Ganapati Bappa Morya!

We sat listening with rapt attention, mouth wide open, imagining in our minds at the story of Ganapati my father used to narrate at the end of the Ganesh Chaturthi puja. He would describe how Lord Shiva did not recognise the little boy who barred his entrance at the behest of Parvati who had given life to the sandal paste that she removed from her body. To assuage Parvati's grief Shiva sent his ganas to seek the head of the first creature that they come across. We were amused that Ganesha had overeaten so much on his birthday that he fell off his mouse and his tummy burst spilling all the sweets he had eaten causing the moon to laugh so much that Parvati cursed him that anyone who saw his face on Ganesh Chaturthi would invite accusations for which one is not responsible. As little children we were frightened to see the moon that day that we would shade our eyes and look through the corner of our eyes to check out if the moon was following us, bawling loudly if we saw the moon. We would then pray that the pot bellied Ganesha save us. 

#IamSPJIMR

Dear Dr Shrikant,

Salutations to you for all that I have learnt from you! An alumnus once pointed out much to my embarrassment that i was your worst critic and biggest fan. Most people notice the first, few the latter. But then it often glossed over the fact that it stemmed from a great expectation that you would be the instrument for a great transformation that might have been personal and also institutional and anything that belied that unrealistic expectation were grounds for criticism. I must admit that despite everything many of your critics like myself were deeply influenced by you and contributed much to their own sense of self worth, and understanding and few were perspicacious to see the grounds of what you were doing. The alumni were asked to write something about how SPJIMR influenced them on teachers day. I think it would be pertinent to observe that if it were not for you the college itself would not have been. To the multitudes who throng through its portals in the past, present and hereafter however intelligent or unwise, faculty, staff and students, deans and directors it is a place that has had its destiny shaped by your hands. To the many whose livelihoods, lives and inspirations have received a more secure standing you will be remembered for having touched their lives in ample measure. I thank you on behalf of them all.  

Prof Patel once narrated over lunch one of your earliest decision that you took in 1986 almost as soon as you joined, to permit some 10-15 students of a Rizvi college MMS degree which had shut down. The faculty were against it and one of them even provoked the student batch that it would threaten their placements. You did not posture sanctimoniously but pointed out that if the institute were bleeding and the variable costs of administering the new students were low it would bring the institute closer to break even. You promised that no placements would be affected and so it came to pass. In 1988 you sold us the residential programme which while it had its merits was really aimed at shoring up fees that the University had capped thereby alleviating the institute's losses. As faculty you made us do diverse things like conducting the DG Shipping exams, undertaking client researches for ASSOCHAM and many more things that bailed us over the red into a surplus that to date is unsurpassed among the Bhavans institutions and made us secure. But yet our best tales always narrate you as a teacher in the classroom as we listened with bated breath and even our heartbeats sounded loud.That we still cherish these tales and narrate them is that we hope that institutional memories which are evanescent will not forget to study its own history as it traces a current trajectory. The values that you had embedded in the place were aplenty, and began with a a spirit of enterprise in charting its course, a responsible competence in leadership, an unending dissatisfaction with the status quo, a sense of frugality and responsibility in expenditure, a discreetness and modesty in promotion and communications of the institute, cherishing the underprivileged, sensitive meritocracy in student admissions, an enormous administrative autonomy, a cherishing of a liberal strain with a respect for cultural ethos. I am sure the list is incomplete. We all fervently hope that these values will not be compromised as few will articulate these without reflecting upon history. 

I remember the number of times you made me write up reports till I was exasperated at the narcissism to minor detail. You would not compromise on the quality of the report until we imbibed it as a value. You had the knack of zooming in on a weak link in a report like a hawk undoing it entirely leaving us to reconstruct it all over again till we were proud of the final result. I remember very early in my career when you examined my course outline and told me that it was as close to Harvard as we could get and i slept on the compliment for years. You never again saw my course outlines (except once when you complained that my Business Policy outline seemed ponderous enough for a PhD level course). As i look back I drank deeply at being able to think critically and communicate the same  (I never learned however you sense of brevity). Of course i still have many complaints and some of them bitter but I guess to be entirely whole is to be divine and in the detail we all have shortcomings and you yours, which also shaped the institute in its own way. When i think of my teachers I shall always count you foremost among them and few are the days that go by without remembering you with gratitude (at times a curse)! 

When i called you early this morning I was happy to hear you as I imagine in a rocking chair poring over the book "I am That" by a great Master wondering about him at Khandala. 

May you see many many more Teacher's Days in good health and cheer!

With deep respect and affection

Srinivas