1. AJIT KUMAR GHORAI
(MY GRANDFATHER)
Leadership Biography, Arun Roy, Spring
2012

2. Biographical Sketch
 Lost his father when he was in
University
 Supported mother and raised
siblings
 Completed Math Undergrad, Econ
Masters at Calcutta University
 Joined civil service, first at state
level, then at federal
 Became a senior government
official by retirement

3. Domain Integration
 Self, Career & Community
 Self & Community – commitment to traditions and
nation
 Career – devoted to rural development
 Used abilities (Self) and access and connections
(Work) to deepen Community contributions
 E.g., pursued linguistics
hobby, set up French
language school and in
the process became
connected to a prominent
Indian linguist

4. Domain Integration
 Self, Career & Community
 E.g., lobbied government for funding for cash-starved
medical college
 E.g., helped arrange funding for homeless shelter
 E.g., taught at a college for
government officers after
retirement

5. Domain Integration
 Home & Self
 E.g., spirituality – together with wife became a
follower of a saint
 E.g., romantic expressions – wrote beautiful letters
and poems to his wife

6. Balancing Domains
 Refused to sacrifice Self to further Career
 E.g., refused to take bribes
 E.g., refused to bow to political pressure
 Refused to sacrifice Home to
further Career
 E.g., somehow children never
had to skip a year of school,
despite frequent transfers

7. Lessons Learned
 Choice of profession can be key to domain
integration
 Clever approaches can help integrate domains
 Improve by integrating Career and Home