Teacher Extraordinaire – Remembering Prof Himadri Ray

“Taxes, Death & Salesmen – all of us wants to avoid these” – his intense voice had an element of authority, which he established later as he guided all of us to a journey into the fascinating world of marketing management. In the very first class, his snow-white hair & bright sparkling eyes provided enough clues about the experience & insight our resident marketing guru used to possess. Once, a few of us pressed him hard to get some clue about the end-semester question paper. Amused, he gave a nonchalant reply – “when in doubt, assume the worst!”

His case studies offered ample foods for thought leading to high-voltage verbal duels with the smiling professor sitting in the last row managing the entire episode. And, invariably, to our utter frustration, he used to catch us on the wrong foot on any weak proposition. “A sound marketing plan can never defy fundamental economic logic” – he always hastened to add while pointing at the illogic in our proposal. ‘Marketing is nothing but an extension of economics’ was his sincere belief.

After a long stint in the industry, his scholarly soul probably found its rightful place in the IIT in the twilight years of his life. No doubt, in spite of some serious ailment, he enjoyed being a Professor. “This is the noblest profession” – he once told me. His modest presence was there to welcome all of us when we joined VGSOM. Students come & go, but teachers remain the silent witnesses of this irresistible march of time. Prof. Himadri Ray could not witness his beloved students leaving the hallowed precincts of this noble Institution. He has left all of us leaving an indelible imprint on our collective psyche as an erudite individual & a kind-hearted human being.

First Published in IIT-KGP Alumni Newsletter KGPian, July-2006

Stopping by school on a rainy afternoon…

It was almost evening when I reached our school inside the IIT campus. The sweet drizzle was going on. And it was all green surrounding the lonely building. To a true connoisseur of colour it could surely have been an aesthetic upliftment. Well, there was none to greet me in the silent corridor. Its silence was however shattered soon by the footsteps of a man in his early fifties with specs over his nose. Even the almost opaque glasses could not hide the confusion in his eyes, as I found out. He was uttering something, to and fro. His single line message was finally conveyed in a couple of minutes when I understood that he is proceeding to his native place by the evening Steel Express. Goodbye, Sir ! Have a safe journey.
As soon as he left, I found a young aged man with slim features and a brand new sports-shoe entered the building. I felt relieved, ah! Now I will get the book on six sigma. I enquired whether it is there in the library. He was pretty confident, “yes yes, anything you ask for”. He hurriedly searched through the first rack and pulled down a thin little book. He gave a satisfying smile – this is your book. But, how come the Breyfogle’s book became so thin. My god! It was some nondescript Burlington of operations management. I felt like sinking. I asked for the library catalogue, but there is no such thing called catalogue. It will be prepared, he assured smugly, within a year. He did not forget to add his trademark assurance – “ anything you need don’t hesitate to …”. Convinced, I came out.

Lets go the hostel. As  I reached the main gate, another well-built gentleman with smiles galore in his visage approached me. His posture reminded me first of a kathakali mudra and then a familiar punch line – there is more to acrobat …” – Classroom habits die-hard. But, yes, I gained from this encounter – a decent packet of Bengali sweets changed hand. I thanked him profusely and also the person who was carrying those bagful of packets.

And then came THE CAR – the biggest in IIT. With no one except the tall dark driver inside, it probably, arrived with the message that Boss will appear very soon. Everything around disappeared behind it; the young lad of IE department, the younger lass he was talking to whose skin colour reminded me of Mediterranean sunshine, the beautiful trees setting up a romantic backround and even the pebbled lane soaked by light rain. Understanding the vulnerability of my presence, I resumed my solitary journey towards the hostel. It started raining again.

New Delhi, September – 2004

Rajasthan, 2003 – Part II

Bhilwara to Chittorgarh was otherwise a smooth journey & also a boring one. However, the boredom has somewhat disappeared, when we were stuck behind an oil tanker which has been stopped near a police checkpost.  Must be some violation of traffic rule or driver not having legitimate papers. Good heavens, three law keepers standing in a queue taking their turns not to collect bribe (that’s too commonplace) but to grab the precious oil in a pitcher. Driver of the oil tanker is found looking approvingly with a mischievous smile. He will be getting his due in a minute. The seal of the tanker was put in place with impeccable precision once those pitchers are full. Three policemen wished bon voyage to the driver. My co-passengers laughed. One retired professor of local college commented-“market will be better once the four lane highway is complete.
In fact the road construction has brought enthusiasm in this region. Construction workers are earning something. New plants ( mostly textile) are coming up. Local people are getting employment. They are happy. Plant owners are happier. Cheap labor is so readily available. Unlike their unionized counterparts, they are very loyal. Off course, their name is listed nowhere. PF and gratuity are distant dreams. There is no record, how much these plants are producing or how many workers are employed there. An electrical engineer is on a blitzkrieg tour. The purpose is to tamper with the electricity meter of some nondescript plant. The guy is from Delhi and passed out of a government engineering college. Its taxpayer’s money that made him an engineer. Now he is dedicated to the service of the nation.
Water, as usual is a serious issue. In a Rajasthan village, it is the most precious commodity. And a major election issue. Drinking water is not accessible to everyone, especially to the lower caste. Sounds like a Shyam Benegal film. But, it is still an unhappy reality here. Some privileged, although, are more than happy. Local chemical
processing plants purchase water from them. Rs 250 per tanker. One ex-bank officer employed a few to conduct this business on his behalf. Those hapless farmers who are not in a position to buy water or procure it work in that very plant at a meagre salary to earn their livelihood!
Engineering and law schools have proliferated in Rajasthan.Bhilwara has got an old textile college that also teaches
computer science. Incidentally, not all seats in the textile stream are filled up. In this textile city, simply there are few takers for textile technology!! There is a dearth “suitable” job for the youth. One final year student defined this “suitability”. Textile plants offer Rs 2500-3000 per month for a new recruit. Computer graduates receive marginally better. Most of them are in search for greener pastures elsewhere.
Female literacy in Rajasthan is as low as 35%. Marriage is brisk business for some, good deal for the others. Industrialist Mr X wishes to have a politician son-in law and vice versa. In one such incident, a fortunate son-in-law got an entire textile plant as dowry. In return, the blessed father-in-law managed to evade law keepers knocking at his door in search of a serious anomaly. It is better to pay dowry once in a lifetime than to submit excise every year.

Female child is still a curse and sheer misfortune. It was reported that, a village near Jaisalmer every female child born is immediately killed and the number of unmarried girl in that village has reduced to eight at present since the beginning of this noble venture. Signs of great progress, indeed.
Caste is omnipresent here. There are innumerable organizations claiming to represent Jaths, Gujjars, Rajputs, OBCs, Harijans and thousands of caste and sub castes. In fact , most conveniently, a person is identified here in relation to his/her caste. It is said that Congress in rajasthan is a very balanced force because it has at least one prominent leader for each of the major castes!!! Caste determines the marriage, the business deal, the schooling and even the administrative actions. One upper caste member of a village attempted to molest a tribal woman in her own house. Because of her fierce resistance, he had to retreat. Angered, he along with his brother burnt down the hut where this woman had been living for years. Police, quite expectedly failed to take action against the prime accused. The members of two national political parties remained a mute spectator. Ironically, their chief ministerial aspirants are promising a “development programme with private participation in which caste will of no consideration”. Simultaneously, they are busy in securing  caste vote by raising the issue of more reservations for them.
In spite of attaining self sufficiency in power, rural electrification is far from satisfactory in Rajasthan.New colleges
are opened regularly but the primary education is in shambles. Like the maharajas of yesteryears, top-level bureaucrats hold court at distant villages to hear their problem and provide readymade solution. This phenomenon exposes the system and the lackadaisical approach by the administration to provide some relief to the suffering populace . In most of the cases, these king’s courts reduce to a road show adding little or no tangible benefit to the poor apart from draining the exchequer.
For any election, ideally, there are two major issues. First, the state of political health and the second pertains to that of the economy. These two are not mutually exclusive. This is true for all the states and these are even truer for rajasthan where economics of politics or the politics of economics have become interchangeable and synonymous. It is well evident that more than proportionate growth in the economic anarchy accompanies the steady decline of political health. It is unfair to accuse the politician-businessman nexus, as they are not the only villains of the piece. In Rajasthan, they are actually a single entity. Every politician is running some kind of business activity where every businessman aspires to be in charge of political affairs just to gain economic mileage out of it. Every professional, be it a bureaucrat, or an academician or even a doctor seems to be in a great hurry to swallow a cut of the pie before it is
reduced or vanished altogether.
Quite obviously, this all-pervasive venality has made electorate cynical persuading them to think in a narrow selfish line forgetting the greater common good. Political parties have enticed them in to corrupt practices and effectively sealed their inner voice of conscience. There is basically little difference between the two ‘national’ parties in terms of policy-making. They are indistinguishable from each other in throwing false promises, organizing yatras and whipping up sectarian sentiments in their business of politics. For a vast majority in Rajasthan, Party B and Party C  are two sides of the same coin, the devil and the deep blue sea ; another pair of Twiddledum and Twiddledee.

Rajasthan, September-2003