Why IMT Nagpur Was Magical

 Can't put my finger on one thing, but I think the place had a vibe that was special. It included the people, and the way they interacted with each other. The students, the faculty, the staff, and also some of the inanimate objects. That may sound strange, but tangible inanimates do play a role in our lives. The grass, the trees, and the rocks. The design of some rooms, colour of the walls (Red Bricks in this case). 

Most of all, the people. Kirloskar Institute in Harihar (where I worked a few years before IMT) had this vibe too. In addition to a very tangible Golf course, but that's another matter.

The students had a mix of IQ and EQ that put them in a unique category, with a high total score. Other Qs too, perhaps. After all, we are multidimensional. So I would say that people brought their uniqueness to it,  being from different corners of the country. The faculty were actually global- many had studied or worked abroad.

Diversity makes a campus more vibrant, and we saw it in all IIMs I was at- to study or to work- 4 in all. We had it in good measure. I am still able to meet alums in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad if I visit these places- so many years after I stopped working at IMT. Many faculty have stayed for 15 years or more! Another sign of a good place!

The autonomy we enjoyed in running the place was also a contributing factor. Which meant student and faculty needs could be met without looking over our shoulder. 

Spending Time in Nagpur

This is a special place, as many pleasant years were spent here, and a majority of my student/alumni friends (thanks to facebook, naturally) happen to be from IMT Nagpur where I worked. Some of my faculty friends are the major reason I was spending the weekend this time around, but I was able to drop in on a wedding of a former student, Abha, too.

IMT was an exciting place to be, and we had a whole empty canvas which we filled with colour, to the best of our abilities. Some good initiatives that we were a part of- alumni meets in 5 cities, a Goa case conference, regular guest lectures from industry, and some training programs for regular clients like GSI and Asian Paints. A couple of new ventures by students also blossomed on the campus, one of the loveliest I have been a part of- IIMK and IIMI are also pretty campuses. And KIAMS, on the banks of the river Tungabhadra.

What particularly impressed me was the EQ of students at Nagpur, in addition to their IQ. I think the combination works better than only high IQ, beause technical skills can also be hired, but interpersonal skills have to be your own. Many have also turned out to be authors, or have followed other creative pursuits like photography or film-making (professionally), or turned entrepreneurs. A few I can readily recall are Abhinav, Pavan, Sreeram, Bhagyashree, Shraddha, Divya and Supriya Jain. Harshad, Vivek Anant and Pradyumna were also very good photographers while at Nagpur.

Is More IQ Necessarily Better?

I think we prefer uni-dimensional brilliance out here, to the exclusion of other qualities.

For instance, we want kids to score 99.99 percent in all subjects. It is not Ok to be good in one or two or three of them, and below average in all others.

What good is a person who has a very high intelligence (measured academically in the usual way), but has not learnt to co-exist peacefully with others, or to follow the law, or his conscience, or respect humans (and other forms of life)?

Do we want a cynical, mind-numbingly intelligent being? Wouldn't you rather be/have a guy/gal with just enough intelligence of the kind we adore, but an Emotional Quotient that is reasonably high or higher?

There are other forms of intelligence that don't even get measured. Aptitude for art, sport and so on, that someone may have, gets side-lined in the world of uni-dimensional worship that we are all so used to. Could be one reason why the arts in general are seeing a decline. With respect to one art form that I am familiar with, Hindi films, I can vouch for a decline in many areas-writing, lyrics and music. Humour in written form-books, and mainstream films-both Indian and foreign-also has declined in quality.

Hope we take time out and see if we can set our priorities right.

Knowing your P's and Q's

Ever since someone started a storm in the T cup by coining the phrase EQ and landing in best-seller territory, there have been a lot of me-too's or wannabes trying to come up with another smart acronym- and a bestseller. So, giving my imagination a long rope, here's my list of Q's.

AQ - Awesomeness Quotient, useful if you are a teenager with limited vocabulary.

BQ - Bitchiness Quotient. Cat-fights are among cats. Who says?

CQ - Creepiness Quotient. You can usually recognise the high-scorers in seconds.

DQ - Dumb-bell Quotient. Does not discriminate between genders. Or hair colour.

EQ is already taken. Millions made.

FQ - this is easy. Fun Quotient.

GQ - Gregariousness Quotient.

HQ - Hemming and Hawing Quotient, from Hamlet, who had a high score.

IQ- the original one.

JQ - Joviality Quotient.

KQ - Kissability Quotient, for the daters.

LQ - Loveability Quotient, for those who love other humans. Tinder, loving care.

MQ - Marriageability Quotient, similar to the one above. Also similar to Money Quotient.

NQ - Nonsense Quotient. Easy to find, particularly in celebrities.

OQ - Over-the-top Quotient. Lady Gaga? She gets my vote for the top of the tops.

PQ - Pliability Quotient. People high on this are usually called 'chamchas'.

QQ - Quotability Quotient. Oscar Wilde and Benjamin Disraeli were peak performers.

RQ - Rockstar Quotient. As we all know, people rock, even if they are not into rock 'n roll

SQ - Slipperiness Quotient, for all those slippery-as-eel characters.

TQ - Tantrum throwing Quotient. Particularly useful for children, girlfriends and dare I say it, wives.

UQ - Uniqueness Quotient. Difficult to establish, as there are seven billion of us all with two hands, an ear, and a nose. Personal branding might help.

VQ - Vanity Quotient, measured by the number of times you look in the mirror in an hour. Or at your Fb DP to check the number of likes.

WQ - Weirdness Quotient. No limits to how weird you can get.

XQ - The X factor, not a quotient. Unexplained, yet important.

YQ - Yaari Quotient. As in Yaari dosti, one which you have to 'nibhao' once in a while.

ZQ - Zinda-dili Quotient. Zest-for-life could be an equivalent Quotient.