Its been 10 months since I joined IRMA as a ruralcoolie (word coined by Mr. Joseph Kalassery) and what better way to start my second innings at blogging than to talk about Dr. Verghese Kurien and our meeting with him scheduled for 8th April 2010.
Popularly known as the Milk Man of India, Dr. Kurien engineered the White Revolution. He was the founding chairman of the NDDB and also set up the GCMMF (better known as Amul), the Institute of Rural Management(IRMA) and various other institutions.
Being the founder of IRMA and also the chief architect behind the growth of Amul and the white revolution, the name was mentioned every now and then, in lectures, case studies, normal gossip sessions etc. etc. etc. To be frank, it is then that I understood the respect commanded by the fellow mallu among people from various parts of the country, with varied backgrounds and work experiences. The admiration for him was bound to build in me, as with any other ruralcoolie.
Another thing which was developed was a strong loyalty to AMUL. As an alumnus of the institute puts it, an IRMAN will seldom eat an icecream other than AMUL(I still remember myself and Ajay fighting with a shopkeeper in Shahada, Maharashtra for not giving us Amul Milkpowder and cheating us with Nestle Everyday).
The current batches at IRMA have been pretty unlucky in the sense that by the time we came into this place, the exodus of the great personality from the board of IRMA due to what I understand to be differences of opinion with the rest of the management at GCMMF as well as IRMA(as the media would like to put it) had already happened. So we have been deprived of the opportunity of interacting with the legend and gain from the ocean of practical knowledge that the man is. Much more saddening was the fact that he fell ill in June last year, and had to be hospitalised in Mumbai, the city which gave birth to Anand and the Anand model of co-operatives. From then on, we were always on the dark about any opportunity that might arise to have an interaction.
It is "dream come true" time this thursday evening at 5:30 at the Amul Auditorium when we, PRM 30, share the same roof with Padma Vibhushan Shri Verghese Kurien.
More updates on that after the meeting.
PS: I know this is a very badly drafted post but what the heck? I don't care if you read this or not.....
