Distinguished guests, members of the chamber and the IGTC family, hello and welcome. Greetings from the Batch of 2009. Before I begin, let me put across a few disclaimers; this is supposed to be a funny speech, so I will pause after some lines where I expect laughter, response will be much appreciated. All those who won’t get the sarcasm, doubts will be solved post dinner. The decision of addressing you was not a voluntary one, so all brickbats and bouquets to be directed at our director Ms. Mehta. I assure she has been handling these with much aplomb. The opinions are mine, but I have tried to capture the feelings of the class more or less.

IGTC might not have been the dream destination for a PG for most of us, when I say this I am sure of echoing at least half of my classmates’ thoughts. Affordability, proximity and duration were some of the major concerns. Some of us were arrogant enough to feel that I did not need this. Now we can’t stop thanking our stars to have made us stumble here and sticking around to finish this journey. Around a year and half years back 42 of us walked into 2-B Vulcan Insurance building at Churchgate, most of us, absolutely unaware of what to expect out of the course. The times demanded a post-graduation. After having done what an average student does; i.e. 2 failed attempts at CAT, blaming it on the system and giving up hope, I thought let’s give this IGTC a try.

It sounded promising with the ‘German Dual system’ of training. It was more of if not now then maybe never, and it worked! I don’t know how but now I don’t want to. Now I daresay we are capable of rubbing shoulders with the products of top B-schools in this city. Many of us came to the course with apprehensions about leaving work, hometowns for education, travel from Virar and Dombivli. Honestly I wasn’t too happy to leave my hometown and come to Mumbai. I can’t speak Hindi with a dictionary in my hand and a gun pointed at my temple, the weather is grotesque to put it gently and there are just too many people compared to where I come from. Public transport was a known unknown and the minute hand of the watch was an unknown unknown. In the next 18 months, 5 people did everything they could to make our lives better.  There is not an iota of doubt in stating the fact that if it wasn’t for the fantastic 5 or the ‘shepherdesses’ as one dear friend puts it, we would not have learnt as much as we have.

Just when we thought we would get some time off from our mothers we ran into Ms. Stella Edwards. I knew I was the next big thing in Sarcasm County until a certain Dr. Hikaf took stage. No single person has had such an impact on the learnings at IGTC as he has had. It was like 42 fashion models talking to Sachin about facing Warne. Hearing Prof. Moradian tell us about how ‘production’ should function was pure shock and awe. Numbers were made a lot of fun by Prof. Nimkar and Chitra ma’am. I thought they didn’t make ‘teachers’ anymore except at the breweries until I sat in front of Dr. Korivi. Basically within the first week our eyes and ears were opened more than they ever were and more importantly mouth was kept shut! Wisdom, largely, is in-your-face in hindsight, and there is a good chance of it arriving from a completely unexpected source.

To grasp it while it is being delivered is Herculean, but when it is being doled out by the aforementioned people, it is very easy; stay awake-listen-think macro-act micro; God shall remain in the details, advertent flatulence (jargon for Gas) will get you only so far. I stress on trying; not because what they deliver is hazy, but because our mind and brains are not equipped. Maybe in a year’s time you will understand what Sarojini ma’am, Fakih Sir and Korivi sir were talking about all this while. Trust me; consider yourself lucky if you manage to do that. Maybe it was better that we (or I) didn’t know about them beforehand and even till we gradually did find it out whenever we did. It boxed-out prejudice. Life at IGTC taught us things more complex than DCFs, utility curves and ANOVA.

So many faculties to wax lyrical, so little wax. There is a jotting in one of my notes in one of Dr. Korivi’s lectures, “Do not contaminate EBIDTA”, the implication of which was well and truly engraved upon me in a lecture towards the fag end of the course. Dr. Sarojini ma’ams lectures had a different page for statements that quiver. A walking-booming library by herself, she rarely failed to instill in us a sense of duty towards the nation and our lack of knowledge. Prof. Jeet Shah, a man hailing from the race which holds the patents to the tricks of making money.  He told us, to make money we need to buy our luck. Do not to be so uptight as to deny alms to the beggar under a garb of moral responsibility yet spend 100 bucks on coffee. He was one of the very few people who stressed upon us the need to be proud of our country. You won’t find 2 people more yingy-yangy than Prof Moradian and Prof. Rajiv Mahajan-Samant. Telling someone what not to do is a better and profitable option but difficult to execute. These gentlemen pulled it off. They managed to conjure happy endings like Copperfield drawing rabbits out of a hat.

Within this swirling vortex of entropy that was our life @ IGTC, we managed to celebrate Ids, do the Garbha, eat Modaks, talk about Jesus, relish on Dhansak, win a trophy at a Inter-college festival, go on an industrial visit, a trip to matheran, traditional days, hangout at Marine drive, watch all bollywood movies and also the trivial pursuits of making a thousand presentations from Industrial Revolution and exporting Jalebis to Contract Act and Condoms. Our batch was in the midst when IGTC transitioned from the Fussball table to the plush leather upholstery and the LCD TV. Each one of us has managed to string relationships with pieces of furniture to the darkest corners of the premises, the coffee machine, the a/c remote to the sutta room and Stella Ma’am chair. Once you spend more than 12 hours in one place it just happens. Our homes were reduced to hostels and staircases became study rooms.

Too much has been written and spoken about our batch already, much has to yet be written; maybe on a different platform or a different time. With the ingredients so spoiled, the broth but needed 4 brilliant cooks. These master chefs absolutely bought out the best palate with 42 spices in the broth. As we celebrate a culmination of a wonderful journey we are also embarking upon another one. There will be alumni meets and coincidental run-intos; an incident or 2 will be dredged up and we will laugh and cry again. Some of us will continue to get midnight calls asking about DCF and Statistics, some of us will be remembered when there is a favor to ask of, we will laugh and cry again. Sometimes years will pass before we see each other again, but tonight I am rest assured that none of us will forget some things unquantifiable.

Goodbyes are always difficult there are a few people to thank, Radhieka Mehta for her undying love and faith in us, if it wasn’t for her support during the turbulent times many of us would have cracked. Thank you Stella Ma’am for always keeping us in check. Sajita ma’am and Meghna Ma’am for maintaining a smiling face while dealing with 42 unique problems everyday and getting us placed. Deepak and Pawar Kaka for the countless coffees that pumped us up and the spic premises. We thank our esteemed faculty for bearing us and enriching us with their plethora of experiences to make us a better and capable individual. We thank Mr. Steinruecke for providing the IGTC with the best of facilities. I would like to thank our lovely juniors for making this day a memorable one. To my batchmates, the last 18 months were akin to a sine curve to say the least but we managed to put on a great show, so thanks to each and every one of you, goodluck and Godspeed. Lastly, on behalf of our class we would like to thank the Chief Guests, representatives of the interning companies and parents for taking valuable time off their busy schedules to add a big cherry on top of the Sundae of awesomeness that is this day of our Convocation.