I am reminded of the title 'After Twenty Years', the famous short story by O. Henry, although in a totally different context, as I write this article. It's really an unbelievable feeling that I have completed 20 years in Economics and Academics in 2024. I still remember that rainy day in July 2004, when I took my first lecture in International Economics at Fergusson college, my alma-mater. Before that, while still doing my masters in Economics, I had done a teaching assignment at the Institute of Chartered Finance Analysts of India (ICFAI) for some 30 days. But now this was the real thing! My newly acquired Master's Degree in Economics and my having cleared the State Eligibility Test (SET) at the same time made me qualified and eligible for the job. I must add that the boom in MBA institutes and rising demand for qualified Economics faculty in my city Pune, the seat of education, made things a little easy for me. That meant that there were fewer good qualified faculty as compared to their rising demand. So just as I passed out with a Master's Degree as a University rank-holder, I had offers from three leading colleges in the city, but I chose Fergusson college as I had a special bond with it. It was where I had studied and my personality bloomed. I had no prior teaching experience, but had knowledge of the subject and an urge to make teaching my profession. For me it was not just a pastime till I found something better. It was what I wanted to do. My Professors at Fergusson college were keen that I join as Faculty and that was a great morale booster.
How I made my career decision is a question I am repeatedly asked. Being a professional Hindustani Classical Singer, where does Economics Faculty fit in? My answer to this is quite simple. Coming from a family where art and education is equally revered, it was but natural that I would pursue some degree along with my passion and childhood aim of becoming a singer. But as I completed my Master's, I also loved Economics and felt I had an inclination towards teaching. The SET exam changed the course of my professional life. SET was made compulsory for hiring faculty at the graduate and post graduate level and only around 2% of those appeared used to pass the exam. So obviously when I passed it as one of the 2.13% students who passed it that year, I was much in demand! That also strengthened my resolve of entering this profession. That I was a rank holder in my Master's exam, consolidated my position further.
I still remember my first lecture in International Economics at Ferguson college. I had moved into faculty life from student life in a matter of a few days! I was a fresh post-graduate aspiring to complete my PhD in Economics. The students were hardly a couple of years younger than me! I was also given a subject Labour Economics at the post-graduate level, right from the first year of my joining, showing the faith my Professors had in me. The challenges were galore, but that did not deter me and it was certainly a fulfilling experience. As they say, 'Teaching is learning twice'. So the best way to master a subject is to start teaching it and then you get far many deeper insights which you never got as a student! To explain some concept to another person necessitates that you yourself are 200% clear about it. It also makes you try and anticipate queries and prepare yourself to answer them. A subject like Economics is also very dynamic which keeps one on one's toes all the time. There are so many things happening around: the RBI's monetary policy, the Finance Minister's budget, international issues and so much more. And as Faculty, you need to know it all!
My faculty position at Fergusson was temporary, in place of a senior professor who had gone on a sabbatical. When that period ended, it saw the conclusion of an association of almost a decade with my alma-mater, first as student and then as Faculty. Meanwhile, I had also done small stints with Indian Law Society's (ILS) Law College and Marathwada Law College (Economics to Law Students) and IndSearch (Economics to MBA students) and Sinhagad Society's College of Commerce.
A new chapter in my academic life began when I joined the Institute of Management Development and Research (IMDR) as Full-Time Faculty in Economics. It is here that I explored many more dimensions of faculty life. While Fergusson was a typical 'college environment', vibrant, youthful and colourful, IMDR being exclusively post-graduate, was professional with corporate and industry interface, creating would-be business leaders. I was assigned responsibilities ranging from content writing for the institute's website, being Editor of the Institute's magazine, heading the Alumni Committee and the Cultural Committee, coordinating a students' exchange programme with a leading France based B-school, being Chairperson of the Placements Committee and much more. It was academics with a lot of managerial responsibilities.
I also contributed in making the curriculum for Business Research Methods. (I had already taught Research Methodology at Fergusson and IndSearch). I got trained in the Behaviour Event Interview or Critical Incident Method, a very research and data based psychological method of competency mapping. While at IMDR, I also completed my PhD in Economics which I had started while still at Fergusson and then I also did a second Master's in Personnel Management. I was also requested to give musical performances at events, and my performance at the annual Alumni Meet became like a permanent feature!
Change is the only constant though. My own interests and aspirations changed over time and after 8 years as full-time Faculty at IMDR, I felt that I did not want to commit myself to a 9 to 5 fixed job any longer. It also made more sense to relieve myself of full-time commitments given the fact that my musical career was also growing. I was giving performances in India and abroad, releasing albums and teaching students. But my love for Economics was intact and so was my association with IMDR, where I continued teaching the same subjects all the year round, albeit now as freelance faculty.
This freedom and flexible working hours allowed me to broaden my horizons no end. I was able to devote good time to my music career. I was able to expand my own singing classes and teach more students. I got more time to compose new music, do recordings and concerts. At the same time, being a freelance faculty now helped me connect with other institutions and my association started with Symbiosis School of Economics (SSE) where I could get back to pure Economics after a decade of Managerial and Business related application of Economics (the association with SSE which started in 2016 continues to blossom till date), MIT School of Management (MITSOM) which was again Economics to MBA students, Institute of Valuers (where I conduct sessions for pan-India working professionals) and at IndSearch as Chairperson of the Paper-Setting Committee for Economics, Examiner and Moderator and as External Examiner at various institutes from time to time.
At almost all institutes where I taught Economics, I also got to conduct lecture demonstrations on Music Appreciation, which helped me take my music to completely diverse audiences. When I did classical concerts, only people genuinely interested in classical music would show up. But here, I could connect with audiences who were not all classically oriented. I believe this is the best way to take our great Indian musical heritage and legacy to the general public, a lot of whom still believe that classical music is difficult or even boring! It's very satisfying to introduce such people to the rich beauty of our traditional musical heritage and bust the myths they carry about it.
It's now been 20 years balancing Economics and Academics with Music, both professionally. Exactly 20 years since I conducted my first lecture! And how time flies!
The process of making new discoveries, facing new challenges, acquiring new learnings and exploring new horizons, continues with the same passion, same curiosity and same excitement!
-Dr. Kalyani Bondre
A new chapter in my academic life began when I joined the Institute of Management Development and Research (IMDR) as Full-Time Faculty in Economics. It is here that I explored many more dimensions of faculty life. While Fergusson was a typical 'college environment', vibrant, youthful and colourful, IMDR being exclusively post-graduate, was professional with corporate and industry interface, creating would-be business leaders. I was assigned responsibilities ranging from content writing for the institute's website, being Editor of the Institute's magazine, heading the Alumni Committee and the Cultural Committee, coordinating a students' exchange programme with a leading France based B-school, being Chairperson of the Placements Committee and much more. It was academics with a lot of managerial responsibilities.
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