Principal Dr. Dilip Garud Sir: The Polymath and Versatile Personality

At the outset, let me congratulate respected Principal Dr. Dilip Garud Sir for his Shashtipurthi and successfully completing his services of Twenty Seven years as a Principal at Shramajivi Shikshan Prasarak Mandal’s Adarsh Mahavidyalaya, Omerga, Tq. Omerga, Dist. Dharashiv!

            It is truly an overwhelming and infrequent occurrence on which the Shashtipurthi and glory of the services and contribution of Prin. Dr. Dilip Garud Sir is being celebrated by his colleagues in the presence of Hon. President, General Secretary, Secretary and all Directors of the institution and luminaries from different institutions, colleges, universities and organizations of the state.

            A great ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle rightly stated that “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” and in order to provesuch ideology and educating the mind and heart of all the needy ones in this area, Hon. Shri. Vinayakraoji Patil Sir (President, S.S.P.M.), Hon. Shri. Basavrajji Patil Sir (General Secretary, S.S.P.M.), Hon. Shri. Ramkrishnapantji Kharosekar Sir (Secretary, S.S.P.M.), Late. Marutiraoji Suryawanshi Sir, Late. Wamanraoji Suryawanshi Sir, Hon. Shri. Shivmurtiji Bhandekar Sir, Hon. Shri. Bhauraoji Somwanshi Sir and their friends had come together and established the institution called, ‘Shramajivi Shikshan Prasarak Mandal’with its motto as “Shrama Awam Jayate,” which means “Conquest comes from hard work as perseverance only” on September 10, 1984.

            In fact, to make the nation great and develop responsible citizens, it is very significant to inculcate the spirit of hard work, honesty, accountability and inner sense of respect for work and work culture among the people in general and aspiring students in particular. Therefore, in order to provide the quality higher education to the marginalized, downtrodden, deprived and poor students residing at the threshold of three states, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana, all the aforesaid dignitaries started ‘Adarsh Mahavidyalaya’ at Omergain June 1990.

            Any school, college, institute or organization cannot be run efficiently without a sound and visionary administrator. Such organizations need a comprehensive and dynamic administrator with leadership qualities and sense of developinga positive culture by utilizing managing resources efficiently and simultaneously bringing together the potential of all his colleagues to run the organization smoothly, swiftly and result oriented under the guidance of its mentors or management. Dr. Dilip Garud Sir is fortunate enough to have such exceptional opportunity and he hasmended his ways and proven himself in all arenas.

            In fact, as much as I could know Dr. Dilip Garud Sir during the span of these fifteen years, I can rightly state that he is the polymath and versatile personality who has been serving in this college for the last twenty seven years and it is a kind of academic testimony in itself. It has become possible because of his academic leadership, dedication, sincerity, quest of fostering positive academic vibes, inner wish to support the academic development of the students and his colleagues and doing all the needful things to provide quality education for the students residing in this area.

The day on which Dr. Dilip Garud Sir had joined as the Principal of Adarsh Mahavidyalaya, Omerga was February 20, 1997 and today is February 20, 2024. To explore this span of twenty seven years by taking into account his overall contribution is not an easy task. Although, he has been serving here as the Principal for the last twenty seven years, I got an opportunity to work at this prestigious institute under his academic and administrative leadership from June 2009. Out of these twenty seven years, I have been making sincere efforts to work effectively under his administrative leadership for the last fifteen years and I could truly learnt many useful threads from him which will be quiteuseful for me, in my future educational journey and endeavours.

Dr. Dilip Garud Sir is the man of Physics and he has worked as a faculty for eleven years at K.K.M. College, Manwath, Dist. Parbhani. Being a flourishing faculty of Physics he has a deep indulgent of the subject matter, strong research skills, effective communication abilities, and a passion for the subject.  He completed his research on “Investigation of Excitation and Collisional Process in the pulsed VU & IR Nitrogen Laser” and I am happy to share that I did my doctoral research on ‘Science Fiction’ and he helped me a lot for discussion on the concept of ‘Laser’ and other crucial aspects during my research. 

It seems quite tough to express myself and share my experiences and his overall fabulous incessant contribution which he has given to our college and institution as well. Generally, it is said that the effectual administrative officers must possess some requisite qualities which may help the organization to achieve zenith in its respective arena. I found that being an administrative officer, Dr. Dilip Garud Sir has many skills; such as strong organizational skills, excellent communication abilities, decision-making proficiency, attention to detail, adaptability, leadership capabilities, and a proactive approach to problem-solving, which he has utilized to take the college and institution at a different level. In fact, it is also quite rare to see that if an administrator of the educational institute is given a free hand to work with utilizing utmost potential which helps to enhance the educational reputation of the college and the institution and the same can be explored and perceived with the exceptional instance of Dr. Dilip Garud Sir and all dignitaries of the management.

I have deliberately called him as the Polymath and Versatile person because he possesses a wide range of skills, aptitude, and interests in constructive endeavours, and allows them to adapt and excel in various areas of life. This versatility often stems from a combination of innate abilities, a thirst for knowledge, and a proactive approach towards learning new things. It is said that the ability to navigate different fields with ease is one of the prominent facets of a versatile person and in the same manner Dr. Dilip Garud Sir always explores different arenas with ease and present them in a very lucid manner. He is the man of science and known as an effective administrator but his strong and concrete observations and views on various affairs and issues in the society and his extraordinary grasp of various subjects is truly a matter of admiration and it makes him apart from others. In the professional realm, a versatile person is a kind of an asset to any team or organization. His diverse skills set enable him to contribute meaningfully to various endeavours and he has been serving in the same way for the last twenty seven years.

Besides, he is a good human being and has the qualities like kindness, empathy, compassion, integrity, sincerity, respect for others, modesty, and a sense of responsibility towards well-being of the college, colleagues, institution and all the stakeholders. He’s been greatly connected with the different professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Literary Figures, Businessmen, etc. in the society due to his versatility and positive approach. There are many such occurrences where he has shown his empathy to me during the critical phase and participated heartily in auspicious and joyful occasions of the family. I would like to just give one instance as we all have gone through the pathetic plight of Covid Pandemic and lost our near and dear ones. I also have been infected during the first wave of Covid-19 and it was truly quite creepy phase for everyone. This alarming phase has taught us a lot and shown us bluntly the real faces of our near and dear ones. But I would like to mention here that Dr. Dilip Garud Sir was one of the persons along with other dear ones who used to ring me every day in order to boost my confidence and morale. One more crucial facets of his personality is that he always participates in different miserable and joyful occasions of his colleagues, near and dear ones as well as tries to support morally.

Without considering me a fresher or new comer, since the day of joining my services as an Assistant Professor, I have been assigned innumerable responsibilities and given opportunities to utilize my hidden potential on different platforms and portfolios like NAC / IQAC Coordinator, UGC Interface Committee, etc. by him. It is really noticeable that he has appointed me as the NAAC Coordinator for II Cycle in 2012, three years after I joined the services and assigned a huge responsibility upon my shoulder. I tried my best along with Prof. Mali S. B., Dr. Dulange S.M. and other faculty members of the college under the guidance of him and we could secure 2.92 CGPA with B grade. We have successfully gone through the III Cycle for NAAC in May 2023 and secured B++ with 2.87 CGPA. Both the time he has guided us in an excellent manner and it was truly the splendid experience to work as the NAAC Coordinator under his guidance for both the times. Recently, he has appointed me as the IQAC/NAAC Coordinator and since 2012, I have been carrying out this responsibility successfully. Besides, I have also worked successfully with our respected Vice Principal, Prof. Dr. Kulkarni S. G. in UGC Interface Committee under the guidance of Dr. Dilip Garud Sir. I have given my best and assisted Prof. Kulkarni S. G. Sir as a member in preparing the proposals of various projects like, Indoor Stadium, Swimming Pool, Basketball Court, Sports Equipments, etc. under the guidance of Dr. Dilip Garud Sir. Due to such unexpected opportunities and exposure I could get acquainted with various novel things and procedures and it taught me a lot in a very short span of time. I’m really indebted to both of them for the same.

Certainly, it is indeed quite appreciable and exceptional that a person, who is born in a very poor family, works hard to acquire higher education and doctorate in the subject like Physics, serves perpetually as a faculty and Principal in the field of Higher Education for the last thirty-seven years. Dr. Dilip Garud Sir is a skilled educator based on his performance and contributions to many associated bodies of the affiliated Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Chht. Sambhajinagar. He has given numerous lectures on the diverse topics over the years. He has effectively and enthusiastically served in a variety of roles and capacities, including Senate Member, Member of Academic Council, Member of Standing Committee, Faculty Member, Member of the NSS Advisory Committee, President, Marathwada Sahitya Parishad and, Omerga Branch so on and so forth. In addition to holding numerous academic posts with success, he is involved with numerous other organizations, research institutions, and research societies. Numerous esteemed honors have been bestowed upon him for his brilliant contribution in the field of education.

To conclude my words, I express my sincere gratitude to Principal Dr. Dilip Garud Sir for his commitment and genuineness in handling the different duties and responsibilities entrusted to him throughout his fruitful tenure of service for more than thirty-five years. His legacy to support, guide, and transform the college, students, faculty members, and institution will endure in coming days. Finally, I congratulate him on his accomplishment of twenty-seven years in the role of Principal and entering in the realm of sixty-one years of his life. I hope he’ll enjoy himself greatly along with his family on this exciting new voyage and I wish him the sound health, prosperity and joyous future ahead!