Personal Diary: Message from Prof. Bala Balachandran

Have you heard about Prof. Bala Balachandran - a luminary of modern India? His name is associated with India's great institutions like ISB, Hyderabad, IIM, Bangalore, MDI, Gurgaon and Great Lakes, Chennai. In May 2012 he was selected as one of India Inc's Top 10 Global Indian thought leaders by The Economic Times.

I came to know about Prof. Bala Balachandran (we also call him Uncle Bala with affection) when I applied for 1 year PGPM program of Great Lakes Institute of Management, a brainchild of Dr. Bala. I became a big fan of him when I read about him on various sources on internet.

Fig: Prof. Bala at Hotel Ramada, Bangalore, on Jan-04-2012

It was my privilege to interact with this Padma Shri awardee at Great Lakes Connect program held at Hotel Ramada, Bangalore, on Jan-04-2012. After the program was over we had informal interaction with Prof. Bala, Prof. Easwar Krishna Iyer and other distinguished speakers around 9:30 pm. Afterwards we had dinner together. 

I earnestly requested, "Sir, I am not sure whether I will be able to make it to Great Lakes. But I want a message from you." He was kind to write an inspirational message for me which I have been keeping zealously. The message reads as: 

"My dear Satyaranjan, Keep your goals high and make it higher. Set the goals, exceed that and raise the bar. Let God be with you always. Affectionately, Uncle Bala"

Fig: Message from Prof. Bala Balachandran

I could not make it to Great Lake's Chennai campus. But I was fortunate to be selected for Great Lakes's second campus in Gurgaon. It was a pleasure to know that Prof Bala would be teaching 'Managerial Accounting' at Gurgaon campus.

Further Reading on Prof. Bala:
India's most powerful thought leaders
Bala's profile at Kellog School of Management
From Wikipedia