Page 49 - TSB ebook

personal comments and had enough sense of humor and enough common sense to let
things be, if it looked like things may get out of hand.

It is this vibrant and vocal community that bonded over birthdays and anniversaries,
over postings and promotions,, over philosophical musings, over music, movies and art,
over the finality and overwhelming sadness of death - that decided to meet and
celebrate the 1st of December, the day we joined SBI.

For the last six months almost everything about the meeting - from the venue to the
color of T shirt, was put to vote and decisions were made on the basis of consensus.
Hard work. Sometimes it needed a lot of cajoling by the people who had taken on the
onerous task of running the show. But what patience they had! If at times they were
frustrated, they did not ever show it. Democracy certainly has its pain points. But who
would trade it for anything else, despite all the pain!

Madhusudhan Bhat probably has the data about each of the batchmates, that would be
the envy of any HR Department. Phani held the group together, responding to every
query almost immediately.........I do think that he must have typed out messages on
WhatsApp while walking, talking and doing multiple other things. Swaminathan as the
man in charge, sent out messages that were comprehensive and in good humor, and
left nothing to chance. Gwalia was efficiency personified. Money matters.

The D Day arrived. Everyone who landed at the Hyderabad airport was received by
Swaminathan’s team, as if he or she was a celebrity, nothing less. All the photos at the
airport are a testimony to my statement. If I had known earlier, I would have been more
careful with my “airport looks”!

Finally, the two day event was nothing short of magical. If people loved meeting
virtually, the real meeting brought joy and happiness much more than what could be
imagined.

I must mention here that the batch that dances together, stays together. Thanks to
Gursharan Sant, who gracefully took the lead and showed the way. And every one
joined in. It was contagious. In one of the videos, the camera pans to where the
audience should have been and finds only empty chairs because the entire batch was
on the dance floor!! It is not that we knew how to dance. In fact, many of us, why most
of us danced badly. But that did not matter. Nothing deters us. We are the 88ers. To
most passers by, it would have been impossible to tell that it was a 30 year reunion.
They must have thought that it was a college bash.

A word about the ex SBIians, like me. It was life coming full circle. It was homecoming.
Who really can declare independence from your own parent? Long after we have left
home, we keep looking over the shoulder to catch a glimpse of the parent. Something
tugs at our heart. And we realize that the parental affection has not diminished a wee
bit. It is comforting, to say the least.
- Uma Krishnamoorthy