September 5 – Teachers Day, a day on which we remember our teachers and pay our respect to them. On this occasion, let me talk about nine great teachers, Navaratnas, who made a difference in my life. The order in which I present them here is the chronological order in which they came in my life. Otherwise, the order has no significance, because each one of them have influenced me in one way or the other.
1. Sri. Bhaskaran
Master: Bhaskaran Master taught me Malayalam and Mathematics in my sixth and
seventh class in school. He was the
first to spot that I had talent in public speaking. He encouraged me to participate in public
speaking competitions and trained me in that.
He taught me the importance of logically sequencing what one is talking
about – be it public speaking, giving seminars and presentations or
teaching. Thus, he kindled my interests
towards teaching at an early age. Bhaskaran
Master left for heavenly abode last year.
2.
Sri. Ranjith
Master: Ranjith Sir taught me science in the high school. He was a versatile teacher who used to teach
through real-life examples and illustrations.
I learnt from him the importance of teaching through illustrations and
applications. After I left the school,
he invited me to conduct quiz programmes along with him. That was another occasion to learn from
him. A highly dedicated teacher and a
social worker, Ranjith Sir is currently serving as Councilor at Kochi
Corporation.
3. Sri. Subrahmanyan Sir: Subrahmanyan Sir was running a tuition centre called Omega at Kochi. I was his student for two years. He was a tough teacher who believed in strict punishment for those who did not perform well in their studies. He had devised many methods through which the students could easily learn some tough concepts and remember them. Commitment to one’s profession is the biggest lesson that I learnt from him. He is leading a retired life at Kochi now.
4.
Dr. V Nithyananda
Bhat: Dr. Bhat taught me English in my Pre-Degree course. I had my schooling in a Malayalam medium
school and my English communication was very poor. So, I approached him and asked him to help
me. He spent many hours with me. Starting from the fundamentals of English
grammar, he helped me improve my language skills. Today, if I am able to communicate reasonably
well in English, the credit goes to Dr. Bhat.
After retirement he is serving as the Honorary Director of Sukrtindra
Oriental Research Institute at Kochi.
5.
Prof. V J Antony:
Prof. Antony taught me Physics during my Pre-Degree course. He was a versatile teacher who believed in
learning through doing. He had won many
awards for his teaching models. Prof.
Antony was not just a Physics teacher; he was a practicing psychotherapy counselor. Most of my interactions with him, mostly
after I left the college, were related to the behavioural aspects. He has played an important role in shaping my
personality. Even today he continues to be
a popular counselor at Kochi.
6.
Prof. Stanly
Chazhoor: Prof. Stanly was my teacher and project guide in M.Com. He used to ask students to give presentations/seminars
on every Friday and most of the times, he would pick me first to talk. This gave me lot of confidence and allowed me
to test my teaching skills. As a project
guide, he was very meticulous. I learnt from
him the importance of having a clear vision before one starts a project.
7.
Dr. V Raghunathan:
Dr. Raghunathan was a professor at IIM Ahmedabad, whom I had assisted during my
tenure at IIMA. While I can list a lot
of things that I learnt from him (which I will do in a separate blog), I would
like to highlight his ability to teach some of the tough concepts in Finance in
a simple and easy to understand manner as my biggest learning from him. Dr. Raghu is not just a professor of Finance,
he has multiple interest – he is a highly successful author, columnist, and
researcher. After leaving IIMA, he served
as the President of ING Vysya Bank and later was with the GMR Group.
8.
Prof. K
Balakrishnan: I consider Prof. Bala as my mentor in many ways. He was the professor of Finance and Business
Policy at IIMA. His greatest influence
on me is on style of teaching. He was an
extra-ordinary teacher with the ability to keep his students glued to his
session for hours together. His ability to
engage the students was excellent. He
was a dynamic teacher whose sessions were highly appreciated even by the
participants from industry. After
retirement, Prof. Bala is living at Ahmedabad.
9.
Dr. Prasanna
Chandra: I started reading Dr. Chandra’s book on Financial Management during my
M.Com. days. He was the professor of
Finance at IIM Bangalore. I met him
first in 1999 when he had visited SIT for a guest lecture. Around that time, he had quit IIMB and
started Centre for Financial Management at Bengaluru. He used to offer weekend training programmes
at the centre. I attended two such
programmes at the centre. I had already
known him as a wonderful author. I found
him to be an excellent teacher as well. There
is no other author in India, whose books in various fields of Finance are recommended
textbooks in most of the universities. His
books are the most sought after by the teachers as well as students. Prof. Chandra continues to write and revise
his books.
There
are many more teachers, who have influenced me in one way or the other. But I consider the nine teachers as the
Navaratnas, whose contributions in shaping me what I am today are unparalleled. My salutations to all of them on this occasion.
While I have written individual blogs on five of the above, the links to which are given below, I will surely write separate blogs on the remaining four in due course.
Bhaskaran
Sir:
Ranjith
Sir:
Subrahmanyan
Sir:
Dr.
Nithyananda Bhat:
Prof.
Balakrishnan:
