Professor M. S. Pillai left an indelible...

‘Professor M. S. Pillai left an indelible mark’

When Manu messaged me on the 5th of January early in the morning of the news of Professor Pillai’s passing away, it came as a shock. Not only was I reeling under it, but also I had the hard task of conveying this tragic news to my father, Dr SB Mujumdar. I knew Dr Mujumdar always had the knack of identifying talent in people, and the two talented people he identified were (Dr)A. Balasubramanian and Professor M. S. Pillai. Both of them were Directors with 'crazy views', what we now call 'innovation' and 'thinking out of the box' was then called crazy. Both of them practice a different kind of education system. I must also acknowledge Professor Balasubramanian's contributions, because the admirable manner in which he managed SIMS (Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies), or the way Professor Pillai ran SCMHRD (Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development) was totally different from what the education system was at that time.

Prof. Bala and Prof. Pillai have been associated with Symbiosis far longer than my professional association with the institution. I joined Symbiosis in 1998. They have been with Symbiosis since 1986. Dr Mujumdar had decided to start SCMHRD, and he chose Professor Pillai to be the one to head this new institution. Dr Mujumdar believed in giving the Directors full autonomy. Therefore this ‘out of the box thinking’ was encouraged. Alumni have benefitted tremendously from this unconventional form of teaching, which I don’t think can be practiced now, unfortunately. I think the government of India and the HRD ministry should introspect about having Directors who are passionate, committed, determined, and who know how to mould young minds. Unfortunately, academic degrees play a bigger role today. I wish Symbiosis has more such Directors who can shape future generations as Professor Pillai has done.

I remember two incidences. Today, we talk about Swachh Bharat and Yoga in the curriculum. This is exactly what professor Pillai practiced then. Once, a new academic session had began, and I was sitting in my Senapati Bapat Road office, Pune. A mother fought with me, asking how could her daughter have been made to wash the bathroom that was common to all girls. Washing the bathroom in her room was one thing, said the mother, but this was going too far. She asked me to call the Director and question him. I told her I couldn’t do that. Professor Pillai had the authority and autonomy to take these decisions. He would continue to do this. It is for you to decide whether you want your daughter to continue her education in this institute or not. She asked me how I could say this, considering I was the management. I told her that frankly, I was scared of calling Prof. Pillai and questioning him.

The second incident is about a very senior police officer in Pune, whose daughter had secured admission in SCMHRD. The officer came with his daughter for admission and he was asked to wait outside Professor Pillai's office for 2-3 hours, he got annoyed and called me from there. He said he is coming to meet me right now. I asked him if there was a problem, and he said I don't want to speak on the phone. So he came in his uniform with an entourage of his juniors and barged into my office and yelled asking “Is this the way Symbiosis is?

Professor Pillai was a stellar leader. Only great leader leave such strong imprints, and he has left an indelible influence on SCMHRD

Who do you think I am? I am the Assistant Commissioner of Police. You haven’t done me a favor by granting my daughter admission. Am I supposed to wait outside the Director’s cabin for three hours? If you had told me to go at a specific time, I would have gone then. Please pick up the phone and call the Director right now.” I told him I would. I dialed Professor Pillai, put him on speaker phone, and I told him about the situation. Once he understood this was a management seat, you can imagine what he started saying. I quickly disconnected the call. The police officer was shocked. He asked me how could Prof. Pillai speak this way to the management. I told him that in Symbiosis, we aren’t management; the directors are managers of their own institute. He does what he deems fit. I told the officer that he must decide whether he wants his daughter to take admission here or not. Fortunately, the daughter wanted to pursue her studies here so he calmed down. Today, she is a successful corporate, having been placed from the campus at TCS. Her father then called me up with great humility admitting that he was probably wrong and Prof. Pillai was right as his daughter is so well groomed under him.

I remember meeting Sadhguru a couple of months back. When I invited him to visit Symbiosis, he said that he had already visited it as Prof. Pillai had extended the invitation. So was the case with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and so many others. To this day we follow that legacy of calling, people from all walks of life who can talk to students about different aspects other than what they learn in their management classes, and we call it the 'Festival of Thinkers'. SCMHRD has always been different, and Prof. Pillai was a stellar leader. Only a great leader leaves such strong imprints, and he has left an indelible influence on SCMHRD.

His was a Midas Touch

May his students live up to his passion, determination, willpower, to his integrity, sincerity, hard work, simplicity—that’s what Dr Pillai stood for

Dr Kiran Bedi,
Lt. Governor of Puducherry

“We have to make his dream come true”

I was very sorry to hear about the early demise of Dr Pillai. He was a very dear man, a very good man and a very noble soul. My heartfelt condolences for the early demise of Dr. Pillai. He had dreams for his students. I am sure wherever he is, he will help them fulfil their dreams, perhaps by weaving a magic wand from the heavens. Such a noble soul was snatched away, so early with so many dreams so I do hope all students of Dr Pillai will come together to fulfil his dream. I wish he was still around but now we have to make his dream come true. May his students live up to his passion, determination, willpower, integrity, sincerity, hard work and simplicity— that’s what Dr Pillai stood for.

Lt. Gen. (Dr) V Ravishankar
Consultant Cardiac surgeon
and Chief Operating Officer

“Pillai Sir is my life coach”

Prof. M.S. Pillai has been a beacon of hope for so many students who have passed through the portals of SCMLD.

Having had the opportunity to meet him a couple of times, it was a pleasure interacting with a visionary, educationist, leader and a teacher par-excellence.

A simple down-to-earth human being who fought the systems fearlessly to make an impact on the education platform never having bowed down to anyone; always holding his head high in spite of all the obstacles cropping up in running a institute that is now recognized world over with the alumni, thus keeping SCMLD flag flying high.

It is sad that he is no more with us but his legacy will ensure people will continue to get inspired by his contribution to the society.

D.R. Karthikeyan,
Former Spl. Director, CBI

“Man of great Integrity, Dedication and Compassion”

Prof. M.S. Pillai’s departure is a great loss to all of us. Not only for those who had the good fortune of knowing him and his wonderful students and his family but the entire world of education. Born in poverty, he had to discontinue his education and moved out at the age of 17 years. Whatever qualifications were acquired later were while working and he proved to be an educator, teacher of exceptional commitment, integrity. He brought in a lot of innovation in educating the people in business and leadership. Symbiosis University gained tremendously by his leadership at SCHMRD.

He became very popular because of his qualities of leadership and innovative methods. He believed not only in skills and information, but through values and spirituality, which he introduced the students through Vipyassana and meditation which was compulsory in the first 10 days of the course. He told me that people didn’t realize the value—we have to, motivate them and tell them that what we are learning is not just a degree for a job but also the art and science of the right way of livelihood.

When students joined the college, they used to hate him because of his strictness. However on the day of graduation, students crying and falling at his feet. They used to say he has transformed our lives. He was a man of great integrity, dedication and compassion also at the same time. A teacher of such exceptional qualities, achieved success in an institution because of high principles.

Sadhana Institute became popular because of the innovative methods of teaching and making people realize the value of service also. The road in front of the institute had to be cleaned by a broom by students in turns. I can recall so many stories of students, who came from ordinary families and transformed them into extraordinary personalities. He had faith in an individual’s capacity.

Such people will continue to live in the hearts of thousands of people whose lives he transformed. His reputation as an exceptional teacher of business and leadership skills will remain forever. I am sure he will inspire many students who follow his values to transform many more people like the way he did. We will miss him very much.

Col. Pradeep Lokhande,
Social Entrepreneur

“His dream was to uplift villages”

This is a very difficult time for us all. Whenever I met Professor M.S. Pillai, he had a habit of holding my hand and asking me to tell students that our country lives in villages. If you want to be a successful CEO or an entrepreneur, you have to learn about India that resides in villages, he would say. I also remember that after every financial budget, he used to call me and express his frustration that politicians have no idea how much money to allocate to villages and how to utilize it. They only care about urban India, he would say. Professor Pillai had an enormous love for villages. His dream was to uplift villages, and I hope everyone who has known him will do their bit in realizing his dream.

"A Parent’s View"

(Retd.) Lt. Gen. Moti Dar,
Former Vice Chief of the Army Staff

My daughter was to do her MBA, so obviously my first suggestion was that she should do it from SIMS, which caters to service men’s children. And because I had a working relationship with SIMS for many years, I thought it would be good that she did her MBA from there. She turned around and told me that she didn’t want to do it from SIMS. I asked why, and she said there was a college called SCMHRD, which was also a Symbiosis institute, and had a tremendous reputation because of Professor Pillai.

All alumni who have done their MBA from SCMHRD, talk very highly of Professor Pillai and the institute. So, it is in view of that my daughter insisted on joining SCMHRD and I had to request Dr Mujumdar to let her join that institute. That is how she joined SCMHRD and I got to meet Professor Pillai for the first time. She was there at the Hinjewadi campus in Pune. I would regularly visit the college and I had the privilege of meeting Professor Pillai often.

A fine persona

Professor Pillai was an extremely straightforward and upright person. Extremely dedicated to the student and the institute he had tremendous zest and zeal to develop young people in the field of management. Of course, he was a strict disciplinarian, who often asked students to work very hard, gave them deadlines and ensured they got down to their studies in a serious way. Not only that, he also developed a very fine library in the college and he insisted that students bring in their views and visions, not only on issues pertaining to management but on overall corporate issues.

One thing was certain, the students were hard pressed to push on their studies. Nonetheless, they all loved him for everything else, for all his pushing them around and worked with all diligence and hard work.

Being from the Air Force, he had that typical services attitude towards discipline, hard work and enormous dedication towards the institution. Those days I was often going to Pakistan because Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had asked me to have direct contact with General Musharraf, who was then the President of Pakistan. So, I was dealing between the Prime Minister in India and President of Pakistan, to be able to convey each others’ issues. And we brought in a lot of goodwill in Pakistan. Because of that, very senior Pakistani officers were in touch with me. The days were really good days when Mr. Vajpayee felt that there should be friendship between the two nations and it was being reciprocated by General Musharraf at that time. So, I suggested to Prof. Pillai that the three generals were coming to India and if he would like to invite them to attend the passing out ceremony of the students, and he did so on my request. They were also asked to give a brief talk to the students on what they felt about India-Pakistan friendship and also how they felt about the institute. Of course, they were full of praise for it and they felt that they needed to have such institutes in their country as well. And they kept on pursuing him, saying that they would like to have a similar institute built up in Pakistan.

Spiritually inclined

Another aspect of Prof. Pillai was his spiritual side of him. He was very spiritually inclined. That very time when we had invited these Pakistani officers, he also invited Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. It was wonderful interacting with Sadhguru. Both my wife and I spent some time with him and we were very impressed with all that he said to the students and to us. He also seemed to have tremendous respect and faith in Professor Pillai.

Thereafter Prof. Pillai left SCMHRD and established another management college, Sadhana Centre For Management & Leadership Development. My wife and I, along with our daughter went to see him there and were delighted to see that with his hard work and capabilities, and with the tremendous support of the alumni and Prof. Balasubramanian, he was able to establish this institute. He carried the same value systems in them, as he had carried all his life—brightness, tremendous integrity, dedication to work and ability to feel for the students and their ability, to be able to bring them up to that level where they inherited all values, not only of corporate, but human values as well. I was very impressed with that.

I was looking forward to his re-establishing another institute, but unfortunately, I heard of his sudden demise—I felt very sad.

M. S. Pillai is A Genuine Hero

TN Seshan
Former Chief Election
Commissioner of India

I had the privilege of working with MS Pillai in his second innings which he dedicated to education. After a long career in the Air Force, he had the option of hanging his boots but he pursued his interest in imparting education. Being an outstanding employee, he found a pride of place in the highest echelons of education as a director in the highly reputed Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies in Pune. He went on to use his God-given talent and time in the service of education as an entrepreneur until his untimely death.

We met for the first time when Pillai was with Symbiosis. Eventually when he went on to start the Sadhana Centre for Management & Leadership Development (SCMLD) he often came to me to consult on various aspects of his new ventures.

He was one of the most enterprising individuals I came across; always bubbling with brilliant ideas. His energy was infectious. He came through as clear thinking and honest person. He had no pretences about him. Personally he was a gem. He was committed to his students, respectful, earnest, sincere to the core, without any sign of malice or rancour and eager to contribute to the next generation and to society. He had an ambitious vision of building a huge college of leadership which included a school for management of business, another for leadership in government and politics, a third for leadership in the social sector and finally a school for leadership in the fourth pillar of democracy, media.

It would have done the world a lot of good if he had had more years to pursue his dreams. But even in his intense brief innings, he made a huge impact in the lives of the students he came to touch. Far from imparting the three R’s to his students, he always spoke in terms of their transformation. And going one step ahead of teaching transformation he operated at the ‘experiential’ level and brought change in students’ lives. It was not uncommon for his students to break down in tears when he held sessions for them that made them confront their deepest fears and anxieties and as he guided them to better horizons. His willingness to try unconventional ideas could be seen in his choice of subjects he was planning to add in the list of offerings at the Sadhna institute. And if he believed a new idea would help, he was never averse at trying it. Yoga was on the menu, for instance, he got his management students to carry bedding for a power nap in the afternoon, because he wished to tap into their productive early morning hours for training/education and wanted to eat into the drowsiness prone, lazy, post-lunch hours.

The institutions that he pioneered were remarkable in the delta factor. The best of business schools in the country take in talented students and then generate talented alumni by adding an appropriate delta factor to them. In Pillai’s case, he took even the average student and sought to impart in him/her a great delta factor by making them aim at transformational excellence. He believed in imparting values and laid stress on it in his attempts to create wholesome individuals in his wards. Parents could leave their children in his safe hands and rest assured that the students were receiving close to parental care under him.

Pragmatic to a fault, he possibly overworked himself. He had so much to achieve and was pursuing his dreams even at the cost of his health. I still have time to go into quiet retirement he would say.

One remembers him with warmth in the heart. We need more educationists like him. People like him must be encouraged and supported with resources so that the best that the nation can offer can be unleashed. But lack of that support should not stop anyone from trying. Rising against the odds makes people heroes and Pillai can definitely be counted as a distinguished one among those.