Prof. KM Shrivastava: I didn't like him yet I wanted to be like him

If being a Professor means:
Having your own take on everything;
Speaking your own mind without fear;
Having a give-a-hoot attitude to the powers that be; and,
Taking academics seriously---
Dear K M Shrivastava was a PROFESSOR personified. He lived every bit of it.

He hated Advertising because he believed it was weakening the
Social-Cost Benefit parameters in decision making with respect to news, yet KM was no less a Self-Advertising Prof than anybody you could think of. One could feel slighted by him on
photo-ops involving big-wigs: yes, just before the camera clicked, you would find him between you and the shutter.

He was available to all kinds of people for  advice: two warring parties would get the most genuine advice with malice towards none. Or may be, towards all if you so wish.
Many would envy his international academic network but not even a fraction of them would dare do what he did to groom and maintain that network: most of his international visits to conferences were self-financed.

At IIMC he would finish his paper very fast; would miss no time in advertising his books and sounding The Authority on the subject ( that he was for sure ). Many would recall him saying: I am the highest paid Professor in the country as I take 4 classes in a year and am paid Rs 12 Lakh, that is 3, 00, 000 per lecture!

That was KM,  you take it or leave it. But he would never let you down if he made a professional commitment to you.

I remember him as one of the experts in my interview for the post of Associate Professor,  IIMC, way back in June 2002. Within minutes of my entering the board room, the them outgoing Director and JS ( I & B Ministry) Mr Sudhir Sharma said: Dr Singh, you have frequently changed your jobs. How long will you stay with us?
KM didn't take it lying down and said to me: You have only industry experience but no teaching experience.
By then I had two books published by multinational companies. But KM,  supported by another in-house expert, remained unconvinced. Finally, after I joined IIMC, one day he called me in his room and said: This place is not for you. You are such a fool, you should be in the industry. I got your position downgraded to that of Assistant Professor to discourage you from joining, yet you did!
In hindsight, I must confess, KM was prophetic both about me and IIMC.

Today when I sit back to find out why, like many others, I had no great liking for him yet I felt gravitated towards him, the answer that walks the talk is:
I WANTED  TO BE LIKE HIM THAT'S WHY I DIDN'T LIKE HIM!

Yes, the professorial freedom that he didn't compromise with under any circumstances is something that not even a microscopic minority of academics value the way he did. Most of them work hard to graduate to the level of a clerk or a section officer;  or to outcompete each other to get administrative positions with complete disregard for what an academic is known.

I must say that nature was kind to him. He remained a bachelor, was mostly on the move and left us in the night of 28 August 2015 when trying to catch a train to Bhopal where he wanted to be amongst the members of his extended family on the Rakhi Parv.

KM, will miss you always for the kind of Professor you were.