Let the circus leave sweet memories ‘Life is a circus’ is an often-used metaphor! It is mostly perceived to reflect the chaos of life, the pressure of handling too much, too much happening at one time, too many plates to juggle, too many challenges to face, and of course one ringmaster who cracks the whip! Most of us have heard this before, but were we trying to convey that this is what is similar to IGTC? While building the theme for the event, our team was a little perplexed, confused and clueless. Nevertheless, as we started putting the acts together, we started discovering some amazing similarities between the Circus and “Life at IGTC”. We started recognising the elements that were omnipresent in both these amazing and magical worlds.
Our esteemed dignitaries Sunil Mathur, President, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, Ravneet Gill, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank – India, Dr. Jürgen Morhard, Consul General, German Consulate General and Bernhard Steinrücke, Director General, IGCC joined us to witness this magical night. The century-old glorious Royal Opera House was the chosen venue for the big day on 18th February 2019. A dream and a vision that every student and parent had seen came to life.
It would be incongruous to say that people were putting together pieces of this circus- themed convocation ceremony. There were little surprises in store at every corner of the venue. At the Karaka Circle, the Rangbhumi Playback Theatre group made all the guests play a fun- filled game before they walked inside the Royal Opera House to collect their tickets for the show. At the Bandmann Black Box, the parents were taken through an emotional journey, as they heard a gratitude message from their child. It was delightful to see the parent’s reactions of pride, love and happiness. At the Maurice Box Office window, the parents were handed over personalised tickets with a caption that best described their child.
The show began with a playback performance from the students of the junior and the graduating batch. The theatre was filled with pride as the PGPBA students performed and gave a musical tribute to their journey and life at IGTC. Despite no words, the audience was able to connect and relate to all the characters of the play and what they were trying to narrate. It was very interesting to see all the pieces of the puzzle weave in together as the story unfolded.
Following the act, Mr. Sunil Mathur, President, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce was invited to give his welcome address to all the guests. He began his speech by looking back in time to 1991 when the first batch was started at the Indo-German Training Centre headed by a General Manager at Siemens, who wanted to introduce the dual vocational training programme. According to him, this was a unique concept at that time and is still today. He shared his three personal goals with the graduating batch which can be used in everybody’s career.
• Don’t plan your career – how you evolve is much better than how you plan
• Think 10% differently from other people
• Be ethical.
With great learning and unique thought, we moved ahead with the ceremony. It was time to narrate a compelling story on IGTC. In this beautiful piece, Radhieka R Mehta, Director, Indo-German Training Centre illustrated how IGTC was built with different pieces coming together. As she stood zealously speaking about IGTC, a deconstructed collage kept emerging. Just like how we put together the pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, the audience saw a flawless picture collage of IGTC emerge behind her. Adding to this performance was a classical song in the background sung by the talented graduating student, Kaustubh Shaligram. The entire amalgamation of her speaking, the collage wall being built and Kaustubh singing created a larger-than-life experience for the evening.
From behind the collage wall, the graduating students emerged to narrate their story. Vidhi Anam, Sanat Munot and Devesh Nair put together their focus point – Choices, Outlook and Influencers – which they feel passionately about and which have paved their way toward their growing careers. Whilst Vidhi spoke about her choices in life that has made her stand tall today, Devesh showed how an outlook in life can help make the right decisions. Sanat explained how getting influenced by the right people can have a positive impact and motivate one to achieve one’s goals.
The address by the Chief Guest Ravneet Gill, Chief Executive officer, Deutsche bank – India struck a chord in the minds of the students graduating. He stated that the quality of a really good education can be told by the fact that it teaches you that there’s no finishing line that you continue to learn all the time, you remain, students, all your life. IGTC has the whole endeavour to bring academia and industry together, and it prepares youngsters for a successful career that will be gratifying and fulfilling. He concluded by saying, “Having worked for a German organization for 28 years, besides everything else that you may have learnt on academic and technical skills, an education with a very strong German background to it, I am sure also subconsciously brought into you, a commitment to quality, excellence, precision and punctuality. Very few cultures embody it and amplify it the way Germany does. Having such a strong influence of such an empowering and liberating culture is something that will hold you in good stead going forward.”
Guest of Honour Dr. Jürgen Morhard, Consul General, German Consulate General in Mumbai was invited on stage as a Storyteller. “Life is a Circus! There is a lot of things to learn about the circus; you showed us tonight a lot of magic a lot of mystic, a lot of enchantment. It was quite thrilling and brought us back to our childhood, to a time when you had time to relax, enjoy theatre, dream and dive into other things that you cannot find time to do in life. He gave an example of how he tried to use tennis balls to create a juggling act. One that juggles work and the second that is health. However, these cannot be in individual compartments and have to overlap to form a pattern. The third ball is relations and the pattern gets more and more complicated. By the time, a fourth ball is added, it spells disaster! Through the performances, you taught us that one should never be a one-trick act only. Many of you can do multiple things. This is what the students must master. A very important slogan that I have learnt from the circus is that if you push too hard to be the ringmaster, you will end up to be the clown.”
Before moving on to the felicitation of the graduating students, IGCC chose to celebrate and felicitate the graduation from corporate life, 40 years in HR of Ramesh Shankar, Executive Vice President Human Resources, Siemens Limited. As the Founding Partner (2011 – 2019) and President (2014 – 2017) of the Indo-German HR Partner Forum, his professional expertise, unconditional involvement and passionate engagement was deeply appreciated by all the forum members.
As he retires, Ramesh was warmly awarded a silver plaque by the current Indo-German HR Partner Forum Chairperson, Santanu Ghoshal, Vice-President HR, Schaeffler Group along with the other dignitaries. In his parting speech, Ramesh gave a very lucid perspective on what the HR looks for in new graduates by aptly relating it to the theme of the Circus, wherein he defined it as Conscience Keeper, Integrity, Rigor, Commitment, Umbilical Cord and Synergy.
The most awaited moment for the PGPBA batch arrived when they were called up on stage to receive their certificates and trophies. This was followed by special awards to recognise the talent of some meritorious students by the partnering companies BASF India, Bayer Group and Siemens Limited.
IGCC Director General, Bernhard Steinrücke gave the closing, finale speech. He thanked the dignitaries for their time and congratulated the students. His farewell words were “life is a culmination of long and challenging hardships, but ultimately it’s a rewarding journey.”
The proud graduates now embark on their careers with organization such as Ambica Steel Ltd., Ascent Intellimation, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd., Bosch Automotive Electronics India, Brose India Automotive Systems Pvt. Ltd., Carborundum Universal Ltd. (Murugappa Group), Covestro (India) Pvt. Ltd., DB Schenker, DBOI Global Services, Eskay Engichem Pvt. Ltd., Ethosh Designs Pvt. Ltd., Evonik India Pvt. Ltd., Extentia Information Technology, FEV India Pvt. Ltd., Forbes Marshall Pvt. Ltd., General Mills, GEP, Häfele India Pvt. Ltd., Hirschvogel Components India, Indo-German Training Centre, Kion India Pvt. Ltd., Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. Ltd., Neilsoft Limited, Phoenix Mecano India Private Limited, R-Biopharm Neugen Pvt. Ltd., REINTJES Middle East, Schott Kaisha Pvt. Ltd., Shakai Packaging Pvt. Ltd., Siemens Ltd. and Supreme Universal.
IGTCians at heart…phenomenal we will be!
