Balaji
1998-01 B Com, 2001-03 MFM
I joined SSSIHL for B.Com (Hons.), Brindavan campus. 1st UG was in room no C5. Ruchir Sir’s room! In my first semester, when he taught us ‘quantitative techniques’, he gave us a mathematical puzzle in which a monkey was a center piece. As soon as he finished dictating the puzzle, I sprang up to tell him the answer. He inquisitively looked at me and asked, ‘Did you arrive at the answer by solving or was it from experience?” which led to a volcanic eruption of laughter in the class. It taught me the all important lesson of learning to find a method to solve the problem rather than just stay contended knowing the answer. The method is as important, if not more, than just the result!
It was during my student days, Ruchir sir lost his father. In his first session after he resumed his duties, he was narrating how he ‘challanged’ the Purohit, questioning him on the rationale behind every ritual that he was asked to perform as part of the last rites for his father. He further added that the Purohit was better prepared with explanations after the first day of rituals. He used this incident to emphasize the need to develop critical reasoning, even during emotionally tough times. While some of my classmates (and seniors) often warned me about my outlandish questions in his class, he was never the one to shy away from them and answered every question without judgment.
In a world, where confidence is often confused with arrogance, he clearly discerned the difference with his in-depth knowledge and constant quest to learn. More than his temperament, it was his ability to offer a sincere apology that impressed me about him. I remember instances in classroom, where he corrected himself for a mistake that he had committed a couple of weeks ago. He never limited his classes to text book or the syllabus alone, and was always open for discussion on contemporary issues. A while ago, a friend of mine had books to give away. Among them was an old Advanced Accountancy text book by Prof. Radhaswamy and R.L. Gupta. Browsing through the text book, he could feel the presence of Ruchir sir on every page that carries the financial statements of X Ltd. It is certainly tough to believe that the statements for the year ended 2021 and beyond will never be available. The Balance sheet finally tallied on 17th May 2021.