The Shade of their Affection and Light of their Wisdom

Education indeed is the cornerstone of IIMB, as it should be. Time and again, sitting in the class has given me the experience of being transported to a different space where I felt the professor was leading me by hand into the real world of business, consumers, national politics and global markets. The classroom lecture would turn into a theater where the real business drama was enacted with its several players and we would be the partakers and the spectators of the drama alike.

The lectures on Macroeconomics by Prof Shyamal Roy, Marketing by Prof DVR Seshadri, Operation Research by Prof Dinesh Kumar, Corporate Strategy by Prof R Srinivasan, Sustainability by Prof PD Jose, Social Entrepreneurship by Prof Trilochan Sastry, Creativity by Prof Shekar to name a few, have made us all marvel at the wit and wisdom of these professors, the depth to which they understand their subjects, and the ease with which they convey their insights.

But there is more to education at IIMB. It's stupendous culture. The affection that we receive from professors, their friendliness, their going out of their way to help us and teach us, their sympathy, and their sensitivity, makes the place more like a community, imbuing us with a comforting feeling of being at home. It is so easy to walk to any professor's office, and hold a discourse with him or take guidance about one's career: irrespective of the fact whether the professor has taught us or not. They are infact happy that someone has approached them for help and offer more help than we actually ask for.

When for the first time I approached Prof S Raghunath to request him to be my project guide, not only did he willing agree, he also stopped me from committing myself to a wrong project which could undo me in my placement and career. Come to think of it, Prof Raghunath, had never taught us and had never seen my face before. But in the very first meeting, he not only asked me to changed the theme of my project, but also volunteered to connect me to the directors of some companies who would help me execute the

project. And he did!

Ofcourse we had Prof Roy taking classes after the term was over just to fulfill our request of learning more about Macroeconomics. Who can forget Prof J Ram taking 3 hour lecture on a Sunday to fulfill his commitment to the class, and then hosting a dinner in MDC at his own expense for the 70 of us. Prof Mahadevan arranging a trip for us to Toyota's plant in Bangalore, Prof Seshadri's willingness to battle with the management for not giving students grades lesser than "high B", Prof Krishnamurthy's gifting away of books and sweets to students (he offers cigarettes too, to those who smoke!), Prof Vaidya's affectionate and witty demeanor, Prof's Jose's passion for protection of environment and common people's interests, Prof Sastry's devotion to upliftment of the poor, the ever smiling Prof Vasanthi and her spontaneity in indulging in little conversation by the corridor with students....these are glimpses of a consciously cultivated culture at IIMB. Admittedly, I'd not expected this when I joined IIMB. I was only expecting a great faculty, a lovely campus, and modern infrastructure to aid students in education.

But the culture of the institute has instilled and reinforced the virtues of goodness, humaneness, sensitivity, sacrifice, affection, selflessness and compassion in me. I shall not forget the last class taken by Prof Vaidyanathan (Corporate Finance), when he said that "always strive in life to share a portion of what you have with those who don't have anything to live by. I donate a one third of my income with the have-nots of the society." Prof Jha (Marketing) told us in his last class that "make yourself indispensable like a cardiologist. Make your life and profession to be of such priceless value." Prof Mahadevan takes lectures on Gita painstakingly when he has no obligation from the institute to do so.

It is not just the education, but these human values of affection and compassion, humility and endeavour, that I shall carry more importantly than the lessons in Business Administration from this noble institute of ours.

Yogesh Kumar Singh

Student, IIMB EPGP 2010-11

Student Profile 2 - "Shruti Sharma"

I have always believed in my deep seated conviction – ‘You create & live your own reality’.

Well, it has been one long exciting journey ever since I graduated as an electrical engineer from my alma mater – Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology with one unequivocal aim of setting up my own enterprise. The belief was exceptionally strong, the route fairly ambiguous. During my final semester at Thapar, I successfully interviewed with Nestle India Pvt Ltd (one of the very few MNCs of yester years). But the very thought sticking to 9 to 6 time slot was not in the least enticing. I wanted to live my dream of setting up my very own enterprise quite contrary to my service background upbringing.

Life took a very interesting turn when I got betrothed to Vivek, an Army Officer, a man with bounding energy and an ever ready spirit of adventure. Soon we got married and we were blessed with two lovely daughters. During this period, while we shuttled between Pune, Mumbai (then Bombay) and Bangalore, I took an immense liking towards architectural art glass. The seed having been sown, I set my first backyard workshop in Chandigarh in the year 2000. Since then life has been much like a roller coaster ride with more highs and few lows. Three years later, I had setup my own manufacturing unit in Industrial Area, Mohali and registered under the banner ‘Marc’n Architectural Art Glass’. Four years thence, I also got a unique opportunity to play a lead role as a Director, Army Wives Welfare Organisation, an NGO, while my husband was in command of an engineer regiment. This provided me a unique opportunity to launch a very successful program christened ‘second income generation program’ to provide entrepreneurial vocational skills to the wives of soldiers.

It was around this time, I decided to embark on this prestigious ‘Executive Management Programme’ as a stepping stone to satiate my entrepreneurial spirit. Past six months have been rejuvenating and enlightening. The faculty at IIM, Bangalore, is one of the best that our country can offer. The peer group is engaging and revitalising. The curriculum is enticing and provides adequate flexibility to carve out your very own niche. I am presently working on my next enterprise and would want to immensely thank the think tank group here for guiding, goading and cajoling me on to newer and, I believe, a brighter tomorrow.

As always,

Shruti Sharma
Entrepreneur & Social Mentor
BE (Electrical), Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology
Presently at IIM, Bangalore ( EPGP 2010 - 2011 )

Highlight of the Korea visit -Trip to the DMZ

Our tour guide to the Demilitarized Zone told us a very interesting story of the contest between South and North Korea on who would have the bigger flagpole. Apparently in response to the 50m high flagpole setup by South Korea on its border, North Korea responded by setting up a 80m tall flagpole. South Korea then decided that this would not do and increased the height of its flagpole to 100m. North Korea had the last laugh though by setting up (possibly) the largest flagpole in the world at 160m. At this point, the guide said, S Korea decided it would not continue with this contest. I found this story highly amusing especially the spin that the guide put in the end on the S Korea decision, by claiming that it was a magnanimous and broad minded gesture on their part. It did serve as a memorable example of the sometimes ridiculous nature of competitive national rivalries and reminded me of similar sentiments expressed by my friend who had visited the Wagah border.

Going to the DMZ dramatically brought home the point of the extremely short distance between Seoul and the border with North Korea. The guide casually mentioned that in case of a missile launch, the South Koreans would have only about 8 seconds of reaction time!

The Korean War formed the backdrop to any conversation that we had in the trip about Korea and its history. More than anything else, it has shaped and modulated opinion and policy making long after the end of hostilities. Almost all the speakers who spoke to us repeatedly emphasized the almost total devastation that Korea in general and Seoul in specific faced at the end of the Korean War. The widely pervasive negative perception that Korea have of Japan sometimes creates distortions in their historical narrative. Almost all speakers claimed that Japan at the end of the Second World War had far lesser devastation compared with Korea. As a person interested in history, I knew that this statement was simply not true. Having recently read "American Prometheus" the biography of Robert Oppenheimer (and also from other readings), I was aware of the terrible devastation brought about by the firebombing of the various Japanese cities. The almost universal ignorance of these facts by more than one presenter was for me a pointer of how the national narratives can sometimes distort the actual reality.

The 4 Km DMZ had a couple of farms within it and was said to have some extremely rare species of flora and fauna (I did see a few birds but unfortunately was not able to appreciate this aspect of the DMZ with my limited knowledge). I found it ironical that a zone dividing two nations can engender such a beautiful habitat. North Koreans had built a number of tunnels under the DMZ to use in case of a military invasion. Four such tunnels have been found and the South Koreans had created the infrastructure to enable visitors to see these tunnels. I went down tunnel number 3 and after a long time when I thought I had reached the tunnel, I was told that this was only the end of the access tunnel and that the actual tunnel starts from that point. There was a mineral water fountain at that point, and drinking and fortifying myself, I went on to explore the actual tunnel.

The tunnel was not very tall even taking into account the shorter height of the Korean people. It was even more difficult for me to traverse the tunnel stooping down. It was only the hard hat helmets, mandated to be worn by anyone entering the tunnel, which saved my head from cracking under the low roofed tunnel. The height and my lack of fitness combined to make it a very arduous trip to the end of the tunnel. There was no proverbial light at the end of the tunnel but rather a locked door! The trip back up the tunnel was extremely tough but I was glad that I had seen this rather exotic place that is in many ways a constant reminder of the dangerous neighbourhood.