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Q. How has been your journey from IIFM so far?
A. It has remained an intriguing journey after IIFM, but all of it has offered me opportunities to learn a lot of new things. There have been highs and lows, like all fresher experiences in their professional life. But I always took the challenges in a positive way, which has enriched me in the journey.
After IIFM, I joined the ICICI Foundation in the area of skill development, but the first three months made me understand that I want to get acquainted with the rural community and development challenges. This made me take one of the best decisions to start with the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) in MP. The two years I stayed in the organization boosted my understanding of rural communities as well as presented me the opportunity to learn from professionals who are in the sector for a decade. Initially I was looking after a World Bank project there and after completion of the project I was looking after the monitoring part of all the projects running in MP state. That was the time, I got connected with Mr. Janmejay Mishra, who was in the Research and Monitoring of country level operations of the NGO. Janmejay Sir’s guidance and support has been very helpful in shaping my orientation in the early part of my career.
I am few of the fortunate people who have studied from IIFM and later worked here as well. In 2014, when I joined IIFM for the UNDP project for National Forest Policy Research and Revision, I got the opportunity to connect with the professors as a professional. As the project had almost 10 faculties engaged in the project, it was another great learning break for me. The support I accumulated from professors like Rekha Ma’am, Sandeep Tambe Sir, Advait Sir, Ashish David Sir, Suprava Ma’am & Amitabha Sir is priceless. This also prepared me for the professional world a lot and helped me in critical thinking and project delivery skills.
Shifting to Bhubaneswar in late 2016 because of my job in Annapurna, in an area of Social Performance Management, which was a totally new area for me, was another challenge I took. I learnt from doing in this job role, but again the support from my reporting, senior like Satyajit Das Sir, and colleague and batchmate like Ramkrishna Atre have been very useful.
In short, my journey after IIFM, has been quite varied, full of new experiences and always with people around me, who pushed me to bring out the best possible.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. In AKRSP (I), the World Bank funded ‘Amrut Krishi’ project was the first professional project in my life, and it helped me understanding the nitty-gritties of project implementation and monitoring. Being the youngest member in the AKRSP(I) team to do the impact research of Soyabean Intensification, which was published by Cornell University, was the highest point in my experience there, the love and recognition I gathered after that was overwhelming. I think in the early part of the career, every professional deserves this kind of work environment that encourages them every day to bring out the best.
IIFM has taught me how to improve my deliverables in a better way. The different stakeholder consultations we did under the project honed my people skill a lot. I still follow some suggestions from the faculties I received during that time. I especially recall Rekha Ma’am suggested always to crosscheck the deliverables before submission and Sandeep Sir suggested to write at least one page every day to improve the skill.
Annapurna is the organization that gave me a bigger role in the form of heading a new department. My experience here has made me learn from my mistakes and reinvent new areas where I can contribute. The highest achievement here I feel is starting the diversity and inclusion programs here, which further turned a lot of heads in the industry, secured a lot of recognition for the organization and helped a lot of stakeholders in their journey and specifically created a collaborative environment in the organization to achieve better diversity performance.
Q. What is the most satisfying part in your career?
A. I don’t usually believe in one-time satisfaction and am quite greedy in this regard! The best feeling for me is when at the end of the day I feel satisfied with my work and has a feeling that somehow, I have contributed to making my surroundings (world can be too big a term) a little better.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. IIFM has been one of the key factors shaping my professional life, pushing me towards the development sector being the most important aspect. The field visit component and the classroom sessions prepared me well for the sector. The classroom sessions of CS Rathore Sir, AK Dharni Sir, CVRS Sir and Edgaonkar Sir turned to be very helpful in my professional journey.
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. I would always attribute the role of the biggest drivers to the people and the situations. I might be lucky in that way that even in adversities, I was able to find the silver lining that never let me be discouraged.
My advice to the freshers and IIFM graduates is to value and focus on perseverance as it helps you make progress even when things get tough, it is the key to success. Studying from a sectoral institute, we are privileged to have an out-of-the box perspective on every challenge and that is our USP. We cannot compare our exposure and experience with other management institutions, we are differentiated and valued in that way, and it is our advantage.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. IIFM has gifted me with innumerous new things, adventures, friendships and camaraderie. The two field trips not only fulfilled the learning objective, but the bonds we developed with our classmates over the course are equally precious. The celebrations we had on the campus, beyond classroom interaction we did with the faculties and staff, everything reminds me of the warmth and affection I was fortunate to receive during those two years. The beautiful sylvan campus and the friendly faces made those two years a fond memory, which brings a smile even after a tough day.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. The courses especially by Rathore Sir, CVRS Sir, Edgaonkar Sir, Suprava Ma’am have turned out to be very beneficial in my professional journey, the informal interaction with Dharni Sir, Patil Sir, Khare Sir, Yogesh Dubey Sir, Madguni Sir has made me understand the challenges in professional journey and help take a pragmatic approach towards them. During my college days, I spent a significant amount of time in our library, which offered a wide range of books to support building concepts.
For me, these two years have not only been academically enriching but also individually rewarding in making us future-ready and resilient.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. Usually, I am quite introverted in nature, so my close interaction happens with very few people. But with most of them, I am still connected till date. Beside Rohit, who is my batchmate and life-partner, Deepanjan Kundu, Raj Sekhar, Vini Pathak are my cherished friends from IIFM days. The memorable times from student life will be our evening chats, which never was constrained by academic curriculum. I remember at the end of the 2nd year, we were quite hellbent on exploring as much as possible in the campus and the city, leading to a few adventurous bike trips.
Other than the seniors I mentioned earlier, Ananya Ghoshal (MPhil 2011-12) has been one of the inspiring and supportive ones for me and we still share friendly banters on social media when we find some free time. Mili Ghosh and Samadrita Roy from PhD, with whom I connected during my work time in IIFM and have some very fond memories together.
In my current job, I am working with a lot of IIFMites, both senior and junior, some of them are very close to me and I feel very grateful to them all for enriching my journey with their presence.
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. To get the best out of the 2 years, students should look at the course from the application point of view. Going through case studies, grabbing the exposure to understand ground reality can always add value to the academic achievements.
Q. What was your typical day at the work? And how does it look like while you are on a break?
A. A typical day usually consists of a variety of activities like planning, drafting, meeting, reviews, training, team catch ups. I try to keep the planning, idea generations and drafting tasks in the first half of the day as I feel the most creative that time and monitoring and review tasks in the second half.
Q. And how about weekends, hobbies, family and anything else you want to add?
A. The weekends are usually for catching up with family and friends, sometimes travel as I have an interest in mobile photography, catching moments while passing by… I also love watching movies and listening to music during the weekends.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors?
A. Being an introvert from childhood, books have always been my escape from reality. Being a Bengali by birth, I have read majority of the great Bengali authors from old and new age. I love timeless classic thrillers by Satyajit Ray, Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.
My attraction for movies is something I picked up in the later part, from the time of my graduation. I love all genres of movies, but good story is a must. Picking one might be a little tough, but I love the works of Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo Del Toro beside again, the classic movies.
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? Your engagement with IIFM Placement or OT/SI?
A. Annapurna for a long time has been associated with IIFM through Summer Internship project and from 2017, I am working with IIFM students coming to my organization for SI. Annapurna was also a major recruiting banner in IIFM.
I am very grateful to the faculties and the institute for my career and personal development, and I would love to reciprocate the gesture anyway possible.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there?
A. I haven’t been to IIFM for quite some time and also got less connected with the student fraternity after COVID. I find students very active on social media, which gives them a better connectivity with everyone. Given sectoral institutes depend on the value of connection a lot, I think this is something they have done better from before.
The new introduction of sustainability management and academic sessions by alumni are something that can give more effective direction to the career of the students.
There have been a lot of changes from the time I was student, a lot of faculties have changed, the student strength has increased a lot as well. In the present time I also find students having a shift of orientation in terms of career choices.
So yes, there are a lot of things different and most of them are good different. But I feel as it a sectoral institute, a student can benefit the most in the specific sectors, be it development, forestry or environmental. I think there is a need for the students to value the need to understand reality, which can only be achieved by getting exposed to field work, field level implementations.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Obviously, Mr. Satyajit Das, Soumik Ghanta, Rahul Chatterjee from PGDFM course, Ananya Ghoshal from MPhil.