Who can be your mentor?

Who can be your mentor?

1989:Vishnu, Veena, Saroopya, Sahitya and Vishnu's mother in 

Chennai with Annikki and me.

I have blogged about two  great people who were my mentors, Dr. Anna Mani and Tan Sri Dr. B. C. Shekhar.

But one of my greatest mentors was a young man who worked for me.

 When I tell him this today, he just cannot believe that he was my mentor as he had great admiration for me. 

He came to work for my consulting company from PSG College in Coimbatore to do a marketing research programme of three months.

Once he walked into my room and I asked him to sit down to give him his first assignment, I knew I had a person who was unique.

I used to do a test when I was interviewing people for a job. I would ask them to write me an essay about some well known human being.

99% of the people I interviewed would ask me a series of question about why it was relevant, or what should they write about, how long the essay should be or something which meant they needed guidance.

Only one in a haundred would leave the room and turn up with an essay about the topic.

I got this advice from a book about Col. Arthur Wagner, who told Col. Andrew Summers [sic] Rowan, that he had to deliver a message from US President McKinley to reach  information regarding the Spanish forces in Cuba and the condition of the insurgent Cuban forces. to General Gracia . He called in Col. Rowan to whom he handed a letter and asked him to reach this message to General Gracia. He gave no information about the   location or any other details relevant to the task.

There are many versions to this story but the best account is found at "How I got the message to General Gracia".

The officer picked up the message and went out and elivered the message to whom it was addressed.

Such people are doers, while others, whatever their good qualities, are followers. A doer is one hundred times more valuable than a follower.

This young man executed his first market research project within the alotted time, only coming to me when he needed some technical advice which he could not possibly know.

I hired this young man and he served me diligently for almost a decade.

When I then started a production company, I asked him to be my Chief Executive Officer. He and his family were my closest associates.

I never had to give him instructions. He knew my diary and he would always have the relevant papers ready for me without me having to ask him.

What I learnt from him was of immense value to me when I moved to Finland and started working for an organisation. I followed what he taught me as I was then 10 steps ahead of everyone else.

Being one of the earliest foreigners to work in the University, I started at the bottom of the ladder in the Microelectronics Laboratory in the University of Oulu. Within three years, because of my performance, I became the Acting Laboratory Manager and within five ýears I became the Chief Engineer. 

My work output was so high, and for a person who had no experience in the field of Microelectronics, I achieved what no one had done before me. My salary was the highest of any non-professorial staff.

When I left the University to start my own small company in the Technology Village behind Oulu University, I was innudated with work from all the laboratories of the Electrical Engineerting Department, from the Physics and Theoretical Physics Departments and also the Biology, Botany and Zoology departments. 

I had earned the trust of the colleaqgues who had worked with me and their friends around the University. 

They knew that when I promised something, I would deliver the results.

This young man, his wife in India and his children in the USA are lifelong friends. After I left India he was the CEO of another organisations in India. He is retired but his employer still has not let him go.

 I have been priviledged to be mentored by this young man. His name is Vishnu Varadhan, his wife, who makes the best rasam that I know, is Veena. And his two children Saroopya and Sahitya are fine examples of good upbringing.

It is my honour to call him my mentor.

Each day is more rewarding

As each day in India passes, I feel that I am being rewarded even more. The rain has been hitting Chennai and the friends are thanking Annikki and me for bringing them the relief. The dry spell of over a year has gone and the parched earth is soaking up the rain. Road traffic has been disrupted, but it still continues to flow.

In the morning I decided to visit Vishnu and Veena as I had a great desire to meet his parents before I left. It was a visit well worth making as I have great respect for Vishnu's father who was, like my other very good friend, my uncle, Kuriyan Matthan, a meticulous personality with similar traits. Vishnu's mother was still the same as when I last saw her. Vishnu's uncle, whom we refer to as "Tablet's uncle" was also there and also very much the same as when I had seen him last. Time has stood still and they have retained their youthfulness.

I was able to speak with Vishnu's brother, Gishnu, and also meet Vishnu's sister's son.

Many people do not realise that lesson's are learned from all around you. I have learned much from this family, and although they look at me with great respect, I think it is I that owe them a debt hat I can never repay.

I returned back having been fed Veena's rasam that is my ether of life.

Annikki was ready and I thought we would go to have a buffet at one of the good hotel's in Mumbai. I chose Chola, which is an ITC hotel.

The spread was stupendous and all of us did it justice, especially Mika, who ate two helpings of everything he liked and could lay his hands on. The cost was also high compared to what we have been paying, but by Finnish standards, it was still very very low for wahat we ate!

After dropping Mika back at the room, Annikki and I went to City Centre as she wanted to buy some books. Sunday afternoon, and I understood well that there is no recession in India among the middle class. The shopping mall was packed to the brim that we could not get a parking place. The mall was thronging with people of every shape and size, all dressed well and with money in their pockets. I sat near the doorway and waited till Annikki finished her shopping. She had gone to the bookstall to find a book about butterflies and found two, but one was too enormous to carry back to Finland.

A short rest and it was time to visit my dear friend Isaac Sundarajan and his wife Nalla. Nalla is doing what her heart wants her to do, rehabilitating destitute women. She has chosen a place far from the city centre and is building the infrastructure to execute her work. She is finding progress slow, but I did not see a dampening in her enthusiasm to do what is God's mission for her.

Isaac is jet-setting in his new job as Vice President of a wing of LnT. The two LnT guys in Oulu come under him as also all the guys who were my good friends in Oulu and now back in Mumbai. Isaac has promised that he would soon be back in Oulu and we certainly are looking forward to have him with us again in our midst there, even if it is only for a few days.

Nalla said a wonderful and moving prayer before we left. We could see the spirit of God in her life and I silently prayed that her mission would be successful.

It was along journey to our next port of call.

Abraham Tharakan is 9 years my senior, studied in St. Joseph's College in Bangalore in the early 1950s, stayed in the hostel across from my Lalbagh Road home , and was probably the greatest influence on my life. He told me that we had met once in 1975. I do not fully recall that meeting. In my mind I was meeting him for the first time after we parted company in 1954.

Abe is still the same as I knew him then. A character whose tenacity and will are as tough as then and who is still as gentle as a lamb. He is recovering from a heart by-pass surgery.

I felt terrible that I had kept him waiting for so long, but with the rains, all my well laid out plans were running hours behind schedule. I felt especially sorry for his wife, Annie, as our late arrival had meant she was dragged out of bed.

Many thoughts went through my mind when I met Annie and then the two daughters of Abe. I was glad that he had such a happy family around him and I hoped that our friendship which started 57 years ago would continue in the same spirit.

The daughters told me that he had been interviewed by The Hindu about his blogging. I hope he willlink to that piece when it is published.

I was surprised to learn that Abe had been one of the original promoters of Apollo Tyres before Raunaq Singh had taken over the project. When they started looking at the project, the cost had been estimated at Rs. 9 crores, but with the Oil crisis, it had shot up far beyond the financial capacity of the original promoters, leading to the entry of Raunaq.

Apollo Tyres is on the ascendancy again. The company has been buying projects in different countries. MRF, if it wants to be a leading global player, must watch out. It cannot rest on its laurels. MRF needs people with a greater vision about global strategies to survive in the next decade.

Mammikochamma had recommended a Chinese Restaurant in Adayar called Liu Waldorf, so we stopped there for a light repast as we were still full from our lunch. I remembered having been to this restaurant over 35 years ago when it was the haunt of IIT Madras students. The food was excellent and the prices very nominal. Well worth eating at if you visit Chennai.

Back home to ring Joanna and talk to her and for Annikki to spend an hour on the phone talking to grandson Daniel. Maria spoke to Annikki and to Annikki's delight and Joanna's chagrin (I know this is not the exact word I should use here), Maria decided that she should speak in Finnish to her grandma!

We had tried to ring our other granddaughter, Asha, but no one had answered the phone. Hopefully we can speak to her today!

Now another day has ended and a new one started. It is just near half past five in the morning and we leave for Mumbai in the evening. There is till much to be done as I will try to get my Executive Health Checkup completed where I had done it the last time a dozen years ago. Maybe I will learn what I should not be doing what I am, which of course I know. Indulging my food cravings. But as we are on holiday, i certainly will not change my spots till I get back to my strict routine in Oulu.