Prof. Thiru - The Marketing Wizard

I was one among the first few faculty members to join the MBA Programme of SIT in 1998.  The programme was launched a year ago and the first batch of students were already in the second year of their course.  Since the first-year courses were mostly handled by visiting faculty, the pass percentage in the university examination, especially in subjects like Accounting, Statistics etc.  was low.  This is the background in which I joined the Institute.  I was asked to teach Accounting for the new batch.  When the results were declared, there was 100% pass in Accounting.  Few days later there was a meeting of the advisory board.  I was told that Prof. P N Thirunarayana from IIM Bangalore, who was a member of the board would be addressing the students before the board meeting.  Though I had heard about him, I had never met him before.  As soon as Prof. Thiru reached the campus, he wanted to meet me.  When I met him in the board room, he shook my hands tightly saying, ‘I am told that you have achieved 100% results in your subject.  Congratulations. Keep it up. Do this for two more years and you would have made a mark’.  There was lot of warmth and affection in his words.  These words from Prof. Thiru were like getting an award!

After this, I attended the lecture that Prof. Thiru delivered to our students.  I was very much fascinated by his teaching style, his ability to explain tough concepts in simple manner and his deep knowledge in scripture which allowed him to easily connect management concepts to lessons from the scriptures.  Even today I remember a couplet from ‘Katopanishad’ that he had quoted on that day.  After this, I had the opportunity of meeting him several times and every time, he showed the same warmth and affection to me.  Whenever I met him, I could feel a positive energy and I was highly motivated to do better in my profession.  He strongly believed in encouraging youngsters who chose academics as profession to excel in teaching.  Since I was not his student, I had attended only few of his invited talks.  But that itself was enough for creating a lasting impression in me.  There are many aspects of his teaching that I have carefully imbibed into mine.    

In December 2010 I visited IIM Bangalore with my colleague Vivek for some work in the library.  After finishing the work, we went to meet Prof. Thiru.  We didn’t have an appointment.  His office was closed.  His secretary informed us that he had gone to take a session for the executive training programme, and he would be back in an hour.  We decided to go around the campus and return after a while.  When we returned, his office was still closed.  His secretary told us that he came back from the class and left the office for the day.  I felt, I should have left my card with his secretary so that when he came back from class, he would have called me.   Three months later, Prof. Thiru passed away on 22 March 2011.  I was shocked to hear the news.  I felt extremely sad that I missed one last chance to meet him, and Vivek, who had never met him before, lost a golden opportunity to interact with him.  Had we waited near his office, we would have met him.

Prof. P N Thirunarayana, son of the famous Kannada poet Sri. Pu Thi Narasimhaachaar, was a professor of Marketing at IIM Bangalore.  He was considered as one of the most popular teachers at IIM.  Last year the alumni of IIM Bangalore raised Rs.2 crores to dedicate a classroom in his memory.  Great teachers continue to inspire even after they are gone!