For Dr Akash K Rose, distinguishing his work and personal life is more of a herculean task than all his academic achievements put together. Director of Academics at the National Institute of Creative Communication (NICC), Akash has achieved success in a wide gamut of subjects — an MBBS from AIIMS along with a diploma in tropical pulmonology, scholarship in physiology, a certificate in photoshop master and a certificate in photography from the USA. And that’s not all. He has been a consultant scientist and technologist (integrated systems in electronics, robotics and information technology), a consultant in advertising and retail design, specialist photographer and educational writer (photography and imaging) and a consultant scientist — (biomedical engineering applications and medical systems integration).

I live in that world and love it... Work is a large part of my life and providing quality education, that has been my goal for many years now, is fulfilled through NICC. I thoroughly enjoy teaching and when you are with students, you get deeply attached to them. 

It’s a highly competitive world... Deliverance and excellence are the key words to succeed in today’s world. You need to think out of the box to be able to go places but none of this can be accomplished if you don’t have the passion to do so. When corporates are recruiting employees, there are constantly looking for people who can be a value addition to the company and that’s what we try to inculcate in our students. When we (at NICC) undertake the responsibility to ensure that our students’ career takes off, we want to deliver students for whom companies are willing to create slots, even when it doesn’t exist.

Forum shopping festival was a huge project... We were hired as the design consultants for the event. The entire idea, including the mascot Olly (the octopus) was conceptualised by students with assistance from the faculty. It was a crucial project for us along with being a huge challenge and responsibility but we did great as a team.
Music used to be a source of survival... When I was in pre-medical college, I taught music to earn extra money so that I could hang out with friends or take girls out (laughs). My dad was doing more than what I could ask for by funding my education. I love music and have been formally trained in western classical music. I am also a semi-professional violinist and enjoy Beethoven, Bach and a few violin composers.

My wife is my pillar of strength... Aleksandra is a dynamic woman, extremely talented and is always with me in all my endeavours. Hailing from Yugoslavia, she has the fiery spirit of a Hungarian and the solidity of a Serbian. She’s a creative person herself who loves teaching and we are perfect as a team.

There are plenty of opportunities for youngsters in India... In today’s career-driven world, with a good academic qualification, one needs to be enterprising as well. And opportunities are right here in India. With an economy that’s growing as rapidly as India, we are bound to take centrestage in the global arena. I feel India rightly deserves the status of a superpower.