They Taught Us More Than Lessons

Why do you remember an MBA Prof?

Academic brilliance!

Sure! But do you remember all brilliant Profs?

No. 

Then whom do you remember even after few years and why?

Perhaps, those Profs who listened to us.

All Profs have two ears. What's so special about listening?

I mean we remember those who were empathetic to us.

You mean they tolerated indiscipline in the class?

No, far from it. In fact we remember a Prof who was very strict and would admonish us for disturbing the class and would not tolerate any indiscipline.

But as adults, you don't like to be ticked off.

Yes, that's the point. This teacher would later counsel us and fathom the cause of our immature behaviour.

What about teachers who put up boards for 'visiting' hours? They tried to inculcate time management habit in you.

We hated such Profs. On the other hand, we remember the Prof who had an open-door policy for students.

But a Prof also needs privacy for research and self-study.

Agreed. But we feel students' accessibility should be a higher priority for any Prof.

Any other characteristic of a Prof which you remember?

Oh yes! We paid extra attention to a Prof who narrated real-life stories rather than the boring slides. We also felt valued when a Prof called us by name and helped us improve our self-confidence and the overall personality. A Prof  who taught us more than lessons!

The above conversation is not AI-generated. It is based on the interaction with the students over the years.

Whether you are a teacher or a student past or present, ask yourself where do you fit in? And you will find realism in above conversation. Of course there are many other reasons why we remember a teacher. But we wanted to keep our story short.

Happy Teacher's Day 2026 to all my teachers, students, colleagues, parents, family and friends. Ghumakkad-the-teacher is grateful to each one of you for enriching his life.

Sharing below few pictures and links to our earlier stories on Teacher's Day

Teachers Other Than Teachers - Can Nature, trees, birds, pets, sickness, bereavement also be our teachers? What do we learn from them?

Do Teachers Get Bored? - far from it! There is always action all around. Click the link to browse an outdoor activity with MBA students and lessons from a forest!

A Teacher Keeps Learning - that is the best part! A teacher learns more from the students.

Harsh@IBS - Journey of a different kind. Browse this story for multiple activities which Ghumakkad did along with his students and faculty colleagues at IBS Hyderabad.

A teacher is like an explorer, out in the open!

If the story has triggered some nostalgia about your former teacher, do share. Because 'They Taught Us More Than Lessons'.

Postscript 6th September 2026.

A regular reader, fellow BITSian and an IT-pro all her life wrote the following poem yesterday. Sharing with her permission:

Great composition, straight from the heart. Am sure many readers will relate to it.

Thanks much Radhika.

End of Postscript------ 

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Stay connected and do leave a comment to encourage us.

   --- Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 5th Sep 2026/Secunderabad

#TeachersDay2026 #gratitude #impactinglives #MBA #touchinglives #discipline #empathy #student #opendoor #accesstoteachers #approachability #highereducation #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #shapingyoungminds #futureofIndia

Acknowledging the Team Work

What did you observe during the Award Ceremony of Women's Singles final at the French Open last night?

Pictures courtesy Sony Ten and Tata Play.

Quick setting up of the podium. Yes. What else?

Erecting a barricade for the photographers. Yes. What else?

Acknowledging the services of ball boys and girls. Followed by the line judges and the Match Referee.  Yes. It is a done thing at all tennis tournaments like Wimbledon etc.

Anything else? Yes.

The maintenance staff which maintains all the courts, were also invited for the award ceremony. A great gesture indeed. Because the backstage folks seldom get the limelight. This is a perfect example of empowering a team! The maintenance team of Roland Garros can be seen in white tee shirts in the picture below.

Of course, the players thanked their respective teams of coaches, trainers, physios, motivational physiologists and others. Audience too was thanked. See the Polish audience cheering the Winner A Swiatek.

The short video clip below shows the Champion soaking in the moment of glory.

It was difficult for the Runner up K Muchova who gave a tough fight, to control her emotions.

Sabatini, the former Champion also cheered the Finalists.

Another unforgettable story of empowering the driver of Dr Abdul Kalam, the then President of India can be read here.

So next time you organise any event,  do not forget to felicitate the background teams on centre stage! It will empower them for life!

Thanks for browsing. 

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ Secunderabad/ 10th June 2023

#teamwork #empowerment #frenchopen #rollandgarrows #everypersoncounts #motivation #inspiration #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb

3Es of Volunteering- Nirmaan Way

What are the 3Es of volunteering? Enrolment, Engagement and Empowerment. Many of you may have heard it from me before. But, how to enroll the volunteers? Specially student volunteers? How to engage and empower them?

Am delighted to share the practical way Nirmaan does it. Nirmaan is an NGO working in 12 of the 17 diverse UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) such as education, livelihoods and healthcare. Readers may browse Nirmaan's website for more details.

In this picture story, we highlight the way Nirmaan promotes volunteering by both students as well as Corporate professionals. Nirmaan traces its roots to ten students of BITS Pilani as MyIndia NGO, to teach the under-privileged children of neighbouring villages. The founding students upon graduation, took up respective corporate careers. One of them Mayur Patnala, gave up his corporate job and set up Nirmaan in 2005. Seventeen years down the line, the student chapters of Nirmaan continue to thrive in BITS Pilani campuses. We share below what the student chapters do every year. Pictures courtesy Nirmaan Volunteers.

Ignite: The annual social festival of bliss and heartfulness at BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus. Saikumar the outgoing President of Nirmaan Student Chapter says, "Every year around 350 to 400 kids from 15 to 20 different orphanages are invited and housed on our campus. The event comprises a variety of workshops, competitions, events and activities for children of various ages. The volunteers become so tethered to the children that they cry when they bid goodbye, yet they are glad in their hearts because the youngsters will return the following year."

Daan Utsav: An event which brings givers and takers together on a common platform. It is a festival of giving money, time, resources and skills. Mohan VP of student chapter added, "Working on such projects all year, we know how to best allocate funding. We create channels for interested donors/ CSRs and philanthropic partners to contribute."

Manthan: An NGO conference for NGOs to connect and discourse. It creates a common forum for NGOs/NPOs to get together and exchange ideas, as well as draw corporate attention to their work.

Project Parishkar: An year long event for the kids of non-teaching staff residing in the campus. It entails frequent tutoring sessions by our volunteers to assist the children with their academics. These sessions also include some fun activities; the volunteers and children form strong bonds with one another.

School Adoption Program: An initiative to assist neighbouring government schools with tuitions, cultural festivities, Annual Outdoor Campaigning/ Field trip, repair/renovation of restrooms, play areas etc. This initiative impacts the lives of over 200 school children across three neighbouring villages.

 

Saakaar: A branch of the Livelihood opportunities initiatives that focuses on creating employment opportunities for rural women residing in neighbouring villages. Saikumar added, "We taught various skills to women in Pothaipally village like candle making, chocolate manufacturing and doormat stitching. They were also provided with market facilities. Stalls were put up in a few schools, gated communities, and at our campus fests to sell the items manufactured by the women."

Udaan: It provides quality education and extra curricular activities to the children in the communities around the campus. It sensitises the students to the needs of the under-served communities. For primary school pupils,  arithmetic lessons, simple scientific techniques, and outdoor games were conducted. Science experiments from their textbooks, as well as Aptitude and Reasoning classes for Merit and Scholarship tests were conducted for high school students.

The above pictures and activities have aptly answered the second E- how to Engage the volunteers? Nirmaan as we can see, has developed the systems and processes to do it effectively, based on which, students from BITS do their Practice School-2 (a semester long industry work experience) as Interns. It is a recognition of a strong working environment of learning and knowledge sharing.

Let us now look at the first E- Enrollment of volunteers.

How does Nirmaan Enroll its Volunteers? 

Nirmaan follows a four step process.

1. Call for volunteering giving details of programs and activities to be conducted by the volunteers 
2. Application including an essay why the student wants to volunteer
3. Interview by HR Team of student Chapter
4. Induction of selected volunteers

How does Nirmaan Empower the Volunteers?

The student volunteers work for three years while pursuing their degree program. The empowerment happens as follows:

1. The students derive an inner satisfaction of doing something for the society
2. Field work exposes them to real life outside the classrooms. They develop empathy and feel empowered to do more.
3. In the first year of volunteering, they are part of a team.
4. In the second year they are selected to lead a team as Team Lead.
5. In the third year, they become part of the Exec Committee. They plan and conduct various activities and events. They then prepare and present the Annual Report of their activities.
6. A formal Swearing-in ceremony is held in the campus to welcome the new volunteers and thank the outgoing team. Attended by the Campus Director, it empowers all the volunteers.

Hope the readers got a feel of how the 3Es of volunteering work through the above example of Nirmaan. The empowerment goes beyond the student life. Anirudh Mishra, a volunteer with Nirmaan decided to work in social sector after graduating from BITS Pilani. He went on to set up ApniClass which provides content for school students in Hindi. It is another example of the power of volunteering in shaping lives and careers!

Senior bureaucrats from the Government of Telangana addressed the event online. Ghumakkad also had an opportunity to speak to the volunteers at the above event. It was very encouraging to see the energy and enthusiasm of the volunteers at BITS Hyderabad campus. Nirmaan felicitated Dr G Sundar, Director BITS and me amongst others at the event. Few more pictures courtesy Nirmaan Volunteers.

Special thanks to Nirmaan for giving me the opportunity. Congratulations to the outgoing team of Nirmaan Volunteers for doing an excellent job and all the best to the incoming team.

Readers may browse two of our earlier stories on the power of volunteering:

Volunteering to Tame the Second Wave of Corona

Winning the Hearts of People

We close with a quotation by Swami Vivekananda, "They alone live, who live for others".

 Thanks for browsing.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Hyderabad/ 26th October 2022

#volunteering #3Es #engagement #enrollment #empowerment #nirmaan #bitspilani #bitsalumni #joyofvolunteering #NGOs #studentvolunteers #bitshyderabad #joyofgiving #swamivivekananda #bitsaa #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb

Who Empowers Women?

Who can empower women? Or, who has to empower women? Or, who empowers women?

Is it the Government policies? Employers? Supervisors? Team leaders? Colleagues? Parents? Teachers? Who else?

We feel that women empower themselves! More than anyone else empowering them. We saw a real life example of this during a visit to Devarakonda, a small town in Nalgonda district of Telangana in India. After our trek to the 800-years-old Devarakonda Fort, we went to see the 'Cultural Wall' created by a painter. Right opposite the wall is a nondescript electrical repair shop. We happened to park our car near this shop. What intrigued me was a lady in overalls with a tester in hand, repairing a mixer grinder. We went to the shop and found that the lady was not alone. Her daughter was also repairing another electrical appliance inside the shop. The two of them did not have any male assistant or helper. The women were running the repair shop by themselves. 'No big deal, women run many businesses', some would say. But hang on.

On querying Mrs Vijaya the lady owner, we found out that she had lost her husband 15 years ago. She had been a home maker till then. She then learnt how to test and repair the appliances. She took charge of her life instead of drifting along the sea of sadness created by her husband's demise. She later trained Hema her daughter as well. Hema is a student of BCom and works at the repair shop. We found her story very inspiring and thought of sharing it with all of you. Here are some pictures taken during the short 5-minute interaction with Mrs Vijaya. In fact, we forgot to ask her name. We called her a day later. Not knowing Telugu, it was tough to communicate. But somehow she could understand that we were asking her name. 

Don't you think Mrs Vijaya's story is the best example of 'Women empower themselves'? May there be more like Mrs Vijaya who shape their own destiny.

Women's Day was celebrated a fortnight ago. This is our tribute to all the women of the world. You may also browse our earlier story linked below:

More Power to the Women of the World

Women are no less than men. Hope you agree.

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected.

    -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 22nd March 2022

#womensempowerment #womensday #empowerment #shapeyourowndestiny #dealingwithadversity #liefesupsanddowns #courageouswomen #womenoftheworld #womenempowerthemselves #genderequality #inclusion #devarakonda #telangana #electricalrepairsbywomen #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh