Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A. After completing IIFM, I took a job with the Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD), a national-level NGO supporting watershed management throughout the country in partnership with other grassroots NGOs. I cut my teeth on the job, travelling to remote places across India promoting community participation for soil and water conservation.
India 3o years ago was not the same place and communication wasn’t developed. Even STD services were patchy. I picked up a lot of expertise being on the road and on the job in the four years I was with SPWD. As I picked up expertise, there was a demand for my skills of watershed management, and I was picked up by Sida at the Swedish Embassy in Delhi where I worked for about a year on their social forestry projects in India.
During this time in the field, I realised the power of governmental intervention and thought about joining the higher civil service. So while being on the job, I took a shot at the Civil Service Examination, being clear that I will only join the top services. I was fortunate and made it to the Foreign Service and presently I have completed 25 years as an Indian diplomat. My job has taken me to Spain, Colombia, Dhaka, Peru, and New York apart from tenures at Delhi in various positions. I was Ambassador of India to Peru and Bolivia and then my last assignment was Consul General in New York. I owe my success in the Civil Service Examination and later on my performance as a diplomat to the orientation that I received at IIFM, a worldview, an outlook, on how to look at life.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. In my 30 years career, I have held 3 jobs- SPWD ( 4 years), Sida ( about 1 year), and MEA ( 25 years). My SPWD job gave me my first international exposure. I attended an RRA training program in Thailand and an international conference in China little knowing that a career in diplomacy was waiting in the wings for me. Then I moved to the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi again little knowing that I will soon be inhabiting Indian Embassies all over the world.
My career in diplomacy has been very rewarding as I have always tried to be a people-oriented and service-minded person (ingrained in my DNA from my IIFM and NGO days) and worked to see how my work and job can benefit the common man.
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. The most satisfying part is of course representing the country and flying the flag abroad. India is now one of the leading countries of the world and this transformation I have witnessed in my career. This shows in my interactions with foreign interlocutors. Also, the Indian diaspora abroad is big, and representing India one gets a good chance of interacting with them.
The other satisfying aspect is the ability to affect the lives of people and making a difference. Many of the things that we decide have bearing on the lives of people and that is the most satisfying element of my job. Here I would like to mention that my IIFM training comes in handy both in terms of infusing sustainability and environmental elements in my work and also dealing with people.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. What I learnt and experienced at IIFM has changed me for life. One is of course the professional part which is the importance one needs to give to the environment and ecology in every human endeavour. We are part of nature and not separate from it. This deep understanding I obtained only at IIFM and has been with me ever since. It permeates my thinking, my lifestyle, and my work.
Although turns of life have made me a diplomat, I always carry my IIFM learning at the back of my mind and it often comes to the front and helps in doing things or guides me to solutions even in diplomacy. I take pride in calling myself a ‘Green Diplomat’.
I will illustrate with some examples. Recently we held a prime ministerial meeting between India and the Netherlands. As relations with the Netherlands are part of my current portfolio I started thinking about what focus to give to the meeting? How can the meeting be different and how to have an impactful outcome? Reading about the Netherlands and its capabilities I realised that the country is a powerhouse in water technologies, and water is the focus of the government in India. Water is also my interest area as forests are water factories. Bingo!!! So I took the lead in convincing my leadership that we should announce a ‘strategic partnership on water’ with the Netherlands. The idea was accepted and the two prime ministers spoke about it and announced it. Now we will see how to leverage our relations with the Netherlands for our several water-related missions. This is just one example. There are many, such as setting up the Gandhi Jayanti Tree Garden in New York through crowdfunding and greening of a poor desertified neighborhood in Lima, Peru. I could think of these projects and solutions due to my experiences and training in IIFM.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. The first and everlasting memory of IIFM is the campus. One cannot ever get over it, the location, the building, the environment, the lakes around the campus, Bhadbhada dam, the campus some distance from the city, all added to the charm of IIFM. When we were there it was normal to see jackals and other animals and snakes such as the banded kraits were all over. I cannot ever erase these from my memory. There is also something about the architecture of the building. It grows on you and one starts loving the building. Another memory that I have was the field trip during the monsoon that the two batches 89 and 90 made to Betul in buses, overnighting in Betul, and on the way back we went to Bhimbhetka. It was a fun trip in which we bonded.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. My biggest learning was the ecological element of the curriculum. How everything is related and how development cannot be at the cost of the environment. This learning has moulded my personality and permeates my work.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. One cannot ever forget the 1st April or April Fools Day that we commemorated in 1990. It has been more than three decades but I remember it vividly and it still gives me laughs. If I remember correctly on the 31st March night we had the annual farewell function for the 1988 batch which went on till very late at night. Tired and exhausted (and drunk) we went to sleep very late in the night, perhaps around 2 or 3 a.m on 1st April. Someone thought of a prank, perhaps it was Vijay Koul and Manoj Dabas. They set up an accident scene at the main gate by throwing some scooters on the ground and they went around the hostel waking up people saying that there had been an accident at the gate and their best friend had died. They carried different tales to different people and one by one almost everyone was at the gate. The moment they saw someone coming on a scooter from the hill, the people near the gate would lie down on the ground acting dead and others would start wailing. The newcomers not knowing if it was real or fake would join in the wailing and this went all for almost till sunrise. Once the newcomer realized that he had been made a fool, all others including the ‘dead’ would get up and start dancing, waiting for the next victim. The moment they would see the light of a scooter from the hill, they would back into feigning being dead or wailing. I haven’t had such an April Fools day ever again in my life. It is unforgettable.
Q. As an alumnus, what’s your advice to freshers or those who are joining IIFM to get the best out of the 2 years there?
A. Someone is fortunate that s/he has made it to IIFM. Having said that I feel one should be very conscious from the beginning that one has come to business school and what one wants to make out of it. I wasn’t. Having joined IIFM I was in euphoria and didn’t realize till the first term was over that the education in IIFM would be transformative and could change my life.
However, once I got the realization I was focused and did reasonably well. Having said that I wasn’t a book worm and enjoyed my time in the institute and was involved in almost all pranks and initiatives including organizing events and the running of the mess. I had other colleagues who were focused on only academics and didn’t enjoy their time on the campus. Today if we draw the balance sheet of life, I would say that they made the wrong choices. So my advice is to enjoy the time in IIFM but also be conscious that one can obtain quality and transformative education at IIFM.
Q. What is your typical day at the office?
A. For me, it is “thank god it is Monday”. I believe that as we spend so much time at the workplace, we better enjoy our work and look forward to it. In fact, I have decorated my office a little bit to my taste so that it feels homely and comfy.
On a normal day, I am up at 6.00 a.m. After watering the plants and the morning cuppa, I go for my yoga class or an hour-long walk in Chanakyapuri. Back at 8:30 a.m. I read the newspaper for some time and then get ready to reach the office by about 10:00 a.m. Then I am immersed at work but I also go around checking out my colleagues. The first thing I do is to read cables and emails from our Embassies abroad and see if any urgency or emergency is building up. This allows me to plan my day and prioritize what needs attention. Then the day gets going in terms of guiding the team and focussing on the goals that we have set for our team.
I also try to meet whoever wants to meet me. I believe meeting people keeps us grounded to reality. As my bosses get time towards the end of the working day, I normally stay late in the office and try to wind up by about 7:30 p.m. But I am not one of those who expect my team members to also stay late in the office. My leadership style is leading from the front. I do not expect my team to deliver anything that I cannot do myself. I am also not a micromanager and believe in delegation and team building.
Q. And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family, and anything else you want to add
A. I like cooking and spending time with family and friends. I also write a blog on diverse topics although I must confess that after returning to India in July 2020, I haven’t been able to do so due to pressures on my time. I also wanted to spend time with my kids before they went to the US for their college studies. Now that I am beginning to get some time back in my hands, I plan to write an international relations primer focussed on young people who want to know about foreign policy and international relations. In the mornings I attend a yoga class regularly and have noticed the difference it is making to me.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors
A. I like reading non-fiction, mostly history, international relations and of course about trees and the environment. The book I read recently and has had an impact on me is “Overstory” by Richard Powers. It brings home in a telling way the need to protect our old-growth forests and how motivated some people are about doing so. It is significant that the book was a mainstream success in the US and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2019. A must-read for all IIFMights.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
A. I was one of the first ones in Delhi to start an alumni chapter and organize frequent meetings. In those days our numbers were very small so it was a tall task to pull through. Then when Facebook came along I started an IIFM Alumni Endowment Fund page in the hope of pulling together alumni to contribute to the alma mater. Although the Facebook page is active and has a large membership, the Fund has not materialized. I would like to take advantage of my stay in Delhi to activate the Endowment Fund so that the alumni can give back to the institute in a more organized manner. At the moment it is very sporadic and a scattered effort.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
A. Haven’t been to IIFM for so many years now. I think the last time I was there was in 2010, even then I had seen so much change in the campus in terms of infrastructure development. Would like to visit again this year in the rain, when the campus is at its resplendent best.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Shumon Sengupta, V. Varalakshmi, Ravi Gupta, Praveen Pruthi, HH Nath.