After working in WWF-India and TERI, Anjali worked for more than 20 years as an independent consultant across sectors – irrigation, NRM, rural energy, sanitation, education and livelihoods, with both domestic and international organizations. She did doctoral research as Fellow, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, on water sector reforms. Apart from professional assignments, Anjali has been associated with a grass-root NGO, Nai Disha, as a volunteer since 2010, spearheading the education program and as an anchor for change management within the organization.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjalimohanbhatia
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM so far?
A. It’s been incredible, challenging and rewarding. Challenging more because of my responsibilities within the family and working from home was like doing two full-time jobs with no fixed hours. Very rewarding too because I got the opportunity to work on many projects both within India and outside, and to pursue my passion for academics and research.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. They are too many to mention between the age of 25-50.
Additionally, as a consultant the rate of change is really high. My learning – time is the only limited non-renewable resource available to man and the 3 R’s don’t work on it. If one utilizes time consciously, a lot can be achieved and there are no regrets in life.
Q. What is the most satisfying part in your career?
A. The diversity of experiences and the steep learning curve!
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. Definitely! I grew up in a traditional, sheltered, urban environment with very little exposure to nature or wildlife. My first visit to a wildlife reserve was when I was completing my graduation – and I immediately wanted to join IIFM. IIFM provided a fairly good academic base and a lot of experiential learning to build on. The most impactful learning at IIFM was a field trip to Kanha forest with Dr. J.B.Lal, then Director of the Institute. As we trekked with him, he brought the forest to life with his narrative – from the soil to the canopy, the entire ecosystem – the story each layer of the forest was telling us and I was totally hooked! Many times later in life, as I looked at an energy system, irrigation system, or a village – I would look at them through his eyes and listen to the story that the ecosystem was telling me.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.
A. Freelance consultancy was my response to balancing motherhood and professional yearnings. Hence, I have been doubly grateful to IIFM, as it made this possible. One project would lead to the next, and the projects felt really tailor-made to my skillset, interests and growth. I have been grateful for such serendipity which brought me these projects, most of them international, opportunities I would not have had if I had continued with my job at TERI then.
Of course, consultancy comes with its own set of pros and cons and it is better to take this option after some job-experience. While there are obvious advantages to consulting, it can be a lonely journey, and I often missed working with teams and interaction with other professionals. I wished to work for longer duration within one organization but when I did finally take a full-time job after many years of consulting, I realized I no longer had the patience to adjust to organizational functioning. As a consultant, you are given a project to fill in a well-defined gap/need for an organization, like a puzzle with a missing piece. With a job, it takes time for people to get to know you, for you to constantly prove yourself and make an effort to fit in – like joining a puzzle where the existing pieces have to move about or adjust to make place for a new piece! I felt it was a huge waste of time and energy. At that point, I preferred the fast and productive pace of consultancy!
Also, my advice to freshers would be to enhance their skill sets to meet current demands of the sector – at my time there was interest in participatory management of resources, then came climate change and microfinance and now its ESG etc. Pick new areas to specialize in – that’s where most of the action will be – the funding, opportunities, growth and where you can have the maximum impact.
Q. How did you decide to go for higher studies post IIFM? And how was the experience?
A. I was always passionate about learning new things and loved Economics. I joined IIFM with the idea of doing a PhD in Natural Resource Economics. Then life took over and for a while the idea of doctoral study was shelved. Some years later I took up a project with Wageningen University, which was to lead to further studies. But that project was followed by a couple of great projects and the PhD was shelved again. Later, everything just fell in place and I was really lucky to get the fellowship from IWMI and to utilize my time as a stay-at-home mom with two children, the younger one being less than a year old, to follow up on my dream to do doctoral research.
Q. How easy/difficult was the decision to go on a “Professional break” after having a great success over the years in various roles/consultancy? Do you miss the action!!
A. It was not an easy decision – and it had been staring at me for a couple of years before I finally decided to take not just a break but a complete retirement! The struggle with professional commitments and a demanding parenting role was taking a toll on me. At the same time, I had limited interest in desk-based assignments. The critical tipping point was the fact that I had a very satisfying and fulfilling commitment with an NGO for the past decade, and many other interests to investigate. So, time utilization was never an issue. I also had the confidence I could use stock markets to compensate for the loss of income if I stopped working – and after agonizing over it for a fairly long time, as Meister Eckhart says,
“And suddenly you know
It’s time to start something new
And trust the magic of new beginnings!”
I packed up all the literature collected over the years and drove to a library. And started studying the stock markets in earnest…
On hindsight, I am really happy about this decision – it was a great time to enter the stock markets and learn the trade. Fortune favours the bold as they say, and the rally last year rewarded everyone who was there in the stock market. At the same time, in my work with Nai Disha, we have more than 600 children of all ages to cater to. Designing an education programme for these first-generation learners was an engaging process and very satisfying. Many are children of migrant labourers and the issues of poverty and livelihoods remain central to our work – it’s just very close-up now. Many of our older kids take odd jobs and struggle to help out their families to meet the very basic existential needs. Some come from families caught in loan traps and can barely keep their heads above water and we are currently struggling to design a suitable model of self-help and microfinance that may provide a viable solution to help our older students. Hence, the research never ends but doing this where you can make a difference is very rewarding.
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. I think the range of experiences at IIFM – the academics, field visits, projects, OTs(now called SI & Project) everything really, opens you up to new possibilities. The students and faculty were also extremely diverse and for me this was the first exposure to such a diverse group of individuals. Apart from Dr Lal’s interaction which I have already mentioned, Dr Madhu Verma was the faculty advisor on my second OT(Now called Project Work) and she was amazing – both with support and guidance, and I think her generosity then made me a better mentor for my own students.
Q. As an alumni, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. I would tell freshers to embrace the uniqueness of what IIFM offers. It is a doorway to an exclusive career path – and the rewards of working in the environmental or rural development areas are immensely more valuable than traditional markers for successful careers. It is an opportunity to work with passion – to travel to exotic destinations, connect with diverse people and to view the world from different perspectives. There are challenges too, but the warmth and belongingness shared with different people bring joy years later – become the ‘daffodils’ of your life. Which other career would provide the opportunity to dance at a wedding in rural Laos, or to have a meal at the home of a farming family in rural China, spend a night listening to the traditional wisdom from a matriarch in a small village of Rajasthan, or having rice beer with the old men of a village in Arunachal while working on projects supported by prestigious names like World Bank, DFID or IUCN etc.! By the time you reach the age of 50, you have a literal field full of daffodils, in addition to the usual boardrooms. Professional choices are often a conflict between the ego and the heart – explore both at different stages of life. The choices you make will help you to understand yourself as a human being and what a meaningful life looks like to you. If you are skilled at whatever you choose to do, there will be no lack of opportunities or money, so don’t let insecurity and fear decide the career path for you.
Q. What was your typical day at the work? And how does it look like while you are on a break?
A. My day begins with news from around the world and the state of the stock markets, followed by yoga, Sudarshan kriya and meditation. Rest of the day, I attend to commitments to my NGO, the teachers and students, and of late, my homeopathy commitments which keep me on my toes.
Q. And how about weekends, hobbies, family and anything else you want to add?
A. Family has always been the central pivot – and with the younger one about to turn 18 while the older one already out of the nest, it’s a time of great change – my heart rejoices and it cries! The age gap between us has shrunk unbelievably and now they are recommending books, TV shows and solving the same crosswords (the boys always beat me).
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors?
A. A TV show I can recommend is “Good Omens” based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The ‘milestone’ books of my life have been Kahlil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet‘, Paramhansa Yoganandaji’s ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, and the Geeta and the Astavakra Geeta among the Indian scriptures.
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. I think there have been many changes in IIFM, the best being there are many more students! There is substantially more enthusiasm and commitment in the recent batches and stronger networking. Many of the alumni have done fabulously well within the niche areas of IIFM. All this will go a long way in establishing the value and expertise of IIFM.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. I think everyone has their own beautiful journey to share but I can mention Saroj Nanda – (the very unassuming topper of our batch) – I met him recently and his journey from IIFM to a successful entrepreneur will certainly inspire future entrepreneurs.