Gaurav Sabnis, my friend

I have had this blog for a long time, but I have never had the inclination or time to post anything. Maybe I was too lazy, or maybe things were too boring or normal around me and the people I know. Not anymore.

Things have been happening real fast these days. First it was Nimish, a year senior to me at IIM Lucknow, who was badly beaten up by RPF constables at the Bangalore Railway Station. Action has apparently been initiated after the initial hesitation and bureaucracy, but things seem to have moved fast enough in his support.

A few days later, it was Gaurav Sabnis, a batchmate (and yes Rajk, i too have spoken to him a couple of times ;) ) who is harrassed by a particular B-school which sends him e-notices and threatens his employers.

Now we all know how that B-school is, but its really crazy for them to have stooped to the levels of harrassing somebody on the basis of his personal views on his blogs. Probably his views would have been mostly ignored or maybe at best laughed at by a few regular readers had they not taken this up. With media interest sure to rise, it can only get more damaging for that particular B-school.

Now having worked with Gaurav at IBM and also having personally & professionally known the particular Senior Executive from Lenovo (formerly IBM PC Division) who spoke with Gaurav, I can assure you people that it is extremely likely that he was NOT asked to leave. The particular Senior Executive is a man of high integrity and is too professional to have suggested to Gaurav that he leave, especially since IBM & Lenovo are two separate companies now.

Pressure, however, could have been put on Gaurav to remove his posts, but since Gaurav has chosen to stand by his posts, it is for all of us to support him in whatever way possible. One major actionable would be to ideally help Gaurav into a job outside India, and with employers who would know the case and be supportive. This would prevent daily harrassment that is quite probable in India.

Go on Gaurav, we are proud of you and we are with you !