to insiders who were hardcore loyals to the HQ. Prof Ram was an outcaste... far away even from outsiders...

I just smiled… Prof Ram walked to the canteen as I did into the GIM building…

The huge mansion stood there, staring at me, the outsider, the first one who made it……

Anand had almost convinced me… now Ram too…

Sukesh Menon was still frightened to seize the chance!

Taste of indifference!

Sri Laxmi came and sat opposite to me the next afternoon disturbing my nap…
I was in deep slumber, first with head oscillating left and right and then later half of my huge body on the table and my head on the extended left arm..

I woke up hearing the big laugh… the gal sat there with more chuckles than I could afford at that point of time…

But I am what I am and she was what she was…. elegant as ever or even more, more pompous, more beautiful and more smiling…. like a dream which came descending down with all the heavenly charm..

Yes Madam … I said half awake… how can I help you?

If you remember … she said with her eyes firmly pasted on mine…we are co coordinators of the upcoming seminar… and you seem to be keeping away..

She had become bold… she was no longer the shy damsel who once was lost in the huge interiors of GIM.. she was no longer the same old scared little lass who cried and ran away from the class room unable to bear the kids of GIM…

Her curls of long hairs on both sides of her smooth face moved in tune with the soft breeze and with eyes of such an unsure bluish brown that seemed to have mixed with their whites by mistake, she sat there expecting an answer…

I had nothing much to say… It was a problem of getting the right words and the right content.. being politically right was important… I wanted to keep away from the seminar..My ego didn’t want to play second fiddle to an inexperienced junior girl but my chivalry wouldn’t allow me to be blunt to her with that fact….

May be I should have been an evangelist..…!!!

The phone rang…

Sukesh Menon here… I said

Hey dude… what’s that babe saying… asked Anand on the other side with a dirty laugh…

Huh… I just gasped…

Lucky guy dude…. Got the best babe in town…. he said suggestively...

I didn’t dare to tell him to behave like a professor… Mind your own business.. I whispered instead and kept the phone…

I am into so many other things Sri Laxmi… I murmered without allowing her eyes to lock in mine …. They seemed to be hiding more than what they revealed… or was it just because I saw it that way?

I took it up because they said you will be with me… she said … now I am lost… I don’t know what to do and what next......

Her paradigm shift seminar was none of my worry for sure but she was, her presence was… I wanted to send her off diplomatically…

THEY? Who is that THEY? ......I shot a query to take the discussion to my channel

The management… who else? And you thought I played a game with you to be a coordinator of a stupid seminar…her face blushed with rage….

It is not yet a stupid seminar my dear… I said to myself… if you are going to do it you will for sure make it one…

A smile did bloom in my face which (may be) for her stare appeared like a scorn…

I never knew that you can be so indifferent… she said as she stood up to go but added… Big people have big ego’s I know but I always felt that you are different…

Oh yeah… different and indifferent…. I mumbled as she walked away…

Indifferent? ….

Did she say that?

INDIFFERENT?

That is what Jesus too had told me in the lift the other day…

That was the management’s view point but how did she knew that??

I saw Suhail Khan outside the HQ that evening.. he had a sad look, and agony was looming over it…he looked stressed out and almost about to crumble… If I ask something I was sure he will succumb… wanting to avoid that I tried to walk away without recognising his presence…

He wasn’t ready for that but….

Sir…… Prof Anand is talking to Dr Jesus …. He announced… I guess I will be relieved ....

I tried to smile…

Anand?

The omnipresent James Bond was there every where... he was like snowy dog in tintin series... in every frame... HUH !!!!!…

Why is it that he had no sense of what to do where and what not to do where…? Next time when I get him free I should teach him the serenity prayer.. I kept planning ans that was when Anand Mohan came out of the HQ, cheery and beaming, tapped the guys shoulder and said…. Now you can go and meet him…and let it be the last time ok…

Suhail Khan admiringly looked into the Hunk’s big eyes… He caught the prof’s hands and started crying…

Come on man… Anand said holding him in a tight embrace… be bold… just go in….

I stood there as a silent spectator… This was one rare scene in GIM…. As Suhail went inside, Anand walked away not even acknowledging my being there…

Wasn’t that indifference?

He left a trace of the denim smell and it disturbed me a lot, but the unanswered questions that he left behind was more worrying......

No words in literature can express it fully… you should meet this guy once to know what I mean..