BLURRED VISION

Friday, May 22, 2015

Thursday, May 21, 2015

GRATITUDE: Letters from a Grandfather to his Future Generations. Chapter 20.

COPYRIGHTS RESERVED FOR TEXT N PIX.

Chapter 20

Dear Family n Friends:

Did I mention Facit Asia? Now that was the Swedish part of the Forbes Group. A neatly laid out Typewriter manufacturing factory in Madras (decades before Chennai). It was crisply managed by the in-house Swede Gosta Rundberg. The Personnel Manager was another methodical person, VS Vasan. In course of time very warm ties prevailed with both of them. On a visit to Sweden some years later, I was invited to Gosta’s home in the interior of Sweden. We had had our clashes, but friendship prevailed, thanks to finesse exhibited by the Chairman in resolving one major conflict.

In later years, I was the coordinating director between Facit Asia and Eureka Forbes. It felt awkward to sit at the head of Gosta’s Table. I moved the chairman’s seat to the middle of the long table. Respect for the man. He and his wife were great hosts. A visit to Madras was never complete without a meal at their place and couple of meals and outings with Vasan Family. I was the favourite uncle for their children, Ammu n Srinath. They were and are our extended family. They travelled to Bombay for the marriage of Mickey and then Vicky and stayed with Dr. SS Rajadhyaksha. (More of him later). I remember travelling from Viet Nam to Madras for marriage of their daughter Ammu. She now lives in US and has two lovely n talented daughters. Vasans' son Srinath has just moved to Mumbai and his wedding is the next excuse to travel to Chennai, couple of months later.

My dear folks, we have now arrived at the closing years of the eventful decade of the 70s. A very significant period for our extended family: Three important marriages took place during this time: Sukhjit’s brothers Rajinder (aka Tutu), her brother Gurbir (aka Fauji mama) and my youngest sister Guljit. The first time we set eyes on Gurbir’s wife was at Guljit’s marriage. And Tutu’s wife showed up at that wedding with a baby in her lap. Gulo’s marriage in Lukhnow was preceded by a huge Railway drama! All in n good order.

Tutu, my Sala married Surinder Kaur of Gurdaspur, in Gurdaspur. Tutu, a handsome man, lived a hard life. He worked hard n lived hard. It took a toll of his health and he passed away in 1988 leaving Surinder to bring up their two sons:

Jimmy married Anju and have two daughters Jasleen Kaur and Gurleen Kaur

Sunny married Rajni and have a son Karan jot Singh.

Now Fauji… that is a long story. Fauji had joined the Indian Air Force as an Apprentice like his elder brother Mohan. He made quick progress. However he got tired of it and left the IAF. Thereafter he hitched his star to us. Thankfully my colleague Bipin Desai arranged for him to work in the Mid East as Labour Camp Commander. He repatriated after some years and worked in Security Companies and other odd jobs. Fauji and his wife rebuilt the Family house in Gurdaspur and have done a good job of it using all the old bricks n wood that came out it. Of course what was brickwork almost a century old, is now RCC hopefully another Century worth. In 1979 Gurbir married Davinder Kaur and they have:

Daughter Baljeet aka Babya married to Kavinder Singh and have son Samarveer.

Son Veerinderpal Singh married Rubina. They have son Tejasveer.

And now the epic journey from Bombay to Lukhnow for Gulo’s wedding: Papa ji had gone ahead to Lukhnow to oversee the arrangements from the girl’s side. I had parked myself in Delhi on some business. Central Railway got embroiled in a farmers’ protest at Nasik area and there was terrible uncertainty whether the trains will run or not. The family then decided to switch to Western Railway. Twenty odd pax crammed into 4 seater First Class coach with First class tickets and spent a harrowing 36 hours to get to Delhi. That was a sleepless night for all and so many sets of tickets bought n wasted. Thankfully the Family reached Lukhnow hours before the Reception of Barat. All credit to Jagjeet’s Family for making excellent arrangements, though it was their right to sit back n enjoy the show.

Jagjeet is an energetic member of our extended Family and all of us rely on him at times of need. He is a good organizer and always willing to help. Quite recently he took the family members on a Gurudwara darshan in Punjab and they all have happy memories.

Jagjeet n Guljit have an only daughter Suprit aka Namita. She is a working girl. She is married to Manpreet Singh Chawla and have two sons: Rishik and Ranveer. Manpreet’s father n I got along famously. Unfortunately Chawla Senior did not have long to live. Fond Memories. Manpreet n his brothers Arvinder (aka Bittoo) n Kamal (aka Pawan) are a well-knit family and that is a boon in the 21^st century. Stay United Stay Happy.

Folks, God has been kind to our Families. Else it is so common to hear of brothers not on talking terms with each other or their sisters. Thank You God, this is the biggest boon we have.

Folks, Let us get back to work. I mentioned Bipin Desai. He and Nalin Thakor were the people who introduced me to Forbes Group via Devoo Kothari. I had not yet joined Forbes, and news came of Bipin having lost his wife. Although I had not met him, yet I had so much wanted to call on him. However I was advised to let it pass.

Bipin was a kind hearted man. He was in-charge of the Wine Div and Kay Distillery at Nasik. Not a hard-hitting man, he was always on the defensive vis a vis the Chairman on ‘results’. Not that his results were poor; far from it. He did not have the knack of presenting his performance and would often seek help. His daughter Julie lives in the USA; I visited her on my first US trip. Gods have not been kind to him; he lost his son Hiten at an early age. Hiten, an Environment Engineer, is survived by his wife n daughter. Bipin and I would meet frequently in the days when I was in GNP and we had a factory n transit flat in Ahmedabad. Bipin now lives out his retirement in his home town Ahmedabad. A good man and a good friend.

My work life story continues...

Ps: We are just about completing the repair/renovation of half of our apartment. We are eagerly awaiting arrival of our elder grandson, Simran who is finishing his 3rd year at Wharton. Welcome Sim. I am hoping to complete the process of Sim's attaining independent membership of the Bombay Presidency Golf Club. His mom, Rajbir is the one who brought golf into our family. Her name shows Handicap of 12 in the Ladies Roster. Great gal, Rajbir aka Venus.

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PHOT GALLERY FOLLOWS:

Please forgive caption errors.

Please do point out the errors.

Gosta Rundberg MD Facit Asia

Rundberg at a Union function

Chairman Khandwala n Personnel Manager VS Vasan

Another one...

Vasan Family at Ammu's wedding

Tutu n Surinder with Bibi Ji. Jimmy in her lap

Ladies of the House: l - r Nini, Sukhjit, Prakash, Bibi ji n Surinder

Jimmy n Anju

Sunny with Rajni n Karan

Jimmy with daughters Jasleen n Gurleen

Fauji Mama. Gurbir with Mickey

Gurbir n Davinder

Babya with Kavinder n son Samarveer

Veenu n Rubina

Veenu with Rubina n son Tejasveer

Jagjeet n Guljit

Their 25th ann montage

Namita n Manpreet with sons Rishik n Ranveer

Family Chawlas l-r I with Bittoo, his wife Simran, Manpreet , Bhabi Reshma n Kamal.
Bittoo's sons: Roshan n Raunak

Manpreet's Parents: S Kuldeep Singh ji with Bibi Hardarshan Chawla

Party at Gurdaspur - Pilgrims with Gurbir n Davinder

Pilgrims at Golden Temple
l-r Amrik Singh ji, Harjit, Guljit n Swarnjit.

Bipin Desai

STOP PRESS: Mourning Loss of a great soul: S. Venkatraman, Retd Director Finance, Goodlass Nerolac Paints.

Letter to Padma Venkatraman, on the passing away of her father: S, Venkatraman.

Dear Padma:

We the colleagues n friends of your father Mr. S. Venkatraman are very sad at his sudden demise. We understand what a big blow it is to you and your Family.

Please accept our heartfelt sympathies at your huge loss. Please convey to your Mother our condolences on her bereavement. We pray that the Lord Almighty keeps his soul close to His Lotus Feet and gives your family the courage to face the future without him.

Mr. Venkatraman was a very respected personality in the Forbes Group and within Nerolac Family. We regarded him as a friend, philosopher and guide. He had been extremely helpful to our own family at critical junctures. I cannot do better than quote the sentiments expressed by his former colleagues:

quote

*God doesn't make such souls any more. Godly earthlings. Respect

*Will always remember him as committed and loyal, incredibly pleasant, amazingly gentle, very professional, totally non-controversial and far, far removed from bristling corporate politics. Could'nt agree more that God simply does not make such humans any more.

*Great person, unassuming, straightforward and jovial. we all have to learn from him.

*I join you in mourning the demise of a wonderful human being...RIP SV Sir

*Thorough gentleman and a great teacher

*Great soul May his soul rest in peace.

unquote

The Family should know that Mr. Venkatraman did proud by them in the way he led his personal and professional life.

If ever, I can be of any assistance, please feel free to call upon me.

With much love for all of you

Yours sincerely

Raj ahluwalia

Retired Managing Director

Goodlass Nerolac Paints.

Friday, May 15, 2015

GRATITUDE: Letters from a Grandfather to his Next Generations. Chapter 19

COPYRIGHTS RESERVED. BOTH FOR TEXT N PIX.

Chapter 19

Dear Family n Friends:

I am a bit late in completing this Chapter. We just completed Phase I of the Home Improvement Program. I am sitting at my customary desk after 6-7 weeks. And the apartment looks good n well worth of the slumming we went thru. Phase II starts after Simran visits us later May. Waiting, Simran, waiting.....

Let me tell you, how Sukhjit and I became globetrotters. Some time in 1979, our MD Girin Khandwala sat me in front of him in his corner office and gave me the good news: that I had done well in the organization, that I was getting a salary boost and that I was being authorized to make a prolonged overseas trip to meet up with the various Foreign Associated Companies. For good measure he added that Sukhjit could accompany me for a check up for her bad back. Some of you might remember that Sukhjit had got caught in a stampede and had injured her knees n back.

As was his wont, he called Sheila McGready, his secretary and dictated a letter spelling out all this. We kept chatting till the letter was brought typed in. Khandwala signed it with a flourish and handed it over. I am sure he would have recorded this with the FFC Board at some juncture.

Folks, there was an important aspect to this trip. Khandwala was keen to import American best practices to the Group. He took the Education route. He was an alumnus of Columbia Business School and had invited Boris Yavitz, the Dean of the School to India and held a Workshop with him for the Group at the Tata Management Training Centre in Pune. During my travels, he wanted me to spend some time at Columbia Business School and learn a few things in Management.

Now this was something: My first prolonged overseas trip along with Sukhjit. We went west to Volkart HQ at Winterthur, Switzerland. We had a young trainee as our escort: Thomas Daetwyler. He was the son of an old India Volkart hand. We became friends n kept in touch. In course of time he left Volkart and joined another Swiss Co: Baur n Co in Ceylon. He rose to be the Chairman of the Company. We are in touch to to date. Next was England and Ireland to meet the Goodlass bosses. America! you were next. We spent some weeks in New York at the King’s Crown on the Columbia Campus. I did some intensive study under the HR Professors. Weekends we would hop a plane to Toronto and spend time with my cousins Kuku n Reena. We have fond memories of our time with them.

We went on to the Queens University at Kingston as guests of Prof Vince Gilpin, the Transactional Analysis Guru. We had become good friends on his earlier visit to Mumbai. He arranged for Orthopaedic check up of Sukhjit’s back. They said it wasn’t too bad. We came back home after five weeks of travel, duly relieved on her health aspect and got back to work. She to the School and I went back to the salt mines.

So then lets back to work too.

Those were the days of restrictions on growth n diversification of Companies that belonged to large Groups as well as those that had significant foreign shareholding. MRTP and FERA were bad words. Now Khandwala was a man in a hurry and was frustrated in his attempts to diversify and grow the businesses within India. Therefore he started to look abroad and attempted to create overseas operations mirroring the Indian Operations:

I am told that the Group was active in Indonesia even before I joined. They had wanted to set up a Textile Mill. However Management thought it fit that the Group should gain some experience in local environment before investing in a big way. They adopted the route of seeking Management Contracts. These were shades of the Managing Agency culture that was embedded in the Group. They did have one or two successful contracts and then proceeded to set up the Mill.

Source: Suresh Vaidya of the Gokak Mills who was involved in all this; albeit before my time.

The Group embarked upon setting up a Textile Spinning Mill in Indonesia: PT Gokak Indonesia. Some Indian businessmen in Singapore joined them as promoters. One of them was a branch of Thakral Family. In later years, Chinnappa and I worked for another branch of the same Family. A state of the art spinning Mill came up at Citeuruep outside Jakarta. The Group also set up a mini HO in Singapore and commenced Bradma and Latham trading operations in Jakarta. Management Team was hand picked from India operations: Jagannathan, Saby Chatterjee, Vijay Malik n many others. So Group personnel got a taste of Foreign work experience and life styles.

In course of time Chaterjee n Jaganathan left the Group. Chinappa of London office came on board to head the Mill. After some time he too left. In the decades gone by, BG Jain the CFO at Gokak was Mr. Continuity thru many ups n downs of PTGI. I had lost touch with Jaganathan; but remained in contact with Saby who was last known to be in Miami. We caught up with them on a Holiday in Florida in the 90s. Some other Team members stayed put in Indonesia on their own: Yogesh Dikshit, Hazuria. At some stage Sheila Raman, my admin, got married to Natesan of Gokak Mills HO and moved to Jakarta. I have had frequent contacts with them, ever since Mickey moved to Jakarta in 2006.

During the early years of the Overseas operations, I was a regular commuter Bombay-Singapore-Jakarta n back. It was interesting times.

The Mill survives to day – a tribute of Mr. Madan’s grit n BG Jain’s prudent management of shoe string resources. The Latham n Bradma operations were wound up a few years later.

In the midst of this, a surprise. No that is putting it mildly: Shock n Aww: Astad Parakh decided to leave the Group and set up his own business. It was an unthinkable news. Of course, he has done well for himself and we are in touch.

Astad’s departure left a big hole in the FFC Organization. I suggested to Management that Ranga would make an ideal President of Forbes. But then their worry was who would run IVP, where Ranga had started all new business of Foundry Chemicals. I suggested Ravi Marphatia, who was the Technical Director of GNP. I am sure Management must have gone thru some deep thinking and and serious negotiations but Ravi took over as President iVP. Word had come to me that my name had been suggested for IVP. But Khandwala ruled that out with ‘I have other plans for Raj”. Déjà vu. But thank God for that. Other plans have always worked well for me. There is somebody up there who is looking far ahead on my behalf.

As part of the reorganization, Amarjit Singh Puri joined as head of Lathan Div in FFC. They were the sales arm of typewriters made by Facit Asia.

Aha, Facit Asia and the Swedish Connection… Oh that is a long and interesting story. Shall we keep it for next time?

Picture Gallery Follows.

Pls pardon any caption errors.

But do pls point out the error.

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