“Hello…are you crazy?”, “I do not agree one bit with you” and “how did we even shortlist you for this role” were his words to me during the final interview for a faculty position with MICA in 2023. After minutes of desperate attempts to save my sinking prospects, he had relented, “…but we have to welcome contrarian points of views in academia…” By the end of the 90 min meeting, I had developed a mild form of ‘fan-mesia’ for him – the kinds you develop for a boss you’re beginning to love, no matter how tough he is on you.
Saif Ali Khan Health Update
He was a big reason I crossed over from industry to academia. Today, he himself made the final crossing.
Dr Bhaskar Das liked to wear his opinions bright, as bright as his satin shirts, but also light, as he would change his view if yours made more sense with data. No ego or the excess CEO baggage of his 42-year career, 15 of which were spent as President & Board Member, Group CEO and Executive President with Bennett & Coleman, Zee Media and Dainik Bhaskar respectively.
Apart from his role as a Member of the Governing Council at MICA, he also served as the Mentor to the Centre for Media and Entertainment at MICA and invested generous amounts of time in coaching and enriching the team there. He would pull us aside in a meeting and pose a sharp question, “Media is changing every moment, what are you doing to keep pace with it in the classroom?”.
He was especially mindful about my status as the ‘newest-of-his-newborns’ in academia and never lost an opportunity to check in and coach me. His golden words, “Industry folks are great at telling ‘War-Stories’ from their career but that is information. And Information is not knowledge. Give students a toolbox they can use. That is knowledge”. Like ‘Eklavya’, I remember these words almost every day
.In these last 2 years, I had also seen him remind people not to ask him too much about his health, “Health is great, my waist size is lesser than yours…” and chuckle. On a casual walk in the leafy campus at MICA, he would turn around and ask our Research Assistants, “the NCCS classification system is being changed into ISEC. Can you elaborate on the significance of this”. He had an unending thirst for knowledge reflecting in his 3 PhDs that he possessed. Yes, that’s right! He had three PhDs, his last one being, ‘the study of GenZ in India’. To the pet peeve of teachers about the students using Gen AI tools for every assignment he had tersely remarked, “for you the technology is an assistance tool, for GenZ it is part of their integrated circuit. So, find a way to help them use it better for the assignments”.
The last time I spent with him was with Dr Santosh Patra during our industry handshakes for three days in Mumbai. He used to get down and bolt out of the vehicle and walk really fast. When I asked him about why does he do this, he had smiled and wryly said, “I have less time now and lots of ground to cover”. I let it slide then and never realised the potent meaning of that retort. Today, as I am listlessly typing in his remembrance. I do.
Adieu, Bhaskar Da.
This tribute for Bhaskar Da is written by Anirudh Kalia, Associate Professor of Practice – Centre of Media, Entertainment & Sports
Content Courtesy: Exchage4media
