A white french beard, pristine white hair with a lock falling over his forehead, sitting on the table and an attitude that made him stand out- Prof. Chandrasen Mirchandani will forever be "Mirchi".
Handsome, debonair, witty, classy. The man who taught us that life was about having a grilled red snapper at one hand and a glass of Glenfiddich at the other. The man who taught us Marketing Strategy, Customer Relationship Management and a whole lot more. His case study of a single guy trying to find a woman in a b-school using targeting of a customer group and marketing strategy, was legendary. He brought out a passion in the class that made his lectures incredibly exciting. He always asked piercing questions, forcing us to think beyond the superficial clichéd answers that we were ready with.
Cool enough to use phrases such as foreplay and getting laid in class, he was a stickler for getting facts right. If anybody made an assumption that the market was going to grow by 5% (as MBA students are prone to do) - he'd cut the student down to size by sarcastically asking him to be ambitious and assume 50% growth. Why stop at 5%?! He'd then point out how the market growth rate was mentioned in the case study on the 3 line of the 5th footnote on page 23. Didn't we read the case study?! He taught to us to always, always read the fine print.
Mirchi was the one who encouraged us to opt out of the placement process - begin a start-up, take risks. Most of us were too chicken to follow your advice Sir.
I still remember Mirchi's stories of his time in Jamshedpur. How they had defended a boy who eloped with some girl from a rival college. How they'ed stood up to knives and switchblades. And how they were all now respected professors, deans of colleges and much more refined men. He had lived, and how!
Handsome, debonair, witty, classy. The man who taught us that life was about having a grilled red snapper at one hand and a glass of Glenfiddich at the other. The man who taught us Marketing Strategy, Customer Relationship Management and a whole lot more. His case study of a single guy trying to find a woman in a b-school using targeting of a customer group and marketing strategy, was legendary. He brought out a passion in the class that made his lectures incredibly exciting. He always asked piercing questions, forcing us to think beyond the superficial clichéd answers that we were ready with.
Cool enough to use phrases such as foreplay and getting laid in class, he was a stickler for getting facts right. If anybody made an assumption that the market was going to grow by 5% (as MBA students are prone to do) - he'd cut the student down to size by sarcastically asking him to be ambitious and assume 50% growth. Why stop at 5%?! He'd then point out how the market growth rate was mentioned in the case study on the 3 line of the 5th footnote on page 23. Didn't we read the case study?! He taught to us to always, always read the fine print.
Mirchi was the one who encouraged us to opt out of the placement process - begin a start-up, take risks. Most of us were too chicken to follow your advice Sir.
I still remember Mirchi's stories of his time in Jamshedpur. How they had defended a boy who eloped with some girl from a rival college. How they'ed stood up to knives and switchblades. And how they were all now respected professors, deans of colleges and much more refined men. He had lived, and how!
He had the girls swooning over him in class. I wonder if he knew that the women stared open mouthed as he leaned back on the table and expounded about a case study. I think he's the one who started my fascination of men with french beards. Thanks to him - I'm instantly attracted to any man in a french beard.
My husband, to this day is convinced that when he gets older, he will as handsome and debonair as Mirchi and will have all the girls swooning over him. Ha!
He could sit down and have dinner, lunch or mebbe just a glass of the good stuff with a room full of students who were half his age and still talk to them as equals. He was a friend, a mentor, an inspiration.
Sir, you have left behind a whole lot of ignited minds and broken hearts. RIP Mirchi.
