Carmayogi and the Cadillac!!

It is the Carmayogi who always gets to own the Cadillac.  And, gets a few more things too. 

Don’t I make sense ?   Consider these names – Shah Rukh, Bill Gates, Sachin,  Michael Schumacher, Shakira etc,. etc,.  Each of these achievers became rich enough to own a cadillac very soon in their lives. They became famous enough that they do not need a visiting card like you and I need.    While they come from diverse fields,  do you see the thing that is common among them. 

To my mind, they are all Carmayogis.  They decided to pick a specific Carma (activity or domain)  and dedicated their lives to that Carma to the exclusion of every thing else.  Needless to say,  they all own more than just a Cadillac. 

A Carmayogi closer home :Consider this once again :

0700 – 1000 am :  Arithmetic review, 1030-1330 – Algebra,  1400-1700 : P & C, 1730-2030 – P & C,  2100-2300 : Doubt solving and discussions at IITKanpur.

That is the schedule of every single day for Neeraj Prasad, CL, Kanpur.  After years of being in the classroom, Neeraj’s excitement for taking Mock Cats has only gone up.  His joy of cracking a particular problem in various other ways only has gone up since I met him last. His almost militant view of discipline in the class does not seem to be mellowing down. His 13 hour class room schedule per day is two hours more than what he used to spend per day a couple of years ago.  

I want that each of us see the result of such dedication. I am sharing this after spending a couple of days with Neeraj at kanpur. 

Lets talk about Cadillac, now :

Neeraj is a rock star in Kanpur.  He figures among the most well-known citizens of the city.  Neeraj’s net-worth includes not only his ‘Hathni’  ( the ‘Innova’ that Nivedita calls the Hathni for its size), his tastefully done-up flat,  the huge CL centre in the middle of the town etc,….but his ‘goodwill’  in the student population of the city. 

Imagine. CL Kanpur services in excess of 2000 students right now.  It is a long way from a couple of hundred a few years ago.  The entire credit goes to Neeraj and Nivedita for their passion to give their best to the student on a day-to-day basis.   If any of you is still interested in knowing the status of the alternatives (other MBA testprep players)….. it is negligible (I am told each one has a couple of batches and strictly in the range of 75-100 students). 

I encourage you to pause for a moment and salute this team – for their passion, for their commitment,  for their single minded devotion.  Let us try and emulate this Carmayogi….Cadillacs are on their way.

As for me,  I am mightily proud to be known as his co-worker! Of Course,  Neeraj is now on his way to buying a Jetstream 15-seater plane….Cadillac isn’t enough for this Carmayogi.  Neeraj is targeting 10,000 students through various initiatives over the next 4 years….Just watch this space.

Satya

‘Either’ or ‘Or’ - We must get over this !!

I am slightly disappointed at this point in time….because,  I wrote a piece in a state of excitement - over 300 words -  about an old student, Kishore Vyavahare -  who got in touch with me after a long time…… but,  lost it while doing the ‘blog this’ due to some problem.  Like it happens to all of us,  I do not have the enthu to write it all over again…..so, I am moving on to my next piece……… I will come back if my enthu returns to share that story.In a nutshell - the first part of my story ended with an old student, Kishore Vyavahare, calling me up to enquire for his daughter now (at Baroda) !!

I got through to Raj, CL Baroda. Raj was giving me his update about the enrolments at the CL Baroda centre.  As usual….it is a joy when our own children ( I am growing old, no doubt)  are at the other end …… on phone !!   However, I found something apologetic in his tone.  While I can fully understand and empathise with the Pegasus not growing at the clip at which Raj would like it to - there is something fantastic about CL Baroda that you are under-rating, Raj…..Just think about it…… while your Pegasus has not grown as much as you would have liked it to….and I would be the first person to coax you to see where is it suffering - focus on customer ?  no one focusing on the program as much as a year ago or so….etc,.

However,  I see it as a very good news that you have added new products and run them successfully.  It is a reason for celebration.  THis must be the only city that has the PIN revenues at 33% (or around or even less) of total business.  The Magiclamp, the engg, the Gcet…  are all adding to the portfolio.  I would want you to look at it in a very positive way.

Of course,  in Pegasus too - you must be the market leader.  If Prashant and you cannot do it….no one else can.

I also will remember your invite….. I will make it to Baroda sooner than you expect !!

Satya

Family Silver passed on to nexgen !!

Let me start at the beginning…..My phone rang at about five PM last evening.  The barotone voice at the other end enquired softly and tentatively - “Satya?,  …… (pause) …this is vyavahare”.    I quipped back, “ Kishore ??”.    The excitement went up manifold at the other end.  I sensed elation and excitement in the same voice that was tentative, just a minute ago.   “wow - you have some memory…. I thought I will have to re-introduce myself all over again”.    I joked back -  it is impossible to forget you.

That is one of the magic moments of being a teacher.  Your stock goes up when you remember the names of your students.  And, if you remember the name in 5 seconds after a gap of 10 years…….  they think you are ‘God’ !!

To state it better - Kishore Vyavahare was a student of CL in 1994 (our inaugural year).  I remember him because of a thing or two that were rare - he was 35 at that time, married and with a young daughter (about 5 yrs).  I was 24 and had just started CL :-)

To add on - Kishore was a graduate of IITD, and then a lawyer, and then done his IAS…and was serving as the Dy Commissioner, Income Tax at DElhi.  He had taken CAT and came to us for his PDP……  Can you imagine my plight as the PDP faculty.   Now…you tell me - How could I forget him ???

Moving on - Kishore went to IIMB. Graduated in 1997. And, went back to serve the GOI after his study leave. Come 2007 - I get this call !!!

The Future :  Kishore’s little daughter has grown and is graduating out of school this year (Class XII).  It is in this connection that he had called me yesterday.  Now, he serves as the Chief Commissioner at Baroda and wanted guidance for his daughter’s career !!   He said,  where else but to you guys………. etc,. etc,……

As I hung up the phone….one interesting thought crossed my mind.  In some ways, the family silver of ‘CL Goodwill’  is being passed on to the next generation - from the father to the daughter.   Let us ensure that we preserve this and make it happen for millions of families while this might be the very first case of second generation coming to us as a student.

Over to you - Baroda Boys,  Take care of CL’s goodwill as you have, always.

Satya