Farewell Dear Gundu Rao and Desan |
| Rakesh Godhwani |
| Sunday, 21 February 2010 |
“An era has come to an end at IIMB ” said Deepu Chandra , the current Student President . And rightly so. T K Gundu Rao and Desan , fondly called TKGR and Desan Saab respectively served IIMB PGP program and the hostel mess for decades. They both retired recently and the Alumni Association took this opportunity to say “Thank you” to both of them on 20th Feb 2010. Shashank Kothi from PGP2000 took a lead to initiate this event and the alumni office supported the logistics part. Preparations started about 3 weeks back and alumni from all over the world sent in their thanks along with contributions. A whopping 1.85Lakh Rupees were collected. The IIMB Alumni Association felicitated both of these stalwarts with a memento and Rs75K check each . The balance was distributed as gift coupons to their staff members. These staff members are the teams behind the scenes that worked very hard to run the operations smoothly and we express our gratitude to them as well.
The evening saw members from the alumni , students and faculty bodies get together to host both of them. Each member in the audience took turns to mention how TKGR and Desan had impacted their lives. One alumni commented that there is no one in campus who brings in feelings of admiration , fear and respect all rolled into one, and that’s TKGR. He was known amongst all students for his discipline , so much so that a 5PM submission deadline meant 5PM ,come what may. The doors of classrooms would shut at 8AM sharp. No matter how much one pleaded , explained the problems of why he or she got late , TKGR followed rules by the book. Probably that’s why everyone feared him. But the same person loved all students like his own children. He was always there at office and a bridge between students and PGP chairpersons.
For Desan Saab , the man who fed practically every student since the 80’s who stayed at hostels. Everyone who left the campus missed the food. And Desan had this amazing energy that was noticeable. He would be the first to start the mess at 4AM when the vegetable and raw materials would come in and sleep the last after midnight. He ensured all festivals and occasions were respected with the right food served – be it Pongal , Holi , Diwali , Pujo , Ramzaan or Christmas. He still remembers all students and can put all computers to shame with his ability to recall them with their roll numbers.
Prof Janat Shah said “both TKGR and Desan were so efficient in operating the PGP program and the mess that one could have learnt better management from them than the academicians” . One just had to approach Desan Saab and tell him what he or she wanted and he would say “Ho Jayega (consider it done)”. He was Mr. Dependable. And TKGR had a very humorous persona behind his serious face. One alum said that he was writing his exam and it was a very tough question paper. He didn’t know and was looking around. TKGR says to him “What are you waiting for ? God wont come and help you with the answers…” and we all laughed. But we all had a tear or two in our eyes as “An era has come to an end at IIMB ” said Deepu Chandra , the current Student President . And rightly so. T K Gundu Rao and Desan , fondly called TKGR and Desan Saab respectively served IIMB PGP program and the hostel mess for decades. They both retired recently and the Alumni Association took this opportunity to say “Thank you” to both of them on 20th Feb 2010. Shashank Kothi from PGP2000 took a lead to initiate this event and the alumni office supported the logistics part. Preparations started about 3 weeks back and alumni from all over the world sent in their thanks along with contributions. A whopping 1.85Lakh Rupees were collected. The IIMB Alumni Association felicitated both of these stalwarts with a memento and Rs75K check each . The balance was distributed as gift coupons to their staff members. These staff members are the teams behind the scenes that worked very hard to run the operations smoothly and we express our gratitude to them as well.
The evening saw members from the alumni , students and faculty bodies get together to host both of them. Each member in the audience took turns to mention how TKGR and Desan had impacted their lives. One alumni commented that there is no one in campus who brings in feelings of admiration , fear and respect all rolled into one, and that’s TKGR. He was known amongst all students for his discipline , so much so that a 5PM submission deadline meant 5PM ,come what may. The doors of classrooms would shut at 8AM sharp. No matter how much one pleaded , explained the problems of why he or she got late , TKGR followed rules by the book. Probably that’s why everyone feared him. But the same person loved all students like his own children. He was always there at office and a bridge between students and PGP chairpersons.
For Desan Saab , the man who fed practically every student since the 80’s who stayed at hostels. Everyone who left the campus missed the food. And Desan had this amazing energy that was noticeable. He would be the first to start the mess at 4AM when the vegetable and raw materials would come in and sleep the last after midnight. He ensured all festivals and occasions were respected with the right food served – be it Pongal , Holi , Diwali , Pujo , Ramzaan or Christmas. He still remembers all students and can put all computers to shame with his ability to recall them with their roll numbers.
Prof Janat Shah said “both TKGR and Desan were so efficient in operating the PGP program and the mess that one could have learnt better management from them than the academicians” . One just had to approach Desan Saab and tell him what he or she wanted and he would say “Ho Jayega (consider it done)”. He was Mr. Dependable. And TKGR had a very humorous persona behind his serious face. One alum said that he was writing his exam and it was a very tough question paper. He didn’t know and was looking around. TKGR says to him “What are you waiting for ? God wont come and help you with the answers…” and we all laughed. But we all had a tear or two in our eyes as well.
  “An era has come to an end at IIMB ” said Deepu Chandra, the current Student President. And rightly so. T K Gundu Rao and Desan, fondly called TKGR and Desan Saab respectively served IIMB PGP program and the hostel mess for decades. They both retired recently and the Alumni Association took this opportunity to say “Thank you” to both of them on 20th Feb 2010. Shashank Kothi from PGP2000 took a lead to initiate this event and the alumni office supported the logistics part. Preparations started about 3 weeks back and alumni from all over the world sent in their thanks along with contributions. A whopping 1.85 Lakh Rupees were collected. The IIMB Alumni Association felicitated both of these stalwarts with a memento and Rs75K check each. The balance was distributed as gift coupons to their staff members. These staff members are the teams behind the scenes that worked very hard to run the operations smoothly and we express our gratitude to them as well.
The evening saw members from the alumni , students and faculty bodies get together to host both of them. Each member in the audience took turns to mention how TKGR and Desan had impacted their lives. One alumni commented that there is no one in campus who brings in feelings of admiration, fear and respect all rolled into one, and that’s TKGR. He was known amongst all students for his discipline, so much so that a 5PM submission deadline meant 5PM, come what may. The doors of classrooms would shut at 8AM sharp. No matter how much one pleaded, explained the problems of why he or she got late, TKGR followed rules by the book. Probably that’s why everyone feared him. But the same person loved all students like his own children. He was always there at office and a bridge between students and PGP chairpersons.
For Desan Saab, the man who fed practically every student since the 80’s who stayed at hostels. Everyone who left the campus missed the food. And Desan had this amazing energy that was noticeable. He would be the first to start the mess at 4AM when the vegetable and raw materials would come in and sleep the last after midnight. He ensured all festivals and occasions were respected with the right food served – be it Pongal, Holi, Diwali, Puja, Ramzaan or Christmas. He still remembers all students and can put all computers to shame with his ability to recall them with their roll numbers.
Prof Janat Shah said “both TKGR and Desan were so efficient in operating the PGP program and the mess that one could have learnt better management from them than the academicians” . One just had to approach Desan Saab and tell him what he or she wanted and he would say “Ho Jayega (consider it done)”. He was Mr. Dependable. And TKGR had a very humorous persona behind his serious face. One alum said that he was writing his exam and it was a very tough question paper. He didn’t know and was looking around. TKGR says to him “What are you waiting for ? God wont come and help you with the answers…” and we all laughed. But we all had a tear or two in our eyes as well. |