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Rita (PGP 1970) & G S Vasan (PGP 1969)

Rita (PGP 1970) & G S Vasan (PGP 1969)

I would regard my two years at IIMA as a significant, indeed a transformational experience.

Like many others, I am sure,I came to the Institute eager and full of confidence. But as it turned out, not well prepared for the rigorous and relentless academic pressure that we confronted. After a few months of an ordeal during which I had more than once considered calling it “quits”, I settled down to a level of comfort that enabled me to begin to absorb and integrate the learning that IIMA had to offer. The “steel” had been tempered by then. The curriculum was comprehensive and well designed. The teaching methodology was novel, indeed unique, and the faculty outstanding. Also, the administration at the IIMA played a significant enabling role quite efficiently, with involvement and a sense of responsibility.

Intertwined with the learning experience, was the enriching interaction opportunity one had with classmates with diverse backgrounds from various regions of the country. While overall, there was identification with the class of ‘69’, many individual friendships were forged that have stood the test of time.

It is difficult to capture in a few words, the substantive impact of the IIMA experience on one’s professional and personal areas of life because, essentially, it is a subtle and complex process.

I believe that it makes an important difference in one’s thought processes and decision making whatever be the core aspects of one’s personality, whatever choices one makes along the way of life. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that the IIMA exposure significantly enables effective utilisation of one’s abilities and inner resources, facilitating one’s professional and personal growth.

In my own working career post IIMAin Industry, consulting, and academia, I have found IIMA learnings and ethos, contributing to my effectiveness in ways I had not anticipated. TheIIMA learning experience offers the tools to think and act effectively. Individuals need to build upon the foundation and continue to learn on their own, finding opportunities to apply the learnings and grow.

IIMA also was the place where I found someone to be my life partner. Rita, my wife,and I come from different cultural and family backgrounds, yet with essential congruence in important values and attitudes. There was, of course, the common identity of IIMA.

Rita adds,” I too found the initial months at IIMA tough, particularly with the case method of teaching/ learning and class participation requirement. With the support of a few of my classmates and the faculty, I was well settled by the time second term began”.

We had chosen careers in different fields, mine mainly in HRD and hers in Finance.

The demands of our career meant mutual adjustments over time. Overall, Rita adjusted a lot more, given the zigzags in my career path and because of her added maternal responsibility of bringing up a daughter.

All through these years, she managed the dual responsibilities, of work and of family remarkably well. I attribute it to her upbringing; the IIMA exposure, her work orientation, heightened sense of responsibility, integrity, and last but not the least, her simple human qualities. She could be rightly described as the “Atlas” of our family! More especially, in the last four years or so that I have been treated for a heart condition, her support and care of me has been my solace and strength.

Starting as an officer with a nationalised bank, Rita ascended the corporate ladder to reach the general manager levelin the erstwhile ICICI. Project/Working capital finance, and monitoring have been her main areas of work for most part of her career. Shehas been a successful independent retainer consultant focussed on family managed enterprisessince the year 2000, post her voluntary retirement.

Among the highlights of her career was an assignment with the Asian Development Bank (to build a computerised projects-Impact System for DFIs financed by it),that culminated in the offer of a lucrative job with the Bank, at Manila, Philippines which she did not accept for personal and family reasons.

My own working career, post MBA, spanning over 40 years,was in three distinct phases 1). Industry career with MNCs/large Indian corporates in HRD/OD/Training,2) freelance consultant in HRD, and corporate trainer; and 3) visiting faculty at various institutes of management in OB/OD areas.I was advisor and later Dean of a business school in Mumbai,(then associated with the Great Lakes Institute of Management Chennai) before I retired in 2011.

I am currently leading a quiet life, enjoying reading, practising yogaand admiring the greenery around. Rita, in recent times has developed interest in tending and nurturing household plants, which provide us comfort and company: they have become part of our extended family!

In her desire to give back something to the society,Rita has become an active member of two NGOs, in the areas of art/culture and education for the under privileged children.

Rita adds, “It may appear from what Vasan has written about me that I carried the full load of family responsibility, which is somewhat anexaggeration! I could do what I did because of his understanding and full support in managing my career and resultantstresses. Also, his role in actively parenting our daughter, significantly contributed to her growth as a person with strong human values. Last but not the least, he helped me grow emotionally stronger.”

Married life amongst professionals like MBAs poses challenges as well as offers great opportunities for professional as well as personal growth. Mutual understanding and support, is sine qua non for a successful marriage and requires “working at it” continuously. In this, I would emphasise that the man needs to accept his wife as an equal and not to be governed by a traditional mind-set of male superiority & dominance. If this happens, then there are rich dividends by way of meaningful harmony in married life, effective parenting and satisfaction in careers and relationships. Given the vicissitudes of life, it is also an anchor of stability.

Today, we are a couple as humanly happy as can be, contented& peaceful, looking back with satisfaction on our togetherness all these years and grateful for what life has offered us.

Our only child, Aditi, followed her parents’ footsteps; she graduated from the Wharton Business School and is working with an asset management company in the USA. Our son-in-law Praful, an MBA from the Harvard Business School,runs his own AIconsulting start-up.So, it is a family of MBAs!

Ashni, our 8-years-old Grand Daughter, an “unusually gifted child” as rated by her school, occupies a major space in our minds and hearts.  Her intelligence and perceptions are remarkable, and we find interacting with her a very delightful and new learning experience. We are glad that we are still learners!

 

 

 

 

AUTHOR: admin
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