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!