Exiting the City of Joy

 Much depends on how you view your stay in a place. Every place can provide you with joy (or sorrow) depending on what you do to get along with that place, and the people in that place.

Though I was a visitor to Kolkata regularly for admissions since around 1996 (I was with Kirloskar Institute then), I had not lived here. A friend, Ajanta Sircar, worked here (she's a prof. at VIT Vellore now), and during one of our visits, she took me around to visit places here, including Olypub. Oxford Bookstore too. I have visited both since I started working here last year, and a couple of other places like Tollygunge Club, thanks to Dash, who is a member. 

I did not manage to play Golf so far, but might do so before I move out. Did go to a restaurant at the Ecopark Golf Course called Club de Golf though, to meet a visiting alum, Navneeta. Also met Amit Gope, a student from XIMB long ago, who is a Golfer himself. 

And re-met Ananya Ghosh and Sayantani Saha. Ananya I had met at XLRI once before, and I helped her a bit with her Ph.D. analysis here. Sayantani is an IMT Nagpur alumna, and works with ICICI Lombard ever since she graduated in 2012. 

Made a few  friends in the JIS University too, among colleagues at both campuses - New Town and Agarpara. Tried some food specialities from here. and liked most. A couple of old friends also visited, one a prof. from my XIMB days- Banikanta Mishra, and another, a Ph.D. student from Indore-turned prof. at OP Jindal, Akansh Khandelwal.

Also met Suhasini Barman, my third favourite after SD and RD Burman. This one runs a marketing and communications firm named after her, located in the Park Street area. Also guest lectures in B schools. We met on Linkedin, I think, and met a few times after that.

I also represented JIS University at a few events in Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata over the last few months.

As I said, it depends on you too, whether you take the joy or the sorrow from a place..

Meeting Suhasini Barman

 Met this bubbly entrepreneur who happens to be connected through a classmate too, and a very warm, talkative personality. Though it was our first meeting (courtesy Linkedin), we got along really well. She parks herself on Park Street (that's where her office is), but moves around doing multiple things. Like meeting clients, offering guest lectures at some local colleges in Kolkata, and meeting strange people like me. Meet Suhasini Barman, who runs a company named after herself. She is also joining the Goldman Sachs-sponsored program for Women Entrepreneurs at IIMB soon. So we will be co-alums too!