Murli’s story

Growing up, my greatest thrill was following lonely dirt paths that disappeared magically into the depths forests - until the very end. I enjoyed investigating and exploring anything mysterious. And as the son of an army officer, there were plenty of interesting, non-urban spaces to explore in the places my father was posted: Jabalpur, Allahabad, Bangalore.

That military environment also afforded the opportunity to explore military vehicles and equipment -  tanks, trucks, planes, and so on. At my disposal was my treasured bicycle: I would spend hours disassembling, cleaning, and putting my bike back together.

When my uncle visited us after a trip to the United States in the early 1960s, he brought me back a model of a missile from NASA which further encouraged my imagination. I was fascinated by the appearance of anything that flew and wanted to understand how they worked. I loved building model airplanes and reading anything I could about military aircraft. My free time was often spent reading about the exploits of Biggles a fictional military pilot during the First and Second World Wars. In later years, I also immersed myself in books and magazines about airplanes and cars at the British Council library. All of these experiences stimulated in me the desire to design and build airplanes and cars. Mechanical engineering became a natural choice to pursue in college.

This took me to the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NITT). In my final year of engineering, I learned about a variety of options to pursue after college--employment or post graduate education--and kept my options open by applying for them all.  This included a master’s degree in engineering in North America as well as an MBA at one of the three Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) that existed then, for which I appeared for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and Common Admission Test (CAT). I was accepted into an MS program at the University of Windsor, Canada, as well as IIM Kolkata.  My financial situation did not permit me to consider the Canada option; IIM was definitely more affordable for my parents.

Management was an unknown subject to me, but I was eager to explore something new. Not knowing what to expect, but being open to possibilities led me to discover two areas of study at IIM Kolkata to which I had never before been exposed and about which I hitherto knew nothing: the psychology of human behaviour and computers.

Upon graduation, I worked at Goodlass Nerolac Paints in Mumbai, for a year, and then, eager to explore the exciting field of computers, switched to International Data Management, in Bangalore. After a few years I yearned to pursue studies relating to computers PhD programmes in the United States. I began my studies in management information systems at the University of Texas, Austin, intending to pursue research in artificial intelligence and received my Phd from the University of Georgia in a whole other area--computer support for group creative thinking. Looking back, I realise that the two fields that sparked my interest at IIM Kolkata--psychology and computers--had melded to shape my PhD research more than a decade later. I then accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position at Boise State University where I taught Information Systems and pursued work in the field of creativity.

I returned to India in 2007 to be with my ageing parents. I began teaching at SP Jain College of Management in Dubai and Singapore as well as TA Pai Management Institute in Bangalore. I later joined Manipal Global Education to support their various initiatives - including establishing a new university in Malaysia, developing online programmes, and corporate educational initiatives. In the last few years, I began mentoring the staff at CollPoll, a startup that develops software to streamline administration and communication in academic institutions.