The Teacher, I love to be!

Today is Teachers’ Day, a day on which we remember and offer salutations to our teachers.  I have been closely observing teachers right from my school days.  I have observed them as a student, as a colleague, as training partner and at times, just as an outsider.  I have seen many teachers in my life.  Most of them were ordinary; few were good teachers; still less in number were great teachers.  But, I have always held one person at the top; the greatest teacher that I have ever met; the role model for me – Prof. K Balakrishnan, retired professor of Business Policy and Finance at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA).  I had the privilege of being his assistant during my tenure as Academic Associate at IIMA during 1996-98.  Prof. Bala was already a legendary teacher when I met him at IIMA.  His style of teaching was so profound that it drew not only his students, but also his younger colleagues to his classes.  Nobody wanted to miss the opportunity of attending his classes.  Prof. T T Ram Mohan, mentions in his book, ‘Brick by Red Brick’, ‘K Balakrishnan brought unusual intensity and drama into the class room…… there was never a dull moment in his class’.  On teachers’ day, let me offer my salutations to Prof. Bala through this blog post.

 

Prof. Balakrishnan with me, when I visited him in 2014

 

Even though I have drawn lessons from most of the good teachers whom I met, the one who had the greatest influence on my teaching style is Prof. Bala.  During his sessions, I used to sit glued to my seat, staring at him, trying to absorb whatever he taught.  In fact, what I learnt more from him is the art of teaching than the subject he taught.  I could learn the subject from anyone, but not his style of teaching.  Today, more than two decades later, when I glance through the notes that I wrote in his class, his classes comes back vividly in my memory.  I started thinking, ‘what made Prof. Bala stand apart?’ Here are my thoughts:

 

 

 

a) Knowledge: Undoubtedly, Prof. Bala’s knowledge in his area of expertise was deep.  As he used to say, the teachers have to push the frontiers of knowledge, if not, at least be at the frontiers of knowledge.  True to his words, he knew the latest developments in his area and was quick and keen to bring the same to the class room discussions.  His expertise in the subject used to be so deep that he would have critically evaluated each concept that he taught.  He didn’t hesitate in expressing his disagreements either.  For example, while teaching BCG Growth-Share matrix, he didn’t like calling the products in the first cell as ‘question marks’.  He preferred calling them ‘babies’.  His logic is simple and straight forward: ‘question mark has negative connotations, while babies are nurtured, so that they turn stars one day!’

b) Application of knowledge: Prof. Bala strongly believed that teaching just theoretical concepts without practical applications was a waste of time.  That is what made him one of the finest teachers of case study method, where whatever is taught is explained through real-life applications.  I still remember how enthusiastically he would explain the concepts through cases like Gujarat Pharmaceuticals, Dansk Designs, Vlasic Foods, Mridula Ice-cream Parlor etc.  Every concept was related to a situation in the case.

c) Flexibility: I have seen Prof. Bala teaching at Post Graduate Programme (PGP), Management Development Programme (MDP), and Faculty Development Programme (FDP).  Even though he taught the same concepts in all these programmes, his approach was entirely different.  While he stressed more on learning the basic concepts through applications in PGP, his emphasis was more on managerial challenges in MDP and when he taught for FDP, apart from teaching the basic concepts, he would share the teaching techniques with the participants.  Prof. Bala, like a performing artist, clearly understood the audience and delivered exactly what they expected to learn from him.  This flexibility is extremely important for a teacher and I find the same missing in many.

d) Story telling: Prof. Bala was a master story-teller.  A case would slowly unfold in his class like a wonderfully narrated story.  People were always eager to know what happened next.   His uncanny ability of telling stories brought every character of the case live in front of the students.  Be it Shah of Gujarat Pharmaceuticals or Ted Nierenberg of Dansk Designs, he made them all come alive in the classroom.    

e) Generating interest in the participants:  On one side, where Prof. Bala was an excellent narrator of the case situations, he gave equal importance to participation by students in the discussion.  He would ask questions, pose challenges, mock the characters in the case, crack jokes and keep the participants continuously engaged.  I still remember, he used to start the MDP session at 2 pm and go on till 7 pm with just 15 minutes break in between.  In one of those sessions, where the participants were all senior managers from various companies, when the session ended at 7 pm, I heard the participants saying, ‘Oh, it’s already 7, we didn’t realise how the time passed!’.  This was the power of Prof. Bala.

f) Teaching style: The teaching style of Prof. Bala was unparalleled.  He brought lot of theatrics to the classroom.  His expressions, actions and modulation and tone of voice made his classes extremely attractive.  At times, he would position himself in one corner of the room, crack a joke and come rushing towards the centre of the room; he would identify a participant whom he wanted to ask something, stand far away from him and come rushing towards him with the question; sometimes he would speak so softly that everybody had to sharpen their ears to listen, and the next moment he would speak at the height of his voice and laugh loudly.  I may not be able to completely explain his style; it is beyond narration; it is something to be experienced.  I used to be so fascinated by his style that I used to come back to my room and imitate him in front of my colleagues.  This imitation sprung from a deep sense of admiration towards his teaching. 

g) Uncompromising Commitment: I haven’t seen any other teacher who is so committed and passionate about his profession.  When I was assisting him during 1996-98, he had already crossed 50, had a major surgery and had difficulty in hearing.  But none of this dented his enthusiasm in the classroom.  Once, after a five hour long session for the MDP, I wanted to discuss something with him.  When I asked him whether we could spend five minutes, he patted my shoulder and said, ‘after these sessions I get really tired, I go home and sleep, sometimes I don’t even take dinner, so can we meet tomorrow?’.  I stood there, staring at him walking towards his residence, wondering who on earth asked him to stretch a 2 hour session to 5 hours!  That day, I learnt a lesson or two on professional commitment.  Immediately after his retirement in 2001, Prof. Bala gave an interview to the IIMA Alumnus magazine, where he talks about the extra efforts put in by the young faculty members during the early days of IIMA.  He calls it ‘individual pain for institutional gain’.  Today, when everybody is asking what is there for me, before performing any task, Prof. Bala stands apart.  In the same interview he says, “Teaching is my addiction; I am essentially a teacher and would like to continue to be one. I get my excitement from that. In fact, teaching is a more powerful medicine for me than all the chemicals prescribed by my good cardiologist and I hope I will continue to get my minimum dose!”

 

 

Today, we hardly find such teachers.  Off late, I have been observing two disturbing trends in the field of higher education.  First, the youngsters who are entering the field of academics are not giving enough importance to the art of teaching.  The second, which is more disturbing, is that many institutes of higher learning are not doing enough to encourage their faculty members to excel in teaching.  On the other hand, they are asked to focus more on research and consulting.  I am not undermining the significance of research and consulting.  In fact, they should complement and enrich teaching.  But, focusing on research by diminishing the significance of teaching is not correct.  It is in this context the contributions by teachers like Prof. Bala assume significance.

 

 

In 2014, I met Prof. Bala at his residence in Ahmedabad.  His health had further deteriorated; but his energy and enthusiasm were intact.  He spent almost an hour with me, catching up old memories.  He hugged me when I was about to leave and wished me all good things in life.  I couldn’t have asked for more.  Let me conclude with a message to Prof. Bala:  ‘Dear Prof. Bala, you have always influenced me, and would continue to inspire me to eternity.  I have been trying to be like you, but failing time and again.  You are the destination for me; the cliff of the mountain that I would love to climb.  I know I would never be a teacher like you.  Every time I feel closer to you, like a mirage you move away, and I find lot more distance to reach you.  That is the level of professionalism and greatness that you gave to teaching.  Still, I continue to strive to reach you, because the journey of getting closer to you is itself rewarding and enjoyable.  My pranams to you.  YOU ARE THE TEACHER I LOVE TO BE.’