The Telegraph - Calcutta 4th Aug 2005

B-school, mediocre & arrogant- XLRI alumnus pens book on life in management instituteNISHA LAHIRI IN CALCUTTA AND NILANJANA GHOSH CHOUDHURY IN JAMSHEDPURBhaduri in Calcutta. Picture by Pradeep SanyalAug. 3: “What’s common between J (JRD Tata), Russi (Mody) and me?” asks Abbey, an MBA student of a business school.“A dismal academic record,” replies a friend.“Leadership qualities,” counters Abbey.Just one of the pearls of MBA wisdom expounded in the book Mediocre But Arrogant, by XLRI ex-student Abhijit Bhaduri, launched in Calcutta this evening. As the author read aloud extracts from the book, the audience — with an overwhelming majority of XLRI alumni — exchanged knowing looks and amused laughs.“It’s a generic story, about college life and the hostel experience. It’s not autobiographical, neither are the characters real, but they are drawn from real people and actual events,” said the New York-based Bhaduri, director, human resource, for Colgate Palmolive Global. But with Jamshedpur as the physical backdrop, there’s no getting away from the XLRI touch.“It’s not exactly about XLRI, its just like any other management institute,” said Abhijit. And why Jamshedpur? “I am familiar with every place in the city. For any author it is imperative to know the physical setting of his own story as it gives a realistic touch to the entire plot.”He will be in XLRI for the launch of the book on Thursday.Abhijit’s association with the steel city is not limited to his student days at XLRI. He was deputy divisional manger (management division) at Tata Management Development Centre (TMDC) from 1989 to 1994.The Calcutta boy did his school and college education in Delhi, including a degree in law from Delhi University. But it was his post-graduation in human resources at XLRI that gave him the insider’s story on the MBA experience. The journey for the “novel on the love and life in a business school” began seven years ago. Mediocre But Arrogant is the first of a trilogy, with the next instalment already in the works.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050804/asp/ranchi/story_5071938.asp