One friend came home from Sydney. And 34 years later, five IIM friends met again

When Ajay Varma came to Delhi from Sydney, Manish Maheshwari saw a chance to bring five old IIM Lucknow hostel mates together. A WhatsApp group, one 'White House' reunion and a recreated 1992 photograph later, 34 years seemed to disappear.When Ajay Varma came to Delhi from Sydney, Manish Maheshwari saw a chance to bring five old IIM Lucknow hostel mates together.Sometimes, an old friendship needs little more than one person to send the first message.When Manish Maheshwari learnt that his IIM Lucknow classmate Ajay Varma, who lives in Sydney, was in Delhi, he saw an opportunity.Four of the five friends were in Delhi NCR. Ajay was suddenly within reach. So Manish created a WhatsApp group.The five names were back together on one screen: Manish Maheshwari, Sanjay Shivnani, Sanjay Bansal, Ajay Varma and Sudhanshu Mishra. They had last shared the same IIM Lucknow world in 1992. Now, 34 years later, they were planning to share a room again.They called it The White House Reunion. The name carried its own history. All five had been residents of the same IIM Lucknow hostel, popularly known among students as the White House. Back then, IIM Lucknow's campus was essentially non-existent and the hostel was a single-storey house.Three of the five, Manish, Sanjay Shivnani and Sudhanshu, had remained in touch, albeit on and off, over the years. The other two had not been in active contact. But their old contact details were still there. And that was enough.Once the WhatsApp group was created, the years between 1992 and 2026 began to shrink.And after 34 years, the five former IIM Lucknow classmates were together again.THE WHITE HOUSE, THEN AND NOWThere was plenty to catch up on. Careers, families, life after IIM. The different stages and directions their lives had taken.But the conversation did not stay in 2026 for very long. It went back to IIM Lucknow. Back to professors, hostel memories, stories that only these five would remember. And, perhaps most tellingly, back to the old banter."It felt almost like the good old days," Ajay recalls in a conversation with India Today.They found themselves speaking the same language, with almost the same body language, and slipping back into the same kind of banter almost immediately.The friendship, he said, was surprisingly easy to pick up where they had left it.There was serious catching up, but there was also something less serious and perhaps more important. They could still spend considerable time discussing "the most flippant and nonsensical topics with great intensity."That particular ability had apparently survived 34 years. So had the White House.Not the building itself, perhaps, but the shared memory of being its residents. The friends even describe themselves as "(p)residents" of the popular hostel. 1992 photograph from IIM Lucknow White House hostel (l to r: Manish Maheshwari, Sanjay Shivnani, Sanjay Bansal, Ajay Varma, and Sudhanshu Mishra) THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT BROUGHT 1992 BACKThere was another reason the reunion had a ready-made piece of history. The five already had a photograph together.It was taken at IIM Lucknow during their PGP year in 1992, around the placement season. And there was something almost amusing about the occasion. It was probably one of the few times during their MBA when all five were dressed formally.The young men in that photograph had no idea where the next 34 years would take them. Manish would go on to build his career in his own direction. Ajay would eventually live in Sydney. The others would pursue their own professional and personal journeys.The photograph captured them as students, long before careers, families, cities and deacdes worth of life experiences had accumulated between then and now.When they met again, Manish suggested recreating it.So the five old friends stood together once more. Same five people. Different year.THEN AND NOW, 34 YEARS APARTPut the two photographs side by side and the passage of time is obvious.The grey hair is there. The faces have changed. And, as the friends themselves put it, "Most have expanded around the waist."But that was not what struck them most.Beyond the ageing and the grey hair, they noticed something harder to quantify."What struck us was how familiar the five faces and expressions still seemed," Manish says.That familiarity was there in the reunion too. Everyone had changed, they felt. Age had made them "a little more sober and perhaps a little wiser."But the basic personalities had survived surprisingly well. The quirks and traits they knew at IIM were still visible.And when they were asked who had changed the most and who had remained exactly the same, they could not quite settle the question."Perhaps we should ask the others!" Recreated image by the IIM Lucknow friends from 2026 (l to r: Manish Maheshwari, Sanjay Shivnani, Sanjay Bansal, Ajay Varma, and Sudhanshu Mishra) FIVE FRIENDS, FIVE PERSONALITIESThe easiest way to understand how little the old personalities have changed may be to ask the friends themselves. And the charming part is that these descriptions of one another are rooted not in their current professions, but in who they were as students.Manish Maheshwari is "Quick-witted."Sanjay Shivnani is "Bapu", described as the oldest and, with a mischievous qualification, "everything the original Bapu is not known for!"Sanjay Bansal is the "Subject-matter expert, thinker, dreamer."Ajay Varma remains the "Happy-go-lucky" one.And Sudhanshu Mishra is simply the "Gentleman."Five words or descriptions, after 34 years, and apparently everyone still knew exactly what they meant.THEN CAME THE AYURVEDA DISCOVERYEven after knowing one another for decades, the reunion produced at least one surprise. Sanjay Bansal had developed quite an interest in Ayurveda.He spent a fair amount of time sharing his views and some unconventional wisdom, covering everything from body types and how much water one should drink to when curd is good for you and when it isn't.It was the kind of unexpected conversation that can happen only when old friends meet after a very long gap.You may have known someone for years. You may even think you know exactly who they are. Then you meet again after 34 years and discover they have an entire Ayurveda theory to explain to you.SOME FRIENDSHIPS CAN AFFORD A LONG PAUSEWhat kept the five connected for so long, despite different careers, cities and life experiences?There was the shared history, of course.They had spent their formative years together at IIM Lucknow. They had lived in the same hostel. They had accumulated the kind of stories and inside jokes that cannot easily be recreated later in life.There was also some effort. Manish created the WhatsApp group. Three of them had kept in touch intermittently over the years.But the friends believe there is something else at work too. "Some friendships simply have a history that makes it easy to reconnect, even after long gaps,” says Sanjay Shivnani.That may explain why the reunion did not feel like an introduction between five old classmates. It felt more like someone had pressed pause in 1992 and finally pressed play again.Ajay had come from Sydney. Manish had created a WhatsApp group. Five former (p)residents of the White House had found their way back into the same room.And for a little while, 34 years were reduced to a photograph, a few old stories, some ridiculous arguments over nothing in particular and five familiar faces smiling together again.- EndsPublished On: Aug 28, 2026 09:00 IST