Physics to Finance

In 1988 my cousin Abhay Kumar introduced me to Saraswath Youths’ Association (SYA), a voluntary organisation at Kochi.  Founded in 1964, SYA was actively involved in socio-cultural activities.  It was functioning from ‘Hari Shenoy’s Bungalow’, an ancient building at West Kochi.  (Later when the Department of Tourism decided to renovate this building and preserve it as a cultural monument, SYA moved to a building of its own).

One of the main activities of SYA was providing tuition for school children free of cost.  Teaching was done on a voluntary basis by members of SYA, most of whom were college students.  When I joined SYA, I was a student of Pre-Degree (equivalent to Plus Two).   Abhay Kumar was in-charge of tuitions at SYA, and he wanted me to teach there.  Though I had always cherished the dream of becoming a teacher, I didn’t have any experience of teaching.  I was allotted Physics for ninth standard.  I still remember my first class, which was on Optics (to be specific on the properties of convex lens).  There were ten students in my class.  I was literally shivering when I entered the class.  As time passed, I started thoroughly enjoying my teaching.  I continued teaching there till 1996 when I moved out of Kochi.  The experience I gained by teaching at SYA made me more confident about choosing a career in teaching. 

SYA celebrated silver jubilee in 1989.  Many events like science exhibition, quiz competition, arts and cultural shows etc. were organised as part of the celebrations.  I took active part in organising all these events.  Another activity that comes to my mind is the weekly Group Discussion (GD) sessions.  There was only one channel in television those days – Doordarshan (DD).  A show called ‘The World This Week’ anchored by Pranoy Roy, who was producing shows for DD those days, used to be telecast every Friday.  We picked up one or two topics from this show and arranged GD sessions at SYA every Sunday.  Many college students like me, and my cousin Anil Kamath participated in the GD.  Our seniors like Ram Kamath (my cousin) and Rajendra Bhat (my brother-in-law) guided us in the process.  This activity helped us in improving our communication skills, enhancing our ability of logical reasoning, and kept us updated with the latest happenings around the world.  All those who were involved in such activities reaped the benefits later in their careers.  At a time when jargons like ‘soft skills’, ‘employability skills’, etc. were not even heard, SYA provided us a platform for improving our skills.  SYA was silently contributing towards shaping our future!

I continue to be associated with SYA in whatever limited way I can.  With over 26 years of career in academics, I remain indebted to SYA for providing me the first platform for testing my teaching skills.  SYA to SIT (Siddaganga Institute of Technology) – it has been a wonderful journey.  SYA and SIT – both are three letters and the first one is common.  From a Physics teacher to a Finance Professor – at least in phonetics, both Physics and Finance start with the same sound.  What a coincidence!

One Class – Lifelong Memory

Each moment can be a memory.  But rarely we come across some moments that become lifelong memory.  Let me share one such moment from my life.  I was Academic Associate to Prof. D D Trivedi, a visiting faculty at IIMA in 1997 for a course on Finance.  The role of an academic associate was to support the faculty in preparation of courses, development of material, conducting tests, evaluation of answer papers, clarifying doubts of students and so on.  As the teaching was mostly done by the professors, the academic associates rarely got a chance to teach.  Prof. Trivedi was a very senior retired professor, whose style of teaching predominantly involved spending more time explaining the fundamental concepts through real-life examples.  He did not focus much on solving numerical illustrations as he expected the students to do it themselves.  When the mid-term examination approached, the students met Prof. Trivedi with a request to conduct a remedial session (rems, as they are known in IIMA) to clarify their doubts related to numerical exercises.  I still remember, we were near the entrance of the library, I was standing behind Prof. Trivedi.  He turned around and told me, ‘They want a remedial session, why don’t you handle?’.  I was shocked – I should teach? That too at IIMA? Looking at my perplexed face, Prof. Trivedi, patted my shoulder and said, ‘You can do it!’.

The session was scheduled on a Saturday morning.  I spent lot of time preparing thoroughly for the session. I knew the participants would ask tricky questions, after all most of them were graduates of IITs.  I was literally shivering as I walked into Classroom No. 3.  Only about 30 students out of 120 had come for my session.  I could gain confidence as I started solving problems and clarifying their doubts.  From their faces I could sense that they were also happy with my explanations.  Halfway through we took a coffee break for 15 minutes.  When I returned to the classroom, I was surprised to see more students.  Those who were attending my session had gone to the dormitory (hostel) during the coffee break and brought their friends along!

A month later, when the final examination was approaching, the students met Prof. Trivedi again.  This time with a request that they wanted remedial session by me!  Prof. Trivedi turned to me with a smile and said, ‘please go ahead’.  (I would like to salute the greatness of Prof. Trivedi, because I have seen many who get academically jealous under such circumstances).  This time my session was scheduled after dinner at 8 in the evening.  This time too, I prepared well.  I can never forget what I saw when I reached Classroom No.3 at 8 on that evening.  The classroom was full, people were sitting on the floor in front of the black board and more people were coming in!  I was overwhelmed by this response.  Since more students were coming in, the class representatives suggested that I repeat the session once again the next morning so that half of them could attend the next day.  I agreed.  Those who did not get a seat left the room saying they would attend the next day. 

This became a news in the campus.  Prof. N Venkiteswaran was the first to congratulate me the next morning.  Many other professors, including Prof. Trivedi appreciated my efforts.  At the end of the semester, when the students were asked to give feedback on the course, many of them appreciated my efforts and wrote it in the feedback forms.  I requested the PGP Office to give me copies of those feedback forms, which is a precious possession for me even today.  I remain indebted to Prof. Trivedi for giving me this opportunity.  

A boy who grew up in a small city, went to a Malayalam medium school and had nothing exceptional about his education, had impressed the students of the top-most B-School in the country.  A life-long memory was created!

College Garden – Flowering ‘Answers’!

Imagine a college garden. What all can you do there?  Probably, the first thought that came to your mind is romance.  You can also chit-chat with friends; while away time after bunking classes; or observe the plants and their features, especially if you are a student of botany.  But can you imagine writing an examination sitting in the garden?  That is what I did in 1992!

I was a ‘privately registered’ student for B.Com.  Privately registered students do not get admitted to a regular college affiliated to the university.  Instead, they study in private colleges, which do not have any connection with the university.  Such colleges are popularly known as ‘Parallel Colleges’ in Kerala.  When the year-end examinations come, the university allots a regular college as exam centre to all private candidates.  I was allotted a famous college in the heart of the city as exam centre.  That day we had Hindi exam.  The exam was in the afternoon from 2 to 5.  When I reached the college at around 1.30, I was asked to proceed to a classroom on the first floor of the building.  When I reached the classroom, I was surprised and shocked to see that around 100 students had gathered in a classroom, which could hardly accommodate 60.  More students were coming in.  The university had allotted a greater number of students than what the college could accommodate.  Probably, the college didn’t have any idea about this.  There was utter chaos. 

The college authorities managed to get additional copies of the question papers.  They asked the students to sit wherever they could!  Some sat on the corridor, some on the staircase and some moved to the garden!  I was thoroughly disappointed and angry at the treatment meted out to the private candidates.  I thought, this must somehow come to the limelight.  I was almost sure that the examination will be cancelled.  So, I submitted the paper and came out of the college within 30 minutes.  I went straight to the press club, which was close to the college.  I narrated the incident to the first person whom I met there.  Initially, he was not convinced, but when I showed him my admit card, he seemed to believe.  He said ‘okay’ and went inside.  I was not sure, if he would do something.  So, I went to a nearby public call office, took the telephone directory, made phone calls to the offices of few popular newspapers such as Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Indian Express etc. and narrated the incident.  I enjoyed a cup of coffee from a nearby coffee shop and went back to the college.  After a while, when I reached the college, I saw many press reporters there.  I had done my bit!  (Had this happened today, the pictures and videos would fly to all parts of the world instantly). 

I waited eagerly for the next day’s newspaper.  Yes, the story was published on the front page with photographs.  The university and the college blamed each other for the fiasco.  The exam was cancelled and rescheduled.  Next day I narrated this to one of my friends.  He was furious, ‘so, you are the one who spoilt my fortune?’. ‘What did I do?’, I asked.  He said, ‘amidst all that chaos, I had nicely copied all the answers from the textbook.  Now, I have to study all over again’!! 

Omega - Synonym to Discipline

When I was studying in the ninth standard, my father admitted me to Omega Tuition Centre at Kochi.  Omega, run by Sri. Subramanyan Master was a popular tuition centre at Kochi.  The tagline of Omega was ‘shikshanam shikshayiloode maathram’, meaning, ‘teaching only through punishment’.  True to its tagline, Subramanyan Sir strongly believed that learning can be ensured only through strict punishment.  He had a large collection of ‘chooral’ (cane/switch), with which he used to beat the students who did not study well or misbehaved in the class.  The fear of punishment kept the students on their toes, and they all performed well in the exams.  Though the students were reluctant to join, their parents loved and preferred Omega!

There was punishment for almost everything – making mistakes in tests, not answering questions, remaining absent from the class, coming late, misbehaving, etc.  Absenteeism was not at all tolerated.  If a student remained absent, his/her parent was supposed to meet Subramanyan Sir personally and take permission.  Otherwise, there was severe punishment.  His style of giving tests was unique.  He usually gave 10-15 minutes tests.  There were close to 80 students in the class.  At the end of the test, he would ask all students to stand up.  Then he would start dictating the answer.  At any point if a student found any mistake in his/her answer paper, he/she had to immediately sit.  At the end only few would be standing.  He would go to them and check only their answer papers, because all others had already admitted that they had made mistakes.  Then he would announce, ‘all those who are sitting, please stand up and all those standing may please sit’.  He would start beating from one end of the classroom.  There was a narrow passage leading to the classroom.  At the end of each day’s class, he would stand near the passage with his ‘chooral’ and ask questions to each student and punish if they could not answer quickly.  Misbehavior and creating nuisance were never allowed.  For the first time in my life, I experienced ‘pin-drop’ silence in his class.

But it was not just the punishment that made Subramanyan Sir unique.  He was an excellent teacher who had devised wonderful means of teaching tough concepts in an easy-to-understand and memorize manner.  He used a variety of techniques like using abbreviations, narrating stories, teaching equations like nursery rhymes etc.  His techniques were aimed at making the concepts crystal clear in the minds of the students and providing easy ways of memorizing.  His style of teaching was so effective that I am able to recollect many things that he had taught me, even after three decades!  He used to teach English, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry – the subjects which were found to be tough by the students.  Today we see exponential growth in learning apps that claim to teach tough subjects in simple ways.  But Subramanyan Sir did exactly the same, four decades ago!  If he were to be teaching today, with the aid of technology, he would have given tough competition to all these learning apps.

No doubt, the subjects taught by Subramanyan Sir helped us in passing the tenth standard with flying colours.  But, more than those subjects, he taught us some important life-lessons, without explicitly mentioning them.  He taught us the importance of discipline, hard work and dedication.  I believe, only that teacher, who is fully committed to his profession has the right to punish his students.  And Subramanyan Sir was the epitome of dedication to one’s profession.  At any point in time if a student or his/her parent was not happy with his style, he used to refund the entire fee and allow them to discontinue.  A person with a commercial bend of mind could never do that.  He never cancelled or rescheduled his classes.  More than the students, he was always committed to the parents, who had reposed their faith in him. 

Omega was closed few years ago.  Subramanyan Sir is leading a retired life at Kochi now.  Thanks to the tireless efforts of a small group of his old students, Kochi Corporation has named the street adjacent to the tuition centre as ‘Omega Road’.  The same group has taken the initiative to bring together all students of Subramanyan Sir spread across the world.  Today, the same students who were afraid of him once, are coming together to celebrate his contributions.  As a teacher, I have been immensely influenced by him.  Let me offer my ‘Pranaams’ to this great teacher and wish him good health, happiness and joy for all the years to come.