At 60 No regrets - Epilogue

The Closest I have come to studying abroad - World Leadership Course at WPI, Massachusetts, USA - given my childhood "dream"

Harking back to my childhood for a minute, I had this uncle who I used to pester to tell me stories in the post lunch session while he wanted to sleep. So he used to start a story & then the protagonist would decide to go on a journey. I would be told that until he reached his destination the story could not continue and he would go to sleep. The bird brain I was I would be sitting next to him waiting for the story to continue. One day I noticed that his ears had been pierced but the hole was now blocked with something. Wanting to be helpful by cleaning and opening up the hole, I obtained a nail and a hammer to do the needful. Some noise and before I could do my good deed of the day he woke up. When he heard what I intended to do I got thrashed for trying to be helpful and since then he finished his story, threw me out of his bed before going to sleep. It pays to be helpful I guess.

In school and pre-university everybody had only one aim in life – graduate and then go to good old USA and settle down. Our Maths teacher, an irrepressible genius, used to say – Land in New York, Travel to Chicago, finally reach the shorelines of California and then gazing at the Pacific Ocean wonder if you achieved something or not. I was no different but even then, I was “arrogant” as I am now. Universities which accepted me either said that I can apply for fee waiver, scholarships after I reach their campus or would be given after 6 months. I said no, decide and give now before I leave India. They showed me the middle finger and I showed them mine back. End of America story.

Somewhere somehow even without understanding it, realising it I developed an interest in information technology or computers as we called it. This was like being in love with the screen persona of a Hema Malini or Dimple Kapadia – no logic but you are in love. Everybody scoffed saying that computers were nothing more than glorified typewriters and at best I could aspire to become Stenographer to the MD of a company instead of Stenographer of the Manager. Engineers did not become Stenographers. But then did not listen and attended multiple interviews, written exams, group discussions with the then popular company HCL – and the final interview was to be with someone at CEO level. Reached that level only to find 2 girls – a BCom and a BA – get selected while even IIT graduates were rejected.

Refused to give up and went to ITC Infotech only to be told by their head honcho – a Ramakrishnan – to study “computers” and then apply. Studied computer courses in IIT Kanpur and still no luck till a friend in Wipro offered to use his influence to get me a job. The HR chief tells me that he would get me a job in a small computer company where I should work for 6 months and then he would recruit me in Wipro on the basis that I have computer experience. I told him to stick his offer in a suitable place and walked out. That was the end of my computer dream convinced that computers were for stenographers.

When I was looking for my second job, the situations depicted in countless Hindi movies played out in my life for real. I literally walked the streets of Mumbai going from office to office asking for a job and being turned away. Unlike in the movies nothing dramatic happened in my job-hunting efforts in Mumbai and did not succeed but later I did get my job in a dramatic manner.

I stumbled into a Sales/ Marketing/ Biz development role by default and notwithstanding whatever success I may have achieved I was never the salesman who can sell a comb to a bald guy. Plus, in my job I was facing the customer who actually purchased and used my company product. When the time came to move my dilemma was – do I join a competitor who would gladly have me, but then how do I face my customers? If I stayed within the industry I could grow, become an expert, well known etc but could I sleep well at night knowing that I was now talking against myself and what I had said over the years. I realised that I could not and took a conscious decision that if I ever changed jobs it would never be with a competitor or where such a conflict of interest could arise.

Good bad or ugly I stuck to my decision and so my journey has been from Food processing to Plastic Machinery to Plastic processing to Defence to Natural gas. When I see my friends feted, greeted, and applauded at seminars, industry functions, TV debates etc as experts in their area they have worked in for 3 decades I ask myself if I took the right decisions. Did I stunt my growth and earning opportunities with my self-imposed principles? Did I allow my “arrogance” to make me walk away from an industry that created multi-millionaires out of even idiots? Did I manage and steer my life in the best way I could have, or did I create roadblocks for myself with my principles, attitude?  

However, what I do know is that thanks to this kind of a chequered career I today can pick up nuances, new issues, idiosyncrasies far better and faster than most others. I can understand a situation a industry very quickly and put my finger on the pulse of the moment. Speaking 5 to 6 languages helps me connect with most people far quicker and develop stronger relationships. I can see a lot more in a situation most times to analyse and predict outcomes better. I can understand different viewpoints, cultures, expectations better to resolve conflicts, issues, and bring people together. I can sleep well at night or for that matter at any time.

So how does one look back???

Years ago, meeting a close friend and colleague of my father, SB Shetty at his Badhwar Park flat in Mumbai, he told me about himself – a brilliant student, a topper, selected everywhere he applied to. On the same day he had been selected by the Indian Railways as a “Probationer” at 200 bucks’ salary to be “confirmed” after a year and also by British Petroleum at 600 bucks. The decision was a no brainer for the young man. As he was stepping out of the cabin of the British manager, the manager told Shetty, - “Young man, the job is “temporary” for 6 months and then you will become “permanent”. Without batting an eyelid Shetty told him – “If that temporary is your interest, then I am not interested” and walked out to join the Indian railways. He said that those who joined BP then now owned bungalows in Malabar hills of Mumbai while he stayed in an official flat given by the Railways and yet to buy a house, he could call his own.

What if is a question that will stay on but honestly no regrets.