There are many quotations on forgiveness. The most popular one perhaps is from the Bible, where Jesus has said "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." Or Mahatma Gandhi's famous quote, "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." Or Alexander Pope who had said, "To err is human, to forgive, divine." Or the oft-repeated, "Forgive and forget."
However, sometimes your magnanimity to forgive is taken as your weakness and you are further trampled by the same person you had pardoned for his misdeeds. They say, if you give a long rope they will hang themselves. Meaning, if someone is doing wrong or behaving badly, sometimes it is best not to interfere or intervene, for eventually he will come a cropper. I experienced just the opposite _ my giving a long rope proved to be counterproductive for me and my not retaliating was seen as my weakness.
I always believe that every human being is an ordinary citizen, notwithstanding whatever powers he may exercise. I also believe that whenever you enter into any activity, confrontation is inevitable; in fact, it is an integral part of life. However, here is a story, which in my opinion, is tantamount to trying to fool the public by impersonating and claiming to be the original one.
This is the story of an institute called the Sai Balaji Society, which has three institutes under its belt _ International Institute of Management Studies (IIMS), International Institute of Management & Human Resources Development (IIMHRD) and Sai Balaji International Institute of Management(SBIIMS). Its Chairman and Founder is Prof. Manish R Mundada who was a former visiting faculty at my Sri Balaji Society and who later decided to create his own educational society, on the lines of my own. The name he gave to it - Sai Balaji Society- is quite similar to my educational society, Sri Balaji Society, which, I am happy to say, has created a credible reputation in the corporate world and is known for top quality management education.
In order to benefit from this ready made credibility and popularity of our brand, Mundada's Sai Balaji Society went around the country, riding on the credentials of my Sri Balaji Society, by portraying Sai Balaji Society as the original Sri Balaji Society. His objective was to lure innocent applicants who were aiming to seek admission to Sri Balaji Society. I came to know about this when complaints started coming to me but I ignored them. I felt that if the graduate student who is seeking admission is not careful about finding out about the institute, that he or she wants to get into, then I need not bother about the issue.
However, I could remain quiet no more when I started receiving calls from the companies, stating that they are being pestered by too many calls from us for recruitment and that I should stop it. One or two companies even called me up and fired me. I was quite surprised at this development. When we investigated into the matter, we found that Sai Balaji Society was indulging in impersonation. Yet, I decided not to take action. I believed he would rectify his own mistake and so decided to forgive his misdeeds. For, generally, I believe in the 'forgive and forget' policy and I am magnanimous to the furthest possible extent.
Then a day came when the business magazine, Business Baron, in its February 2014 issue, featured the Sai Balaji Educational Society. Astonishingly, the photograph of our auditorium packed with students and another one of our students posing in our campus were included as part of that story. When my students noticed it, they complained to me and requested action against that educational society. Even then, I decided to ignore, as any publicity is good publicity. However, the students argued that their identities were being compromised and they would like to be known as Sri Balaji Society students and not Sai Balaji Society students. Agreeing with their point, I sent a message to Prof. Mundada, stating that I would proceed against his educational society. He replied that he had not supplied the photographs; it was the mistake of the magazine. He also profusely apologised. So, I closed the matter there.
Recently, though, I came to know that his website,(http://iimspune.edu.in) was filled with photographs of our campus infrastructure as well as students, claiming to be that of Sai Balaji Education Society. Shockingly, it also had my video, addressing my students, put up on its homepage. It also contained photographs of groups of our students. I decided not to take it lying down, as I had given him a long enough rope and he seemed to be getting bolder and bolder.(Subsequently, he has, as a precaution, deleted the contents of the website. However, what he did not realise is that we have taken a backup).
My objection was two-fold: One, he was mischievously misguiding students and two, he was allegedly reaching out to the Industry, claiming his educational society as Sri Balaji Society.
I immediately released an advertisement nationally, declaring not to fall for Sai Balaji Society which is impersonating on our name. I also asked our Director(IT), Prof Biju Pillai to petition to the police. In the mean while, Mundada filed a counter complaint and sought anticipatory bail. His bail plea was rejected by the District Court but the Bombay High Court has granted him anticipatory bail. More than being angry, I feel sorry for him. I wonder why he should resort to such cheap gimmicks which may ultimately cost him dearly. It pains me to go through all these legal procedures but I was compelled to do so.
When the story was published in Business Baron, he said the magazine had committed the error of using photographs of Sri Balaji Society. Now, in his police complaint, he claims that it is the web designer's fault. This time, however, we are not giving him the benefit of the doubt. We have filed an FIR against him at the Hinjewadi Police Station and given subsequent statements to strengthen the case.
Respected Sir,
The FIR states that he has, without seeking prior permission of the appellant, stored, uploaded and published photographs and video of the students, infrastructure, and classes of the appellant's educational society on their website as that of their own educational institute (www.sbiims.com), with an intent to gain admissions, thus deceiving the educational institute of the appellant. Therefore, the offences were registered. Prof. Mundada has been booked under:
By DR (COL.) A. BALASUBRAMANIAN
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
