I wish IITs could have produced some teachers such as Amar Bose.And if I am wrong, let someone correct me. Bose was the only Indian name in US who was a great academician but for persons like me known for establishing a successful corporation that still remains unique in acoustic products and known world over. The brand ‘Bose’ is globally known something like ‘Sony’, though Bose focused on acoustics. Bose proved that one can be an excellent teacher as well as very successful business entrepreneur too. Particularly, for those educated and then pursuing a career in pure engineering, Amar Bose became a legendary figure just by his own merit.

It is unfortunate that Indian media had reported very little about the contribution of this great man of Indian origin. As Business Standard reports, “Amar Gopal Bose was born on November 2, 1929, in Philadelphia. His father, Noni Gopal Bose, was a Bengali freedom fighter who was studying physics at Calcutta University when he was arrested and imprisoned for his opposition to British rule in India. He escaped and fled to the United States in 1920, where he married an American schoolteacher.” In that way, he was not really an Indian as most of the people understand it. But it appears his father played the dominant role in deciding about his son’s name that was typically Indian. And it makes me to think over if some day some in extended family will question India ness of Emma and Zach with Sharma as the family name. Technically they will be American only. It will hardly matter. But I will always wish them to become someone like Amar Bose.

“Dr. Bose received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate from MIT, all in electrical engineering. He was asked to join the faculty in 1956, and he accepted with the intention of teaching for no more than two years. He continued as a member of the MIT faculty until 2001.
In 1964, Dr. Bose started Bose Corporation based on research he conducted at MIT.
In 2011, to fulfill his lifelong dream to support MIT education, Dr. Bose gave to MIT the majority of the stock of Bose Corporation in the form of nonvoting shares.”

I had written about Bose during my earlier visits to US. I could read about his death only in US when Anand referred me to the article that appeared in MIT News.

Some of his interesting observations from Bose were as follows:
“I never went into business to make money (but) so that I could do interesting things that hadn’t been done before.”
“I would have been fired a hundred times at a company run by MBAs.”

And I can’t but agree with what Narayan Murthy has said about Bose, “He is the only person of Indian origin to have established a global brand.”

But more than anything else, Bose was a legendary teacher, as many in MIT confessed.“His course on psychoacoustics was jam-packed, at times with only standing room.” How many teachers can claim such popularity?

‘Business Week’ very rightly concluded, “Bose took things that were previously considered complicated and esoteric and sold them right down the upper-middle. In doing so, his company became more than just a speaker maker; it became a brand name.”

Interestingly, the media has reported deaths of three persons- Bollywood actor Pran, Ottavio Quattrocchi, and Amar Bose on the same day. For me, Amar Bose, even if he was American was important as his success story makes him icons for the children of many middle class Indians in US as well as in India.