I came to know Labdhi more than 20 years back. At the time he was a second year student and I was a Research Assistant at the Institute. Our contact was mainly through the second year quantitative courses. Then there was a gap when he went to Hindustan Lever. The contact got renewed again when both of us were in the US for our doctoral programme. Finally we were together at the Institute, both of us teaching.
Over the years, we became good friends. We worked together on a few projects. I was also in the MDP Committee when he was the Chairman. I always found him to be sharp and having a clear point of view. On many occasions we had fierce arguments because our views were different. I must say that this did not affect our relationship and I give credit for this to Labdhi for not mixing up work and personal relationships. His commitment to a job was complete. As a MDP Chairman, he made a significant contribution - no detail was too small for him. His impact on industry was tremendous. He might have appeared to be unapproachable but I think it was more because he was busy. We talked for hours on all kinds of subjects ranging from the manufacture of educational toys, starting of a diet beer company in Mt. Abu, to management of health clubs. Even the students who worked with him closely found him to be deeply interested in their development.
*Prof. Jahar Saha was LRB's colleague at IIM Ahmedabad. He went on to lead IIM Ahmedabad as its Director.
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