by Hemendra Godbole

San Jose, CA _______________________________________________________________

I was seated across this exec. at a hi-funda company. He had
just learned that his Marketing Director had quit. Usually,
that creates a minor crisis for folks here, but this news did
not faze him at all !

Calmly, while he was discussing our business proposal, he
thumbed through a Stanford_Alumnii website, highlighted a few
names, and asked his admin. to reach five prospects. By the
time we had finished our meeting, he had two prospects ready
to be interviewed in the next 48 hours. Does Networking work ?

Flashback mode on:
------------------
We were the first 4-year batch ('81-85) and much smarter than
the ones who took 5 years to get through. Our secret ?
TEAMWORK ! The 85/EEs had perfected the art of collective-
cramming at the H4/Wardens' office the day before the exams,
had helped each other get to the only library reference,
copied notes for each other, and even registered for electives
on proxy ! (A classic remark in the H4/canteen in the last
sem: "Oay! don't ask me the course number - we are all in
BVRs class now"). And we did this in the face of overwhelming
odds - like the time when the sole reference book had the
critical pages torn out from it. Clearly a perfectly rational
act by one schooled in the principle of "Relative Grading(RG)".

(Flashback mode off)

Few know of a recent scientific study that shows over 89%
of graduating IITians had their genes altered due to dangerous
overdoses of "RG" at a young age. You can spot them even today,
at the supermarkets (ghissing ahead at the cash-only checkout
counter with 240 items and a feeble excuse), at gridlocked
freeways (refuse to let your bike get through), or even at
exciting social evenings such as kids' birthdays talking about
their recent stock trades (mislead the gullible non-IITians
with disastrous tips).

On the other hand, there are several examples of IITians founding
successful projects - be it camping trips or new ventures. These
are the few who were smart enough to counter the RG-threat
with long RLC sessions and long walks to Chansha/Vihar.

And that brings us to the present, sipping a chai at Starbucks.
When asked what it would take to help out the RG-overdosed IIT
alum, OKBABA smiled as only he can.

"Why do Indians do so badly in sports ?". Aha - we were on to
yetannader really-deep thought.

"No cheerleaders !" was the mysterious answer as he gazed away.

WOW ! Got to hand it off to the one-and-only ! In an instant he
had hit it. Too late for the "Cheerleaders" in the literal sense
to excite the alum into "networking". However, they come in slightly
different shapes and colors these days.

I was at a recent IIT-B/Alum talk. Neat scene. So big-Jake asked
me outside if I had seen Ganesh. "Oh! about 5'7'', glasses, medium
build, in his thirties". That sorta described almost everyone
inside the room. "Sorry, can't spot Ganesh for you, Jake".

Yogen's talk was insightful. And as the Alum-team began to talk,
I spotted the cheerleaders that OKBABA was talking about.

JUNTA ! We have arrived ! Look around you, and hug the first IITian
you see next. Leverage the network - that is your ONLY hope of ridding
yourself of the RG-bug. Give that biker a ghiss-lane on a grid-locked
freeway. And if you see Ganesh at the next IIT-B meet, tell him
Jake was looking for him. And for the really critical cases, try
not tearing out pages from a library book.

See you at the next ALUM-meet !