Prof. Abraham Jayakumar - The Future

“Mr. Cornelius, welcome! Please wait here our President and a couple of officers would start the interview soon” It was 1991 and I am getting ready to be grilled by Copenhagen-based Danish Company for the position of Senior Accountant. I was in fact surprised to get an interview call as this was a well-reputed company and a very desirable position. There were a few other candidates on the other side of the offices who looked more experienced than me, and I had convinced myself that this is going to be a good interview experience for me and there was no way I stand a chance with all these chaps.

President walked in with few others and after exchanging artificial complements he asked, “Do you know why you are the shortlisted candidate even though you don't have any experience?”!! “Well, I was surprised myself, and want to hear from you” Someone else barged in,” We were going through your certificates and noticed that you have studied “Management Information Systems” as part of your Masters's Program”!!

““Really, Err.. I mean, Yeah”

“Can you tell us about that course” “Well, you see MIS is” “What is MIS?”!!! ”Management Information System” It seems like the President was late for something else, he nodded his head gave his approval, and on the way told me, “ I would like to see all those MIS is implemented in our system”! “Of course, thanks” Little did they realize that the MIS I studied had nothing to do with computers as those were the days we didn't even have a calculator, leave alone computers. Prof Abraham Jayakumar on MIS introductory class: “Students next six months we are going to learn all about MIS”. The whole world is moving towards the computers and you don't want to miss the opportunity” The next AJ as he was known taught us all about MIS without a computer or any other peripheral. All we understood was “Input-Processing-Output” Printers are hardware and programs are software and etc. Little did I realize that one day this six months subject would land me a dream job. I took the offer and though I didnt have any prior experience in the computer environment, it took me only a few days to understand and get on top of it and I can only thank Prof. Abraham Jayakumar for instilling solid theoretical knowledge in me. He called everyone “Thambi” and was a harmless person and was very content with everything. He also came from a place called Madanur and was a student of my grandfather which put me on his watch list. I heard that Prof AJ succumbed to his illness a few years back and pray to the good Lord to bless his soul. AJ was a good man and he will surely be missed AJ. Rest in Peace, for you ran a good race!

About me: My name is Visuvasam Titus Cornelius and I did BCom and Mcom in Voorhees (1983-1987 Batch). I now reside in California, USA, and work as a CPA.

vishcornelius@gmail.com