Professor Suresh Lalwani

I pray before I dial the numbers. Pen in hand, recorder open on my mobile. I am ready. No answer even after two calls. Hardly a minute passes before the Professor himself calls back though. He starts speaking and I realize I haven't turned on my recorder yet. Oops, looks like I have to ask him to wait. He very kindly obliges and I accidentally disconnect the call. So far so great. Anyway, I press redial and the interview has begun. Thankfully, there were no (more) mishaps.

Suresh Lalwani is the young 27 year old Chief Mentor for ProED Academy and Navkar Institute of CA & CS Gandhidham. As Assistant Professor at the Tolani Institute of Management Studies, he spoke about how the role of education is not only in helping a person understand technical aspects or simply making a person's career but also in stimulating thought processes and making them think rationally. There certainly is no dearth of education in Prof. Lalwani, he completed his Faculty Development Program from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. His excellent performance in Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Finance) was acknowledged by Dr. Kiran Bedi by whose hands he was awarded a Gold Medal. That's not all, he has also completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management and studied Chartered Accountancy (Intermediate), M.Com (Costing) and Honors Diploma in Computer Science. If that weren't impressive enough, he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from Symbiosis International University of Pune in the area of Diversity in Human Resource Practices.

The intellectual and philosopher in the professor is reflected in his choice of books and movies as well. History, fiction and autobiographical books appeal to him as do thought provoking movies like Deepa Mehta's triology.

Looks like all those expecting food for thought at TEDxSabarmati can take note, Prof. Lalwani is just the person serve you a feast.