There are few people in Chennai that I look up to - and the onethat is at the top of the pack is Georgie (K. George), the former Technical Director of MRF Ltd.
Today he celebrates his 74th birthday after retiring from a glorious career in the company that he built alongside his brother-in-law, K. M. Mammen Mappillai (Kochappachen).
He appears to be a calm and sedate fellow, but he has always been a great fun and frolic maker.
After we left India we did not hear much of him.
Suddenly, out of the blue, after his retirement from MRF, he appeared in our email, and since then he has been the constant source of information as to what is happening around the scenes in India.
Georgie's association with me was from the 50's when he was studying in Bangalore and stayed at the St. Joseph's College Hostel on Lalbagh Road, just opposite where we lived. I had numerous friends in the hostel where I used to go to eat Masala Dosai in the college canteen.
When Kochappachen started to build the tyre factory, he brought in Georgie as the Plant Engineer, and with his quiet diplomacy and hard work he built the great team that allowed MRF to become the Nro. 1 tyre company in India and the 7th largest tyre company in the world.
In addition to seeing him regularly at MRF, I also used to meet up with him at the Rotary meetings - he was in another Madras Club to mine, so we used to meet at different clubs when trying to ensure our weekly attendance.
I wish I had a picture of him to put on the blog. He has avoided being in my camera frame as he has always been the quiet person in the background.
Please join me in wishing this wonderful person, a good friend, a VERY VERY HAPPY 74th Birthday.
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