Saturday, June 25, 2011

Launch of book on Ravi Matthai-IIMA





































We had a launch function for my book on Ravi Matthai-IIMA (Brick by Red Brick: Ravi Matthai and the Making of IIM Ahmedabad;Rupa Publications) on June 20. Dr C Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the PM, released the book.

Dr Rangarajan was a professor at IIMA in Matthai's time. He had been recruited from the US by Matthai and became a close associate of his here. Among those present were IIMA director Samir Barua, faculty and staff of the Institute, former faculty members of IIMA, people from the corporate world and the government of Gujarat and members of the media. The event was well covered in the Ahmedabad editions.

5 comments:

K.R.Srivarahan said...

Congratulations! Ravi J richly deserves a book on him.

Anonymous said...

Heartiest Congratulations!!!

Anonymous said...

You mentioned that in his youth late Prof Ravi Mathais had run down a man in a car accident and he was sent abroad As you know that Prof Ravi Mathai was a son of the then Finance Secretary John Mathai in Nehru's Govt So like rich and powerful children he too was sheltered Also his appointment was a political one- due to his pedigree! This is not to belie his contribution to the building of the IIMA and setting a cultural tone Subsequently the current director Barua despite his modesty and humility owes his tenure to his political connection when UPA I was in power and CPI(M) used to call shots His father in law is A Bardhan General Secretary of CPI (M) I also heard an apocryphal story That the current director when he was a faculty earlier chose to transfer himself as a visiting faculty to the IIMBlore where his son was doing MBA so as to take care of him I understand that son later joined Bain & Co. Now with the proposed end of his term his own appointees are packing bags from their "visiting faculty " and going back to their own parent No wonder the quality of the IIMA has deteriorated over the past 20-25 yrs I am an alumni from the 1970s and was shocked to see under management (sic) of the IIMA No wonder IIM-B and ISB have stolen a march over it

Anonymous said...

I would like to know information on his sister Valsa Anna Mathai. Why is there a dearth of information on her mysterious death? I have scoured the internet for days, but the information is just repetitive news articles from 1944 on her disappearance and the revelation of her body in the Hudson river. The family seems plagued with tragedy but it didn't seem to effect John Matthai or his son.

Unknown said...

Ravi Mathai is an inspiration