Bombay Shaving Company founder and CEO Shantanu Deshpande recently interpreted a change in how IIM Calcutta organises its alumni meets to comment that the life expectancy of people has dropped drastically due to "Covid or vaccines or lifestyle". He was, however, corrected by IIM Calcutta alumni and researchers.
It began with a LinkedIn post in which Deshpande said that a friend had just gone to his 15-year reunion at IIM Calcutta where he and a few others apparently asked the professors why the original 25-year reunion had been advanced to 15-year.
"One reason was that at 15 years, people were at mid-life crises, so it was always good to get together. But, the other reason scared me to no end," Deshpande said. "Increasingly, a larger percentage of batches were expiring by the time 25 years passed. They were just no more. So they advanced it by a decade. Covid or vaccines or lifestyle or something else, God alone knows."
He went on to advise people to eat well, exercise consistently, sleep well, and "be happy while you're on this planet" because "one never knows when it's time".
But soon, the Bombay Shaving Company boss was corrected by the alumni secretary of IIM Calcutta. Ishita Roy clarified that the 15-year reunion was held as an additional event, and not because the alumni were "expiring by the time 25 years passed".
Addressing a comment to Deshpande, Roy wrote, "I have had the pleasure of hosting your friend at the 15-year reunion. Three months prior to that I also had the pleasure of hosting the 25-year reunion, and I must say that the batch was extremely enthusiastic, lively, and kicking."
She also invited him to IIM Calcutta's 50th reunion scheduled in December. "And from whatever little interaction I’ve had so far, that batch is still going strong. This is to clarify that the 15-year reunion is an addition, not a replacement of the 25-year or 50-year reunion," Roy added.
Deshpande replied, "That's great. You do realise this post has nothing to do with my friend or your institute, right?"
But his observation on life expectancy was also countered by others.
Shaunak Kulhalli, a process scientist who works with regenerative medicine in the US, said, "Throwing vaccines in there as a reason is diabolical to be honest! Please do some actual research (not feeling or YouTube) before you throw this out casually to millions of people who may just follow you cause you can help them clip their hair more effectively than Gillette (yeah right!)."
Bharti Singhla, who works on climate change and sustainability, commented, "I appreciate the message, but just a quick clarification - there is no research to prove that vaccines cause heart attacks or death. There is enough research to prove that air pollution does. Particulate matter is the leading cause of death in India, and yet we continue to follow unchecked capitalism."
"Please don’t quote Covid vaccine casually in your post unless you have research to back it up," added LinkedIn user Ninad Jaltare.
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