A Once in a Lifetime “Guru”-My Professor

“a Hindu spiritual teacher.

an influential teacher or popular expert.

a management guru” – Meaning of Guru

Finally I reach the last day of my MBA class I feel happy and I go with the swing. But yes I was feeling empty as well as I saw my Professor Mr.Gurumurthy sitting and lost in some pensive mood. And my intuition tells me something is coming. I see him entering the class and I get elated because I know today being my last class he is definitely going to say something philosophical.This day wont come in my life again as he left the room igniting a big fire in me.I definitely don’t give heed to boring lectures but yes if its from a man who made it from scratch it is definitely going to change just not me, anyone and this story gotta be shared to the readers.

To start with I am neither his favorite student nor I score cent percentage in his subject. In fact he is a professor no matter how much I give my try I always get average marks or I just tend to save myself from flunking his subjects.Prof Gurumurthy is a man who made it from the bottom level one step after the another.A man who had no idea he could make it to the top but did it with his constant perseverance and commitment.I like him because my situations and his were more or less similar. “I scored 27 on 100 in Maths in Grade 10 and my teacher vehemently denied me from taking up the board exams. I cried , I begged but he wouldn’t allow me to take up.Then I promised him that I would show him that I can clear Maths paper and then I scored 57 the next attempt.I was dud in Maths but allowed my interest to be with Maths and believed that i could make it, thereafter my field changed I went on to become a statistician and mathematician.” Proudly said by my Prof Gurumurthy. One of the best things that just changed my notion towards him was about a rich experience he shared with the class “I am crazy about cricket. And there was this match happening between India and a opponent country.I badly wanted to watch the match and I couldn’t afford the tickets.All I did was take make a deal with the peanut seller and sell the peanuts to the crowd whenever there was a break and I enjoyed the match to the bits.I wasn’t from any affluent family and whatever came my way I did it.I had no status fear as I  never had them.”

Life was hard on him still the determination to become something was in him always “I had to study on my own.I worked for people and earned few coins which I saved.I had no money to buy books.I would sit in the Library and write notes. I had no money to buy notes I would ask the attender to give me few left over papers which I would get stitched and write on them.I worked for many people on part time basis, sometimes the owner wouldn’t be working as he had a fight with his wife and so I grabbed the opportunity of doing extra work and would get paid enough.I saved money and I was able to buy a second hand cycle and this helped me save the bus fare” He was a man who worked hard and was never bothered about what the society would think of him and He went on to become the President of Madura Cors a big textile mill.The journey to reach there wasn’t easy for him “In 1989 something kept bothering me. Though I had become the general manager of the company something kept bothering me that in order to grow bigger I had to grow up with many positions  and I was already in my 40’s I had no management course with me so I applied for MBA in the US and people laughed at me why did I want to do it at the age of 40.I sold my land and made every minute planning for my family whom I was going to leave behind and go to the US. A big sacrifice which I did back then despite people laughing at my plans.I worked for 14 hours a day.Did my studies and worked also.Fellow students laughed at me for not going around places because I was already busy studying and working the same time. I never did anything thinking about the fruit, just worked hard a lot.”

He could have easily basked in the success which he had already attained but he never seemed to cease anywhere. I remember him telling the class “I never stopped , I was very arrogant with my goals”. These words fascinated me a lot.I remember him telling me these favorite lines by him “Never run behind fruits.Give all your sincerity and dedication to the work, your results will automatically follow you” I understood that there was nothing called as bad and good result, its just the output we get for the input we give. “I came back from the United States completing my course.People kept laughing at me saying that he sold the land and wasted money behind some course.Even my close relatives never trusted me.But my wife stood by my side believing me.Within two years my dream turned true.I got myself appointed as the President and all those who laughed at me soon started contacting me for jobs.My colleagues who were working with me wanted jobs and they were getting positions way lower to mine.I was in the Cabin and they were waiting out for me for the interviews.Time changed things”

I was scared of him from day one as he was Maths and statistics majors.But I liked him when he told me “Don’t run away from numbers. Keep calculating it keeps your brain cells active and reduces your chances of getting Alzheimer”  I did hate numbers and the complex calculations involved in it.By the time I came to II year I was confused between which majors should I choose. I never had the intentions to study Finance as it required lot of logic and numbers.But I daringly choose Finance knowing that numbers could be life threatening.I believed my Professors words.Today how much I love Finance and the numbers no matter how complicated it can turn out to be.I always wondered why am I always criticized and discouraged? To this date I feel bad for the environment I had been bought up.But it just changed when he told me this “I was very arrogant and short tempered.I was never allowed to laugh at home that is the reason I can never smile for photographs.It just never comes to me.The constant criticism and discouragement at home made me get angry at every smallest of smallest things.My wife had a huge influence on me she tried shaping make me understand to do things the other way rather than going mad over it” He is the most toughest and boldest professor I have come across. The practical applications of Stats and their techniques was wonderfully taught by him.He could teach on anything and give so much information about it.He is in his 70’s and still has a heart of a youth and a fire to make his living even at this age.What shocked me was my Prof had undergone a small surgery and he still made it to class to even at this age!! whereas young blood like us find it still hard to leave the bed.He is called boastful by students but I would say he was boasting his pains and sufferings that made him lead the race.He could have been one among the crowd but he choose to raise the ante without an ounce of fear.He inspires me every bit as he did things on his own.He is a open book willing to give life to a daily students like me.He energizes people even with those old looks and powerful actions.He was born with a bad luck but had the ability to change his luck into good one.The most toughest and the best professor I have ever come across.

Blessed to be under him…Amen!!