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!