R Srinivasan TVS Madurai

62 Years of Service at the TVS Group

At 84, unmindful of the broken thigh femur bone, he continues to contribute to TVS Schools, TVS Hospital, the CSR Welfare activities and the development of his favourite city

Wife Kamala has initiated many sets of people into Saivite Saint Poets' Thevaram Verses

Almost five decades ago, Tamil Nadu right arm fast bowler B. Kalyanasundaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/08/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram.html), then at India Cements, was injured in his left hand and it was likely he would miss the Buchi Babu match against ACC that week. When the then Chairman of India Cements KS Narayanan saw him at the office and enquired about the upcoming match, Kalli pointed to the injury in the left hand. Reminding Kalli that he was a right arm fast bowler, Narayanan asked him to play the prestigious match as his bowling hand was intact!!! It is this logic that  Octogenarian R Srinivasan of TVS Madurai seems to have applied in the weeks gone by. 

A month ago, R Srinivasan, Director of TVS Schools and one of the two longest serving personnel of the TVS Group slipped on a floor mat on the first floor of his house in Madurai and broke his right thigh femur bone. The 84 year old was in unbearable pain and rushed to the nearby TVS hospital for a surgery. For a man his age, who has lived a majority of his life in the pre technology and internet era, he is surprisingly tech savvy. Soon after the surgery that ran into hours, much to the shock of his family members, sitting on the hospital bed he was seen working on his iPad sending directions to the TVS School colleagues on the action points for the fortnight at a time when there has been so much debate on the reopening of educational institutions. No member of the family has been able to keep him away from work even for a few hours (The injury is in the right leg but his fingers in both his hands are fine and more importantly his mental frame of mind is as sharp as it has always been, seems to have been the message received by his deeply concerned relatives). 

Till the time, Corona Lockdown hit the State in March this year, his daily routine included 3hours of physical presence at the TVS Schools where he has been a sole Director for the last two decades. In the initial period of the complete lockdown and the gradual unlocking thereafter, he has been actively involved in the multiple roles that he has been donning using technology to the core. With the surgery and his inability to walk, his three sons, all alumni of TVS School and now in well settled jobs in three different cities, found it a challenging task to manage their appa 'long distance' and a decision was arrived at amongst them to pack him ‘out of Madurai’. The city has been his love for much of his lifetime having arrived there from Sri Vaikuntam, a town renowned for the Kaisanathar Nava Kailayam Temple(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/09/srivaikuntam-kailasanathar-koil.html), in the summer of 1946 and having lived his life ever since in the proximity of the Meenakshi Amman Temple. 

It took a great deal of cajoling from his family members on the need to be under the care of his sons at such a time of medical emergency and he finally agreed to make the 'temporary' trip to Madras in the middle of September for what is now turning out to be one of his longest hiatus from Madurai over the last 75years.  Here is the story of the man’s love for Madurai, his over six decade long association with the TVS Group and what lies in store for the Octogenarian.

Football Tourney, Azhagar Utsavam -The Love for Madurai and TVS

Srinivasan was born in Sri Vaikuntam, a town on the Northern Banks of Tamaraibarani also known for Kallarpiran Nava Tirupathi Divya Desam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2008/05/srivaikuntam-vaikunta-nathan-divya.html), in 1936. His father, Rajagopal was a Government official and moved to Madurai as a commercial tax officer in the second half of the 1940s. By the time he was into his teens, the TVS Group began to have a profound influence on Srinivasan. Two renowned events that he was witness to in that phase led him to an unshakeable early decision in his mind that both his father and uncle were to realize only much later.

In the 1950s, Madurai played host to an All India Football Tournament that saw the participation of the who’s who of Indian football. Srinivasan himself was a footballer during his college days and was greatly influenced by the care shown by TVS in managing the huge crowds at this popular tourney. The other event that sharply influenced the young Srinivasan was the way TVS managed the huge devotee crowd every summer at the renowned Chitrai festival. Srinivasan found the ease with which they transported the devotees to the banks of the Vaigai and back after the festival to be very impressive. It occurred to the young boy that the TVS management saw the entire devotee crowd as part of their own family and they managed both the football crowd as well as the festival crowd as they would their own family. The third most influential aspect in that early phase of Srinivasan’s life was the punctuality of the TVS bus service, the friendly relationship between the crew and the passengers and the way the entire TVS Management conducted itself with the people of Madurai.

And the Consequent Impact 

His father and his uncle (KS Krishnaswamy), both Government officials, were keen for the young Economics Graduate to take up the Service Commission Examination. As directed by the elders, Srinivasan wrote the exam and sailed through. Much to their delight, he was posted in the Revenue department in Perambalur but their joy turned out to be short lived, for just 48 hours after he joined work, Srinivasan knocked on the door to hand his father the news that he had returned to Madurai for good and that he would not be going back to Perambalur, an announcement that left the father speechless. His uncle Krishnaswamy was even more shocked and exclaimed ‘Would anyone quit a Government job after just two days.’ 

With the strong direction to take to a Government job, things had happened far too quickly in that phase for his liking. When he requested for a couple of days leave, his boss in the Revenue Department smelt something ‘fishy’ and warned the young boy that he would be ‘reported’ to higher authorities if he did not return at the appointed time. Srinivasan did not return for his never ending love for Madurai and the TVS Group played an overpowering role in the decision that he took that week. 

The young Srinivasan was adamant that day, much to the disbelief of the seniors at home. It was odd for a young 20 something graduate to take such a strong stand in those days in the 1950s. But Srinivasan stood by his conviction. While his uncle was unwilling and considered him foolish, his father finally relented to the power of youth.

July 58 – The First TVS meeting 

He applied for a job at the TVS and met with the then company secretary of the TVS Group, Sankara Iyer, who too suggested to the youngster that he may be taking a hurried decision on his career and asked him to re-consider the Government job, one that was likely to give him long term security. It seemed that the entire world was conspiring to navigate him away from Madurai and the TVS Group. In fact, his uncle went one step ahead. He called the boss at the revenue department in Perambulur and requested him to hold on to the resignation letter assuring him that he would soon instill some sense into the young boy and ‘dispatch’ him back to Perambalur. Clearly, uncle Krishnaswamy misjudged the strong bondage between the young grad and Madurai. Srinivasan was far too influenced by the value system of the TVS group and had bonded so well with Madurai over the previous ten years that he was unwilling to look beyond TVS.

That same month he had made the transition from a Government job to a role at the Corporate. He joined the TVS Group on July 11, 1958 and 62 years later is one of the two longest serving members in the TVS group outside of the promoter group. 

The Personal Aide of India’s PM 

Within two years of joining TVS, he came under the tutelage of CMD R Ramachandran, who spotted the long term potential in Srinivasan and began involving him in the social activities of the Group. Before he had turned 30, Srinivasan was handed out a prestigious assignment that he still cherishes almost 6 decades later. When the then PM of India Jawaharlal Nehru visited Madurai for a meeting in 1963, Srinivasan was posted as his ‘Aide’ during the period of the conference. And on the morning of the event, the PM of India pinned his favourite Red Rose on the shirt of the young Srinivasan.

On the eve of the high profile event that was also attended by Kamaraj, Bhakthavatsalam and Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Madurai was flooded after rains lashed the city relentlessly for hours. Srinivasan, who had seen the working of the TVS team during the football tourney and Azhagar Utsavam, now saw the working of the Group for a third time, this one as a staffer who was assigned personally to the PM of India. He remembers the event from that night “TS Krishna brought around 200 foremen from the TVS Group firms and they worked tirelessly, through the night. When the PM reached the venue the next morning, he was delighted at the turnaround time of the TVS and the professional way they had ensured that the venue was ready for the event.”

For his personalised service to the PM of India, Ramachandran presented Srinivasan with a special letter acknowledging his role in taking care of Nehru, one that he has preserved to this day with great happiness.

Public Speaking Course in Madurai

In 1972, TVS & Sons organised a public speaking course in Madurai with Srinivasan playing an active role in the conduct of the event. It was the first time he came into contact with Venu Srinivasan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/07/venu-srinivasan-historical-temples.html), who participated in the course as a teenaged student. In the six decades of his service at the TVS Group, he worked closely with many of the members of the TVS Family.

Into Welfare Activities 

After serving TVS & Sons and TVS Coach Building for 15years, he moved to TVS Rubber as the Supply Manager. In the phase of his stint there, it was one of the top three rubber companies. During the period, Ramachandran sponsored several academic courses for Srinivasan’s up-skill in business. These included General Management and Export- Import Management courses, among a few others. Very early on, Ramachandran involved him in social service initiatives of the TVS Group. Srinivasan was initiated into the Junior Chamber in Madurai. When Srinivasan turned 40, Ramachandran proposed his name to the Rotary Membership with the words that Srinivasan remembers to this day, well over four decades later “People expect a lot from you. It is your responsibility to live up to their expectations.”  Since 1977, Srinivasan has remained an active Rotarian. He received an award last year from the TN Governor for his contribution to the society as a Rotarian.

When TVS signed a JV with Dupont, Srinivasan donned the role of GM Projects. 

Wife's Contribution to the Society

While Srinivasan had a 12 hour work day through most of his corporate life including his CSR, social services association and his active participation in the Rotary, his wife Kamala took a devotional teaching route. What started off as a rather simple learning of the Thevaram verses of the Saivite Saint Poets (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/12/thiru-vathigai-veerateswarar.html) translated into one of the more serious form. Her devotional acharya Pichammal was so passionate and devoted in the rendering of these verses accompanied by the ragas, that Kamala Srinivasan became completely engrossed in the recital.

Impressed with her absorption skills, her acharya suggested that she begin to take classes herself so the sacred verses could pass on to the next generation.Several batches of students have graduated out of Kamala's teaching of the Thevaram verses (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/01/thiru-vennai-nallur-kripapureeswarar.html) tuned in with the accompanying Ragams. The passing of the sacred renderings of the Saint Poets (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/11/thiruvathavur-thirumarainathaswamy.html) has given her a gread deal of satisfaction while her husband spent time contributing to the development of Madurai and its neighbouring villages.

APPAR at Thiru Vathigai

An Exclusive Post at TVS Schools 

After his formal retirement from the corporate life (having spent several decades with various TVS firms in Madurai and having grown to the post of Vice President), Srinivasan was leading a team of youngsters at Rotary International to Osaka, Japan for an event. It was just prior to this trip that he was called on by Shobhana, daughter of R Ramachandran who took over charge at the school in 1982. 

She created an exclusive post for him at the TVS Schools that did not exist till then and made him the Director to take care of both the day to day administration as well as laying out the broad policies for the schools. In the two decades of his association in the education space, TVS Schools has expanded dramatically. He was bestowed with the responsibility of formulating policies, preparation of annual budget, identifying new focus areas for all the TVS schools and to provide guidance, support and evaluate all activities of School Heads. With the strong expansion in recent years and increasing need for quality teachers, Srinivasan is also actively involved in the recruitment process of the teaching faculty. Lakshmi Vidya Sangam (named after TVS Iyengar's wife) now governs 10 educational institutions with 15000 students, 800 teachers and over 200 staffers.Till March this year, his daily routine included a visit to the TVS Schools.

In the education space, he was also inducted into the Sath Guru Sangeetha Vidyalaya (an institution for Music and Fine Arts) of which he became the President. He is also an executive committee member of the Sath Guru Sangeetha Samajam. 

TVS Hospital, Arogya Trust and more

In addition to his full time role at the Schools as the Director, he has also been a Lead Trustee at the TVS Hospital. As part of the CSR activities of TVS, he oversees welfare activities in 24 villages around Madurai. The Octogenarian is physically present at all the big events in these villages. He is also associated with community related projects pertaining to Women Empowerment, Education, Health, Environment, Youth and Child development around Madurai. 

Advisor to TVS Srichakra

While engaging actively in  social services activities, Srinivasan has also been continuing to play an advisory role on the corporate front. Currently, he is an advisor to TVS Srichakra.

He will soon be 85 but at the moment has no plans to slowdown his contribution to the TVS Group. His philosophy has been to keep the self busy in constructive activities that are useful for the development of the Society. One thought that was a philosophy that held good in the normal course and not for these extraordinary times when there is a health scare across the world. But Srinivasan has willingly and proactively extended that (philosophy) to even when he is unable to move without the help of a walking stick. Sitting 500kms North of Madurai at his son’s home in Mylapore, Srinivasan’s day this month has begun with his best friend in recent years - The Apple iPad. He is often seen scrolling the official emails. His responses are not short either as he types in detail to his colleagues in the TVS Group. Every morning, he remembers the message of Ramachandran from the pre technology days in 1960 “He would always say that one should respond to everyone as quickly as possible and definitely not later than 24 hours.” Srinivasan receives a reasonably good number of mails each day relating to the schools, hospital, welfare activities and the developmental programmes. He succintly follows that six decades old message of Ramachandran and ensures that he responds to each one of the mails on the same day.

Similar to the 86 year old H Lakshmanan, ED, Sundaram Clayton, Srinivasan too has engaged with the TVS Group for over six decades, quite a significant achievement for a staffer. Commitment to work, Loyalty to the TVS Group and the Will Power to carry out the tasks assigned to him has been long standing virtues of this Octogenarian. At 84, he is still making contribution in  the Education, Hospitality, Community and Tyre space. While his sons seem to be chalking out a different plan for him in the coming months, Srinivasan is itching to go back to Madurai at the earliest and to continue his life in his favourite city and with his favourite organization.

“Till my final breath, I want to contribute to the TVS Group and to the development of Madurai” is his message to his sons and the family members.

For those like Srinivasan, age simply does not matter. Truly a memorable personality, this man.

Neelu Drama Stage Plays Movies

7000+ Stage plays, over 160 films, a true connoisseur of carnatic music and a crazy cricket fan 

His interest in drama and an ‘ear to music’ were both initiated very early on during his school days in Triplicane

'Advocate Panchapakesan' in Sambavani Yuge Yuge was his all time favourite

Ever since his school days, he remained an artiste and performed on Stage for six decades, something that gave him the greatest satisfaction. When his firm transferred him out of city, he missed the stage so badly that he came back as quickly as he went. He remained contended through his life and stayed in the same firm for four decades. For ever, he remained a cricket fan and a test match of the time was one of his favourite topics of discussion at the Mylapore Club where he would taste the special sweet in the evening. Past 80 and till his very end, he continued to be part of the Crazy Mohan's Popular Chocolate Krishna team. Here is the story.

Born in 1936 in Manjeri, Kerala, R Neelakantan ( Neelu to those in the Cine/ Drama Circles) moved to Madras and did his entire schooling in Triplicane - first at Raghavendra School (the school completed 100years earlier in the decade) and then at The Hindu High School.

His first exposure to drama came through the Boys Scout Movement. P Seshagiri Rao, a dental surgeon and a man of histrionics was also a scout master. He used to organise an annual day competition, that included a camp fire organised late in the evening. The 10-15minutes skit that Neelu presented in front of the audience there was his first initiation into the world of dramatics. It took away the stage fear and he always attributed his success in drama to that early initiation by Seshagiri Rao. 

It was from his sister that he imbibed interest in carnatic music and for several decades, he watched LIVE Kutcheris of some of the greats of carnatic music - GNV, Madurai Mani Iyer, Choudiah, Raja Manickam Pillai, Palghat Iyer and Mali at his peak. One of his biggest regrets was not taking up Rajam Iyer’s offer to learn carnatic music, in a formal way. 

His All Time Fav- Adv Panchapakesan

His first big moment on stage came when he joined Vivekananda College in the mid 1950s. During those years at college, he acted in several plays that included Devan’s Kalyani, Ms Mythili and Janaki. He donned interesting roles in Sambu Nataraja Iyer’s (Triplicane Fine Arts Club) stage plays, a couple of the prominent ones were Sriman Sudarshanam and Mr. Vedantham. The ‘astrologer role’ in Justice Jagannathan was particularly well received. He played the role of Advocate Panchapakesan in Sambavani Yuge Yuge in 1962-63 one that remains his all time favourite. 

Thathachari in Mohd Bin Tughlaq

He told this writer in 2014 that it was during the inter-collegiate competitions that he was introduced to Cho. It marked the beginning of a friendship that lasted well over five decades. Neelu enacted the role of Thathachari in Cho’s all time hit Mohd. Bin Tughlaq, an MLA in Yarukkum Vetkam Illai and the role of a CM in Nermai Urangum Neram "We were all like family members. Cho knew our capabilities and helped us make a mark by assigning relevant roles for each of us that suited us the best", he said complimenting Cho for his success and that of the team.

In the late 1950s, he became a founding member of Viveka Fine Arts and played the role of Mr. Plan in their first play – Thenmozhiya (dramatised by Koothapiran and a cricket commentator). 

Niche Roles in Cho's Plays

After completing his MA in Economics, Neelu joined VD Swamy and Co, in 1960. A couple of years into his job, he was transferred to Calcutta that put a temporary halt to his drama roles. Neelu told this writer in that 2014 interaction at his Beach side home in Besant Nagar that it was Cho’s intervention that helped him get back to Madras "After Cho presented Sambavani Yuge Yuge at Krishna Gana Sabha, he ‘forced’ VD Swamy (who was also the chairman of KGS) to transfer Neelu back to Madras so he could continue to pursue his passion."

Neelu performed varied roles on stage and that gave him the most satisfaction in life ‘Drama gave me a lot of satisfaction. There was instant appreciation and acknowledgement of our performance. The response from the audience was immediate. We always wanted to give our best in front of them’, he told this writer. 

Drama helped in Recovery of Dues

Interestingly, his performances on stage also held him in good stead at work. Neelu was in the Export- Import division that took him around to many countries in South East Asia, the US and Europe ‘Where ever I went on work, around the world, I was instantly recognised. There have been instances when my drama roles have even helped in ‘collections’ at work as important officials acknowledged the happiness that stage plays had given them and cleared the cheques, some which had been pending for a long time. I did no favours to them and yet they went out of their way to help me out. That is the positive impact that drama has had on the audience.’ 

Stage Play was a stepping stone for Neelu’s entry into movies. In 1966, Neelu debuted in Mukta Srinivasan’s Aiyiram Poi. Since then, he acted in over 160films including alongside Shivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Karthik, Vikram and Kamal, among others. 

Much later, Mouli’s Flight 172 was an unforgettable  and thoroughly enjoyable experience for Neelu. He was also fond of cricket and tracked most of the test matches in the 1960s and 70s.Till the end, he remained a crazy cricket fan.

A Contended Personality

For all his achievements in theatre, Neelu was not aspirational. Right till the end, he remained a contended person. Neelu did not take to acting as a full time profession despite receiving many offers in those days. He chose to take up only small roles and got back to his office work, one where he worked for four decades. 

On many evenings, he would gulp the popular Badam Halwa at the Mylapore Club and engage in light talks with The Hindu's Narasimhan, Sundaram Iyer (Enfield Group) and Easwar Iyer. 

Bhagavathar in Engey Brahmanan 

After his retirement, he took on the role of a ‘Production Manager’ for his close friend L Viswanathan’s movie ‘Jerry’. He would often joke that he too is a 'Producer'. When he was presented an opportunity to display his emotions in Cho’s Engey Brahmanan, he grabbed it with both hands. His enactment of the Bhagavathar brought commendation from Shri. PV Srinivasan, his Sanskrit teacher of the 1950s. Upanyasakar Dhamal Ramakrishanan too showered heaps of praise on Neelu for his acting in Engey Brahmanan. 

In the last years of his life, he was part of Crazy Mohan’s hugely successful Chocolate Krishna. Till the very end, Neelu’s interest in drama remained undiminished. He was inseparable from drama and carnatic music.  His eyes would always light up every time he spoke about stage plays and he woudl instantly recollect the plays from the 1950s even as he continued to hum his favourite ‘Thathari na naa’.

(Neelu passed away in 2018 - a version of this story featured in the Mylapore Club Magazine in 2014)

K Balaji The Hindu Ranji Trophy

The stylish southpaw topped the batting chart for TN in his debut season and scored a terrific century against Hyderabad in his second year but quit Cricket soon after

"When capability is unequally distributed, the leader has to extract the best out of the players. It just did not happen in TN cricket in the late 1970s" - K Balaji

In the mid 1950s, 16 year old S Ram, son of legendary auto man TS Santhanam, who had played for the South Zone Schools had to make the choice between pursuing serious cricket and academics. He chose academics and let go of cricket. Two decades later, a youngster from another renowned traditional family business, made his debut for TN in the Gopalan Trophy aged 19 but let go of cricket for two years to pursue his Masters. He came back to score runs aplenty in Ranji Trophy cricket in his first two seasons prompting the Great GRV to extol lavish praise of his batting style in the process touting him as a solid long term middle order prospect for TN in the 1980s. And yet, he felt his upbringing did not permit him to continue in the team environment that existed then, one that did not contribute to either the development of cricket or the personality. He quit cricket at 24 after having played just a dozen matches for the State and pursued a career in the corporate world. Here is the story.

Picks up the bat Left Handed 

K Balaji, son of legendary G Kasturi (Editor of The Hindu for 25 years from 1965), began playing serious cricket aged 13, though he was forced to make one 'surprise' appearance for Jolly Rovers when he was just 10years old. His uncle Rangarajan was running the Jolly Rovers team at that time and much against the wishes of his cousin Kasturi, picked his son for the leage match at the Vivekananda College ground. While he did not get to bat in the match, Balaji took a skier at point, an early indication of his cricketing talent.

It was a couple of years after this match that Balaji began his serious focus on cricket that lasted just over a decade. His coach KS Kannan at Don Bosco asked him to open the bowling, even though Balaji wanted to be an off spinner. Much to his surprise and the coach’s delight, he began taking wickets (Former India Wicket Keeper Bharath Reddy who played for MCC School remembers Balaji taking 9 wickets with the new ball). 

When he picked the cricket bat for the first time, he faced left handed (probably against the leg spin of his younger brother, K Venugopal, former Editor of The Hindu Business Line) even though he was a right hander in all other sports – Tennis, Shuttle and TT. Wickets with the new ball earned him a place in the city and state schools team. Balaji and Venugopal played together, first at school and later at Loyola College. During the four years at school, Balaji shone more with the ball than the bat. Despite his fine performances in cricket, academics remained at the forefront throughout his schooling and he was consistently among the toppers in his class (While Venugopal cherished being a leggie, he did not pursue cricket as seriously as Balaji and went to the US for his Masters giving up cricket soon after college). 

Balaji sitting next to his first coach. Also seen in the pic is K Venugopal

The Musical Interest 

As a teenager, Balaji also learnt Violin for a brief period from legendary TN Krishnan though he found it difficult to straddle between Cricket, Academics and Violin. It was that initiation by the music legend that kindled Balaji’s interest in music that has stayed to this day. 

Tamil Nadu’s Hat Trick man B Kalyanasundaram who was at the fag end of his career when Balaji made his Ranji debut and who counts him as one of his closest friends in life is grateful to Balaji for infusing the musical interest in him “He was a good violinist and was the one who created the music interest in me. He would often call me to a musical ‘Sath Sangam’ and share with me the wide range of recordings he had in his possession. If I am still listening to carnatic music at this age, it was because of those musical days spent with Balaji.”

              

Radio Cricket Commentary at 15!!! 

While the Violin initiation generated his musical interest, an unforeseen ‘cricket’ opportunity came his way in 1971. All India Radio Madras had launched quite a unique programme called the ‘Youth Commentators” in an endeavour to develop cricket commentators. IOB cricketer ‘Ram’ Ramesh suggested to them the name of Balaji as a prospective commentator. Just like his batting fluency, Balaji was fluent in the English language as well, for he conversed a lot of the time in English with his classmates at Don Bosco. Balaji recalls the audition that he did at the AIR studio “I was petrified to be locked inside a studio. The producer asked me to imagine a cricket match and commentate for about 3-4 minutes. Obviously they found something right in those few minutes for they asked me to do the commentary of the next match that came up at Chepauk.” (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/cricket-tales-12-memorable-cricket.html)

And thus, much before his cricketing debut for the state (which too he was to make in a Gopalan Trophy match), this teenager sat alongside the renowned Ramamurthy, with his unique voice, RT Parthasarathy and NK Murugesh to present English commentary on the state cricketers with whom he was to play later in the decade debuting his commentary(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/memorable-cricket-matches-on-radio-1985.html) stint with the Gopalan Trophy match between Madras and Ceylon in January 1971. Balaji was paid a princely amount of Rs. 30 per day as the fee for his commentary. Impressed with his commentary, AIR continued his services for the Ranji Trophy matches as well over the next couple of years before commentators such as Ramamurthy began commentating on their ‘colleague turned cricketer’ when Balaji began playing for TN. 

In the pre Television days, Radio Commentary of state matches had a huge audience and Balaji counts that as one of the most enjoyable experiences of his teenage life.

Shoulder Injury – New Ball bowler to a full-fledged batsman 

Injury to his shoulder in the first year at Loyola College forced him to give up bowling completely (medical solutions to cricketing injuries were not available those days – Swing bowler S Ram too damaged his shoulder and he too never felt the same again in terms of bowling fast) and he become a full fledged batsman, something he considers a ‘blessing in disguise’. By the time he was into the 2nd year at college (B.Com), his batting had blossomed and he began to make some big runs that made the selectors sit up and take notice of this young talent. 

While he continued to play serious cricket for the college, the strong focus on academics continued and he was keen to pursue a Master’s Degree. In the final year of his graduation, when he also captained the Loyola College team, the Rohinton Baria Tournament clashed with the CAT exam (IIM –A) which meant that he did not have the time to prepare for his examination. After playing the first match at Mysore, Balaji took a bus to reach Madras the next morning to write the entrance examination. With Madras University winning the second match, he made the trip back to Mysore to play the third match!!! 

He was in terrific form for the Madras University that year and his two centuries including one in the Semi Finals against a strong Bombay team (that included Vengsarkar and Sandeep Patil) earned a State call for the 19 year old against Ceylon for the Gopalan Trophy match at Salem in February 1975 (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/michael-dalvi-gopalan-trophy-salem.html), one known for the scintillating century by Michael Dalvi (Dalvi scored a century in both of Balaji’s debut!!!! as a commentator 4 years earlier and this match as a player). Balaji made a good start scoring 34 in the only innings he played. However, events of the morning of his debut gave an early insight into the leadership in the team that left a bad taste in him on the first day (more on this later in the story) and it was the reason that led him to quit serious cricket, 5 years later.

Masters - Away from Cricket for 2Years

A few months after his debut for TN and even though a Ranji debut was just a step away, Balaji much like S Ram of the TVS(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/tvs-ram-s-cricketer.html), kept cricket aside and went to Bombay for his Masters with an eye on his professional career. The Masters Programme was so intense that during the two years of the course, he did not touch the bat. 

City Schools Team - 1970 ( Photo Source: Rocko Sundar - IOB)

A dream debut season in Ranji Trophy

He came back to Madras in the summer of 1977 after the completion of Masters and joined The Hindu in Circulation. He was roped in by Bharath Reddy to play for MCC in the first division league. Such was his natural talent that despite being completely away from cricket for two years, he hit top form straightaway. Within six months of his comeback into competitive cricket, Balaji was in the state reckoning again, this time in the TN Ranji squad for the 1977-78 season. And it turned out to be a dream season. 

Though there were established batsmen in the team - TE Srinivasan, V Sivaramakrishnan and Abdul Jabbar, among others - Balaji topped the batting charts for TN in his debut season scoring 225 runs, quite a significant achievement. The two best knocks came against Karnataka when he top scored in both innings, though TN lost that match. In his first season, Balaji contributed in every match. It was a season when S Venkataraghavan was away in Australia and he flourished under the captaincy of P Mukund. As seen later in this story, the absence of the ‘Legend’ Venkat proved to be a blessing in disguise for Balaji, and he had his best year in cricket. He counts that year as one when he played with a lot of freedom and was able to express himself with the bat.

A Century after a Jaundice Strike

At the beginning of the next season, Balaji fell ill with Jaundice and missed the first three matches. He had not played any cricket in the preceding months when he was called up for the final league match of the Ranji Trophy against Hyderabad in January 1979. On a challenging wicket, TN was toppling against the likes of Abid Ali and V Ramnarayanan chasing Hyderabad’s 218 and had lost 4 wickets at the top of the order. It was then that Abdul Jabbar joined Balaji to forge a winning partnership. Balaji’s delightful century helped TN gain the first innings lead in the final match of the season. 

40 years later, Abdul Jabbar, who was the backbone of the TN middle order in the 1970s and early 80s, looks back at Balaji’s century with delight “I still remember that knock of Balaji. It was a Superb Century. I enjoyed his graceful strokes from the other end. On his day, he made batting look so easy. His batting was all elegance with superb timing in his strokes mainly on the offside, both on the front foot as well as off the back foot. It was always a treat to watch him bat. I made some 70 odd runs but it was Balaji’s batting display which dominated our innings that day against Hyderabad.” 

A month later he fell to the guiles of Bishen Singh Bedi in both the innings in the knock out match against Delhi on a slow wicket where it was difficult to play strokes, a match that TN lost. 

A premature end to his cricket career 

Later that year and within 12months of scoring that gritty century against Hyderabad, Balaji came up once again against the same team in what turned out to be his last Ranji match. It was a horrible season for TN. 

Balaji recalls the earlier match in the season against Karnataka in particular, a match that this writer distinctly remembers listening to AIR’s Kannada commentary in full

(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/domesticindia-cricket-matches-1979-1983.html) in Dec 1979 one in which he had played a reasonably good knock though he did not carry on to a big score “Roger Binny’s century left Venkat (he had dropped Binny early in his innings and that added to his anger) fuming.  With every run that Binny added, Venkat’s anger became uncontrollable and it was difficult to handle. Binny’s century and Saad Bin Jung’s century later that month meant we did not qualify for the knock outs. His inability to get crucial wickets in that match in Bangalore and then his personal failure once again in the important first innings against Hyderabad left him red faced and the players had to face the music.”

The Hindu's Cricket Correspondent PV Vaidyanathan writing at that time said "In bowling, TN suffered because of Venkatataraghavan's tendency to get away from the firing line at a time when he was needed most. The attitude of the TN captain was rather strange."

A TN Batsman for the 1980s - GR Vishwanath

Leg Spinner VV Kumar remembers his State Bank teammate the artistic GR Vishwanath telling him after watching him bat in that match “This left hander Balaji is a delight to watch. He has such fluency in his strokes. He is likely to go a long way for Tamil Nadu in the 1980s.” 

Little would GRV have known that this was to be one of the last matches of Balaji for the State.

                                       

VV Kumar says that after such lavish praise from a legendary batsman, you knew what a talent Balaji was "In that phase, going into the 1980s, there was a place for a middle order batsman like Balaji in the TN team and he had the advantage of being a left hander. He had it in him to be a long term middle order bat for the State. But his career ended much sooner than it should have."

Early 1979, Balaji was as buoyant as any youngster could be after his stunning century against Hyderabad. He was looking ahead to the season on the back of two very successful years in Ranji Trophy cricket. His confidence was high and he was on a roll. Clearly, a long career beckoned. But the events of the year led him to quit cricket at the beginning of 1980. The season of 1979-80 left Balaji disgruntled with the way the team was being led and he made his voice known. Three senior cricketers – VV Kumar, B Kalyanasundaram and V Krishnaswamy who played through a major part of the 1970s  retired by the end of the decade and TN was in the process of building a young team.

A Meeting with the Chairman of Selectors

While the entire team from the 1970s and 80s discussed behind closed doors the leadership of Venkat, Balaji, who right from his childhood was a forthright personality, was the one who boldly raised the issue with his former captain P Mukund.

Bharath Reddy, as the senior member of that team and with international experience, was the one who anchored a meeting that season with the then Chairman of Selectors Balu Alaganan. Balaji and Mukund too were part of that meeting. Bharath Reddy remembers that meeting “There were new youngsters coming into the team, most of them in their 20s and we were looking to build a team for the 80s but the atmosphere was not conducive for good cricket to be played. He was becoming too hot to handle and it was impacting the performance of the TN players. We wanted the Chairman of Selectors to address this issue in the larger interest of the state and its performance. It was a genuine attempt by us to try and get Venkat to be a motivational leader.”

Bharath Reddy(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html) recalls as to how this well intended 'good for TN cricket' meeting backfired on them “Instead of addressing the real issue, Balu Alaganan positioned it as three players revolting against Venkat and this infuriated him even more. In the next match, Venkat openly abused the three of us for raising our voices against him. It was a period when Venkat abused his own players, the opposition and even the Umpires. No one was spared. The fact that Venkat was bitter with life did not help TN players in that phase.”

Bharath Reddy says that in all the interactions he had with AG Satwendar Singh, AG Milkha Singh and PK Belliappa in those years, he pointed to them that their putting up with Venkat in the initial years of his captaincy led him to take a dominating position in the team with almost no player being able to come close to him during his playing days. The TN players from those early years should have taken corrective steps in the larger interest of the team. But they did not and he remained unapproachable and the youngsters who came into the TN team without exception feared talking to him. 

Brijesh Patel's Mentorship at SVPB

Another Stylish batsman NP Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html), who played for TN between 1980 and 86 under the captaincy of Venkataraghavan, points out the huge positive impact that the three year leadershp of Brijesh Patel’s at SVPB/Globe Trotters(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/06/svpb-udumalpet-soundararajan.html) made to the players and the success of the team “UR Radhakrishnan, VB Chandrasekar and Robin Singh were all at the start of their careers when they joined SVPB and Peter (Fernandez), Sukumar and myself were the senior members in the team. Brijesh’s presence as a captain was transformational. He would talk to each one of us personally about our strengths and weaknesses and how we could improve our performance as a team. It was his inspirational leadership that helped in getting the best out of the players. Each one of us went into each match with a motivated feeling and that helped us win many tournaments in that phase. You could also see the impact he made on Karnataka cricket that decade in the way the players jelled together as a team.”

Living in Fear of being Shouted at

Contrasted with that friendly and motivational approach, Madhavan found that no member of the TN state team could go near Venkat and there was always the fear that they would be ‘shouted’ at. But almost everyone in that period from the early 1970s remained largely silent and no one raised the issue with Venkat. 

Too Moody for Team's Good

Bharath Reddy, probably the most vocal member of the team in the 1970s and early 80s, says that while he shared the room with Venkat on many occasions, he too feared that ‘Venkat’s fuse would blow’ if he touched the sensitive topic about the fear that existed in the team members and hence he never had the ‘guts’ to tell him anything ‘He was so moody that no one knew when he would blow up. It completely shook the morale of the team in that phase.’

Players left to fend for themselves

It was really this frustration that led Balaji to quit cricket at 24 and he never played for the state again for he moved into his corporate role at The Hindu. Balaji found no leadership in the team. While Venkat may have been a legendary spinner, Balaji looks back at that period of cricket as shattering the confidence of young and upcoming cricketers “For a man, who was seen as a cricketing legend, there was not a single proactive piece of advice he passed on to youngsters. There was zero communication from the top. He expected everyone to be like him. There was very little mentoring and no efforts towards team development.”

Balaji recalls the morning of his Gopalan Trophy match in 1975 as an example of how damaging Venkat was to the morale of a newcomer “When I was handed my debut in the Gopalan Trophy in Salem as a 19 year old, all he said was ‘you will bat at No 5’. There was not a word spoken to me during that entire match. As a teenager, I was shocked that such a legendary player would not wish a debutant with a smile. There was not even a ‘Congrats’ message. I just found it ridiculous. You simply don’t do that to anyone in any walk of life.”

Ranji Trophy Winning Captain S Vasudevan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/10/s-vasudevan-tn-ranji-winning-captain.html), who played with Balaji from the University days, too made his TN debut in that match. He remembers Balaji’s batting the period in the 1970s “Balaji was a very stylish batsman. Had he continued to be available for the State, he would have probably gone on to greater heights but he chose a different career.”

Decision to Quit Cricket in 1980 

The assumption that everyone is as capable or talented or able as him (the leader of the pack) is a completely faulty one, says Balaji. Youngsters always look up to legends such as him for motivational words and encouragement. But he was completely de-motivating “There was not even one word about my batting in the two years, no analysis and no corrective steps. We were just not taken under his wings. Of course, he had great qualities as a cricketer. But when it came to captaincy, he simply did not measure up for he did not 'deal' with people and that is such an important role for leadership.” 

“It was not me alone. Everyone in the team felt the same way. We used to despair among ourselves but there was no option. With zero communication, how could you run a team. If you are constantly running down people, how will they be motivated to play. Most of them did not want to sacrifice their career and put up in silence and continued to play. The atmosphere was so bad and I found there was no point in continuing.”

If you are the captain of the ship, it is your job to keep it afloat and develop a match winning side. Clearly there was a leadership failure in TN throughout that period. Balaji counts his appa’s message as very comforting in that phase “My father had a very balanced approach to life. He did not praise too much when you performed well and did not pull you down when you did not score.” 

With the talent that the team possessed in the 1970s, the team should have done better “We had a collection of gifted individuals through that decade but as you could see, the overall outcome was simply not good. If capability is unequally distributed, then the leader has to extract the best out of the players. It is not a mechanical process.” 

From Cricket to The Hindu

For a decade, from 1990, he went away from The Hindu and played the role of a consultant in the media industry. At the turn of the century, he rejoined The Hindu and anchored a number of technological initiatives in the group. Earlier this decade, he was the Managing Director of The Hindu for a few years before retiring in 2017, It has been his long standing view that old people should make way for the new gen. Since then he has been on the committee of VHS and the Palkhiwala Foundation and on the Board of Cognizant Foundation. Over the last two decades, Balaji has also spent time visiting the 108 Divya Desams (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/08/ezhuthurai-nathar-temple-innambur.html) and has completed over a 100 of them. He is hoping to complete the balance sometime in the future when the COVID scenario improves. He has also been supporting ancient and remote temples in the state.

Given the fine start he had to his Ranji career, Balaji was well poised to climb the cricketing ladder and should have figured in the TN squad of the 1980s but he chose family business over cricket and became the only cricketer of the era to quit state cricket as early as he did at 24, after fighting in vain to improve the cricketing system. In Cricket, the responsibility to have a Wholistic Picture is of the Selection Committee’s and the Captain’s. That was the reason he chose to go to the Chairman of the Selection Committee but it proved a futile exercise for no one in the TN cricketing system then was strong enough to take on Venkat. The feeling in him that things would not change was so strong that he decided to give up despite the form and the future beckoning in cricket.

For all the disappointments around cricket, it did teach him a big lesson - In a team game, one individual alone is not important. The role of team sport in building individual personalities and overall development is often not driven home. He counts those cricketing years as having provided him with a great learning experience for life. 

Michael Dalvi Gopalan Trophy Salem

A Century that inspired a Salem School Boy 

                              

In February 1975, it was Tamil Nadu's turn to host the annual Prestigious Gopalan Trophy match against Ceylon. That year the match was played in Salem. S Vasudevan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/vasudevan-tn-ranji-trophy-retirement.html), who went on to captain TN to a Ranji Trophy Triumph over a dozen years later and The Hindu's K Balaji made their state debut in this match. An enthusiastic 12year old school boy TV Jayaraman was excited to watch top class cricketers competing against each other. 

Ceylon was still a few years away from gaining test status (this match was played just ahead of the Inaugural World Cup and many of these players were to play in inaugural edition) but it was a very strong team comprising of Duleep Mendis, Roy Dias (later he was to play two exciting knocks in the one off test at Chepauk in 1982- his 2nd innings knock would still rank as one of the best test knocks seen at Chepauk), Anura Ranasinghe (he was an aggressive batsman who went to South Africa on a rebel tour and was banned from Test Cricket) and Siddath Wettimuny. And they came up against the likes of TN's hat trick man B Kalyanasundaram ( who had taken a famouse hat trick against Bombay just a couple of years earlier) - https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/08/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram.html - and V Krishnaswamy, who opened through that decade for TN (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html) and is now the Treasurer of the ICA ( Indian Cricketers Association).

The Ramakrishna Sarada Vidyalaya school boy sat through all three days of the match that proved to be a life defining moment for him. He watched in awe Venkataraghavan’s extra ordinary spell on the opening day as his 7wicket haul helped bowl out Ceylon for a paltry 150 odd. Interestingly both the debutants performed creditably that match - Vasudevan picking up 5 wickets in the match and Balaji notching up a score in the 30s.

But it was one of the all time great knocks by a TN bat on day 2 that inspired the young boy to take to sport. Earlier this decade, almost 40years later, he was still a very active sportsman at the Mylapore Club and an inspiration for many budding sporting talent at the club. 

In the dozen years of his life till then, Jayaraman had not seen such a blistering batting display and the innings immediately transformed him and took him into the sporting world. And he was to be involved in active sport for the next 40 years till his untimely death a few years ago.

Michael Dalvi was up against a good fast bowler in Dennis Chanmugam and the spin twins of Lalith Kaluperuma and D’Silva (both of whom played test cricket for Sri Lanka) on a challenging wicket. In a brilliant counter attacking display, Dalvi smashed 179 and was involved in a big partnership with the stylish TE Srinivasan, who five years later went on to play for India. It was to remain his highest ever score in first class cricket. It left the Lankans stunned but the knock had created a new sportsman. 

Dalvi's Knocks inpires the school boy

The three days had changed his life. In a chat with this writer in 2015, Jayarman, then 52, said that Dalvi's scintillating innings inspired him to take to cricket 'I went back after the match and took to cricket seriously captaining the school team in Salem for three years."

He decided to head to Madras for his graduation and joined Guru Nanak College on the basis of his cricket certificates. However, a strong college team that had that decade included S Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/11/rbi-madhavan-leg-spinner.html), NP Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html) and Ravi Mishra meant he could not break through into the college cricket team.

Represents University Team in TT

He remembers those years from his college days "When I could not make it to the college cricket team, the innings of Dalvi flashed through my mind. I wanted to be a sportsman and changed sport. I took to Table Tennis."

Within a year he was in the college Table Tennis team and represented the University. Very soon he added Badminton to his sporting repertoire, one that continued into his 50s.

An inspiration at the Mylapore Club 

Almost 40 years after this Gopalan Trophy match, he was part of the Mylapore Club TT team that bagged the runners up trophy in the 1st inter club TT tourney organised by Madras Gymkhana Club. He also reached the finals of a doubles shuttle tournament organised by MRC. Aged 52, he sent a diving winner at the shuttle court drawing big applause from everyone notwithstanding the fact that he violated the Mylapore Club rule of ‘Don’t dive on the shuttle court' ( may be he remembered a dive of Michael Dalvi from that match in Salem and wanted to recreate that in the Shuttle Court). 

No wonder, Jayaraman was an inspiration to most of the Mylapore Club sportsmen and women, especially the youngsters. And for that, he, forever, thanked Michael Dalvi for inspiring him to take to sport.

(When this writer was the Editor of the Mylapore Club Magazine, Jayaraman contributed to stories on dharmic way of life handing out messages to children on the way to live life. He was brilliant at throwing up 'Puzzling' questions and did that all the time at the shuttle court and at weddings and family functions. Unfortunately, a sudden heart attack took away the life of Jayaraman in a flash a few years ago) 

A version of this story featured in the Mylapore Club Magazine in 2015

Venkatesan S Sundaram Finance

Struck with Polio at the age of three, he encountered multiple challenges through his childhood days and teenage years but overcame the adversities with grit and determination displaying extraordinary confidence in discharging his duty and rose to the post of CFO and Company Secretary of Sundaram Finance

“SELECT HIM” wrote TS Santhanam on his job application form even without looking at him in 1971 

Polio struck him when he was just three years old. He studied in a Tamizh Medium School in Madras int he late 1950s and early 60s. His disciplinarian father was hospitalized for two years incuding during the PUC Examination days. Into his 20s, his amma was not keen on him taking up a job outside of Madras and had to give up on outstation offers that came his way. Up against all odds, this man showcased to the world that with commitment and determination, one could overcome any challenge and succeed in life. The man from Mannargudi went on to become one of the trusted members of India’s Auto Legend. Here’s the story. 

A Chequered Childhood -Missing the Sports Activities

S Venkatesan hailed from the historical town of Mannargudi, home to the beautiful Rajagopalaswamy temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/05/mannargudi-rajagopalaswamy-temple.html). His father D Srinivasan lost his father (G Duraiswamy) early when he was just 7 years old. Seeking greener pastures in the city, he moved to Madras with his family in the 1950s.

Given the physical challenges, Venkatesan was completely disconnected from any sport and hardly played a game during his schooling days. Wesley school boasted one of the biggest grounds in the city but throughout that decade, he could only watch his mates from the ‘sidelines’. Not to let negativity to set into his mind, his amma, Jayalakshmi, who lovingly called him ‘Durai’, initiated him into Sanskrit and Hindi (he passed Visharath) classes so as to keep her young son’s mind occupied. Alongside, he also completed higher in typewriting and short hand. He also learnt to play Chess at home.

During that phase, his appa, a Sanskrit and Tamizh scholar who worked at LR Swamy would take him on the weekends to Divya Desams and explain the legend of each of the temples singing the verse of the Azhvaars and inculcated in him the Dharmic way of life as detailed in the scriptures. Those trips created an early devotion in Venkatesan that has continued well into his 70s. 

Throughout his formative years, his amma continuously initiated him with the values of life and told him never to waver from the Dharmic Path. That was ingrained into him all through his childhood. She was a strong willed and positive woman and believed that physical handicaps could not halt the progress of a human being. 

First Day at College  

After having spent over a decade in Tamizh medium school, Venkatesan joined PUC at the Vivekananda College. His first day at the college left him a bit down. The tiny Venkatesan found his fellow students conversing in fluent English. His amma, now aged 92 and residing with Venkatesan’s sister in Nanganallur, was and has remained his greatest strength and inspiration in life. In times when he has been down, it was she who instilled the confidence in him that he could match up to anyone in academics and that there was nothing to fear in life. It was the same message that TS Santhanam was to give in his first meeting at Sundaram Motors.

PUC preparation at the Hospital

Just over a decade after Polio struck him, Venkatesan faced his next big challenge in life. His appa met with a serious accident and was hospitalized for a long period during his SSLC and PUC. 16 year old Venkatesan prepared for the entire PUC examinations studying under the lights at the hospital sitting beside his appa. With the financial challenges at home, he sought permission from his appa to discontinue his education to find a job that would provide some financial impetus to the family. But his appa was keen that Venkatesan pursue his academics and fought his way back from the hospital and into his job at LR Swamy. Venkatesan recalls those days from the 1960s “My father was a strict disciplinarian and always wanted me to give my best in academics. He was keen to do everything to help me further my studies. It was his motivation that helped me focus on academics. ” 

After having passed Class X with distinction, Venkatesan secured the highest grades in Physics and Chemistry in PUC that led the Principal to offer him B.Sc instead of the ‘Premium’ and ‘In demand’ B.Com. But he was keen on doing B.Com. He was probably destined to be a trusted lieutenant of a legendary automan. Impressed with the confidence level of the boy, the principal told him that he was likely to do well in life and handed him the B.Com seat.

Despite all the setbacks in life, a differentiating feature of Venkatesan's life was his confidence he exhibited in everything he did. If it were not for the self confidence, his life may have turned out very differently given the challenges he faced early on in his life.

Rank Holder in B.Com and CA 

Once his appa was discharged from hospital, the family shifted to Alwarpet Street from Royapettah to facilitate his appa’s travel to LR Swamy. For Venkatesan, there were no sporting activities at college too and he spent a large part of his free time reading books. Professor PA Hariharan, a gigantic personality and one with a MA in 18 disciplines, provided the literary inspiration with his presentations in English.

Three years on, Venkatesan graduated among the top five rank holders of the college in B. Com. Soon after graduating, he once again asked his father if he could get into a job but his appa despite his ill health pushed Venkatesan to pursue a professional course. CA was at a premium in those years and one had to pay a fee to be taken in as an apprentice in a reputed audit firm. Being a rank holder, CS Hariharan, CA, offered him a ‘free’ apprenticeship. Continuing his outstanding performance in academics, he cleared CA in three straight years, securing a top rank in both Inter and Final. 

Offers poured in from several companies including from those in Bombay. However his amma, with whom he has been closely attached all his life, was insistent that he not leave Madras and thus he rejected all the outstation offers that came his way. It was then that he heard about an opening in the TVS Group. One who had come back home in tears after day one of his college now drafted a letter in English that was to prove transformational (he came to know about this only at the end of the first year). 

The Best Moment of his Life - 'SELECT HIM' says TS Santhanam

Following a job application letter to the ‘TVS & Sons’ that he sent by post, he was called in for an interview at Sundaram Motors. He went through five grueling rounds. He had almost lost hope when he was called  a sixth time. A Rangaswamy, who passed away recently, welcomed him with a smile and led him into the room of someone with whom he was to have a close association for over 25 years. Legendary TS Santhanam handed him the appointment letter in November 1971 with the remark that Venkatesan vividly remembers almost 50 years later “This is not recruitment for the army. Always Do your duty. Do your job without fear or favour.” He thus joined Sundaram Motors as an accounts assistant in the first week of December 1971 at a salary of Rs. 600. 

It was at the end of the first year at Sundaram Motors when his appointment came for confirmation that he found a revealing truth that he considers as the Best Moment of his life. When the Union Leader Chelliah held up his hand written application form (of the previous year) that he had to clear for Venkatesan’s confirmation of job at Sundaram Motors, Venkatesan found on the back of the application a signed remark from Santhanam that pre dated all his interviews “SELECT HIM”. Based on the content of the application letter and the confident tone of the letter, Santhanam had spotted the potential in the man even without meeting him. The subsequent interviews were probably a test to see if this youngster would withstand the pressure of a corporate environment. 

An Unfulfilled Dream - working in a manufacturing firm

During his 6 ½ year stint at Sundaram Motors (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/r-chandrasekaran-sbi-globe-trotter.html), he also completed ICWA, a course that included a difficult paper on Engineering Maths. It was a favourite of his. It was a long felt dream of Venkatesan to work in a manufacturing arm of the TVS (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/tvs-ram-s-cricketer.html) for a period so he could put the learning of the Costing Degree to full use but that dream remained unfulfilled till the end. 

The move to Sundaram Finance

When Sundaram Finance was looking for a person to take care of Internal Audit, Venkatesan’s name was shortlisted. His mentor and the chief at Sundaram Motors, M Krishnamurthy was a bit reluctant to let go of Venkatesan for he had served the company well in the 6 1/2 years of his service. Just like the Principal at Vivekananda College, Krishnamurthy too  had developed a special liking for Venkatesan in the disciplined and methodical way he worked and was of the view that this man would go far in life.

He joined Sundaram Finance in 1977 and worked  closely with TN Padmanabhan, a former IRS officer and a renowned expert on Taxation. By 1981, Venkatesan had also completed ACS, the third of his professional qualifications. Those initial years were intellectually stimulating, for Padmanabhan always looked up to Venkatesan for insightful answers to challenging and complex points in Tax and Company Law. He enjoyed working under Padmanabhan just as he had under Krishnamurthy. 

Working with ‘The Super Computer’ 

In the years that he worked with Padmanabhan, Venkatesan was always referred to as the 'Walking Encyclopedia'. And then one day Padmanabhan took him to Santhanam. In the 6 ½ years at Sundaram Motors, Venkatesan had not met with Santhanam after receiving the appointment letter from him in 1971. From the early 1980s, he became part of everyday interactions with Santhanam. Considering that he woke up a bit late, Santhanam, the fine gentleman that he was, made his first call of the day to Venkatesan much after 6am after he had finished with three others!! 

Venkatesan recalls the early years of his morning calls and meetings with Santhanam “He spoke without paper, had a great memory and would remember every aspect of all the earlier conversations that the two had had. One had to be 100% accurate. He was a Super Computer.” 

One of the most challenging tasks and enjoyable engagements in the early phase of his career was the presentation of a comparative analysis of Balance Sheets of industry players. Over time, when industry pundits tried to find out the secret sauce of the company from Venkatesan, he gave them an explanation relating to the temples “This story is like that of the Tirupathi Laddu or the Thiruvallikeni Parthasarathy’s Chakkarai Pongal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/07/thiruvallikeni-prabhandham-ghosti.html). Even if you give all the ingredients, the output was likely to be below par.” 

Handling the ever changing regulations were among the things that he liked the most. While regulations were tightened over the decades, new ones never surprised him for he felt that the company was always ahead of time “It was like a terrific student anticipating the toughest of questions in the examination.” 

Rama Rajya - A Divine Personality

Very early into their professional engagement at Sundaram Finance, Santhanam began placing the Financial Times, the renowned international business daily on Venkatesan’s desk. Venkatesan made specific allocation of time in the day to read this paper, for Santhanam, a voracious reader, would pick up points from the paper for discussion the next day. While that was on the business front, Santhanam also handed out various dharmic books to Venkatesan that instilled in him the Dharmic way of running a finance business. One morning, he handed the Adyathma Ramayana book which Venkatesan treasures to this day. During the period of the lockdown, decades after receiving the book, another reading opened his eyes to a lot on how Santhanam worked in office based on the principles of Rama Rajya “He was a Divine Personality.” 

While Venkatesan excelled in academics right through with distinction in Class X, D+ in PUC and ranks in B.Com and CA, he says that the real learning was under Santhanam “It was here that I received my P. hd. Every single day, I would be put to a new test and I had to come through each one of them with 100% accuracy. I learnt my real accounting and finance lessons under his mentorship,” 

Appa dies early, additional responsibilities at Home 

When Venkatesan’s appa, who worked for 22 years after his major accident, died in the mid 1980s at the age of 59, it was a big personal loss. Family responsibilities increased manifold. In the years that followed, it was Venkatesan who took care of the family responsibilities and supported his sisters and performed the wedding of his brother and sister.

Allround Knowledge - What is the Price of Idly? 

One day, Santhanam came to the desk of Venkatesan and took him by surprise by asking the price of an idly at Udupi Hotel. When he expressed ignorance of the pricing at restaurants, Santhanam shot back 'you have to be aware of all things around you’. Only later did Venkatesan realize that Santhanam was planning to introduce food subsidy in the company and hence the query. 

Santhanam gives him a ‘new lease of life’ 

Venkatesan was also touched by Santhanam's personal care “He treated me as his own family member. He always gave the feeling that he ‘cared for you and your well being”. Into his 90s and when he was not in the best of health, Santhanam heard that Venkatesan had been hospitalized. Venkatesan had to undergo a bypass surgery at the turn of the century. After he was discharged, the doctor at the hospital told Venkatesan that he had been directed to give two health bulletins each day to Santhanam and that he had wanted personalized care and attention to be handed to him at the hospital. When he regained consciousness for the first time after the bypass surgery, he saw GK Raman and TT Srinivasaraghavan (MD and Dy. MD at that time) in front of him – TTS greeting him with a ‘re-bored engine’ and GKR cheering him up in his typically towering tone. Venkatesan says that Santhanam gave him a ‘new lease of life’. 

Venkatesan say that Santhanam accepted him ‘as I am’ and brought out the best in him “I had not had such a strong bonding even with my appa. He showered fatherly love on me and creating a bonded for me with the firm for forever. And for all this, he had sowed the seed without even seeing me way back in 1971.” 

Venkatesan retired in 2011 from Sundaram Finance after almost 35 years with the firm having served as the CFO and Company Secretary.

Retired Life listening to Velukkudi Krishnan

As the 72 year old Venkatesan sits in his second floor flat on Dhandapani Street in T Nagar reading and listening to the stories on ancient temples and to the Upanyasams of Velukkudi Krishnan, his mind goes back to the school days when his appa instilled that early devotion in him. Venkatesan’s amma is hard of hearing these days but every day of the year, she calls her adorable ‘Durai’ and gives out dharmic messages on how he should live the rest of this live. 

For Venkatesan, life has been full of challenges right from the age of three. From physical handicap to overcoming an inferiority complex, from missing the games during his childhood to spending very little time with his family during his corporate life, from losing his father and brother early to getting used to the English language in the city, he has had to encounter tough times in different phases of his life that could so easily have shattered him and pulled him down the barrel. But devotion to God, the unflinching support from his amma and the extraordinary confidence and self belief with which he discharged his duty were reasons for him to grow to the top of the chart in Sundaram Finance where he rose from the position of an internal auditor to don the twin role of the CFO and Company Secretary. 

But to him, earning the confidence of the legendary TS Santhanam who reposed the trust in him for 25years is the single achievement that he cherishes most to this day.