I met Mayankbhai in 1990 when he was the Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), M. S. University of Baroda and had the pleasure and privilege of having known him for the next 16 years, till the Gods, rather cruelly, took him away from us. 

 

Mayankbhai, after finishing his stint at the IIM, donned many hats. He worked at a Bank, worked with a multinational engineering company, headed a Personal Computer Manufacturing company, taught Business Strategy at the FMS, Baroda, consulted with reputed organizations – both Indian and international – and spoke extensively at various fora on subjects ranging from business strategy to servant leadership. 

 

Under his deanship, the faculty scaled new heights and though his sheer personal charisma, he was able to attract talent from the industry to come and talk to the students as visiting professors, thus ensuring that the students who passed out were fully aware of the realities of practical life and what organizations expected them to know. 

 

He also consulted with many organizations and they all benefitted from his sharp insights and actionable inputs that he would provide. 

 

He was selected to represent India at the Asian Productivity Council meet in Japan and the paper he presented, was unanimously selected as the Best Paper. 

 

But, way more than his professional achievements (which were stellar by any standard), I will always remember him as an excellent human being. Always smiling, down to earth and ready to help anyone who sought his help, he never let his status or intellect, come in the way of his humanity. 

 

His tribal Mahabharat (something that he wrote himself), was the stuff of legends and almost every social gathering that he attended would not be complete without his recitation of it. 

 

In 2004, he was detected with pancreatic cancer and after an extended treatment, he moved on in July 2006. An irreparable loss indeed!

 

He is survived by his wife, Parulben and a lovely daughter Akanksha.