PROFESSIONAL
I had appeared in on campus and site interviews for many companies including L&T, Tata Motors (Then known as TELCO) in their Pune works, GKW, Siemens and so on. First confirmed reply came from Siemens for posting in their Kalwe factory. But based on impressions and some general knowledge, I had very high image of L&T as a real engineering giant in India– which it undoubtably was and still is. The wait for an offer from L&T was long one.
I joined Siemens Kalwe Works where they made motors and switchgear. I was posted in their motors plant in the inspection department. Work did not look very interesting and I had to get up very early in the morning to report at Kalwe at 8 am sharp travelling from Dadar, where we resided. As I recall, classmate Shyam Rajadhyaksha also joined at the same time in the switchgear plant. After about one week of such drudgery, the long awaited offer letter from L&T was delivered by the postman. I immediately switched loyalty and ditched Siemens.
At L&T, my first posting was in the Inspection Department of their Heavy Engineering Workshop (HEW) in Powai West. At that time, India’s second Nuclear Reactor meant for the Madras Atomic Power Plant (MAPP) was under manufacture. The first one supplied to Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant (RAPP) was also made by L&T at the same location and was delivered long before I joined. I closely inspected several aspects of the fabrication of this massive body crawling all over it in the process. It was made from magnetic stainless steel – Stainless Steel which attracted magnets like normal iron – an import from Canada.
I had joined as a Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) and got rotated through various departments. By this policy, after about 18 to 20 months, I landed in their department which marketed Caterpillar Earthmoving Machinery (CAT). It was located in their HQ at L&T House in Ballard Estate. I got confirmed in my appointment in this department in 1977 and stayed there until I left L&T in 2000. During this tenure, I saw relationship between L&T and Caterpillar go sour as CAT tied up with arch rival Hindustan Motors for marketing their products, dividing India into two mutually exclusive domains for L&T and HM. There are several reasons which led to the ultimate breakup of L&T with CAT.
After CAT’s severance, I was handling marketing of many types of engineering items such as heavy-duty cranes, oilfield pumps, marine boilers, marine cargo pumps etc. All these were agencies of US and European principals. No input from L&T as local manufacture. We were working like bania trading agents collecting our commission after sales of equipment and spare parts were concluded.
For a short period of about 3 years, from 1992 to 1995, I was posted in Baroda doing the same activities but for Gujarat based customers like ONGC, IPCL, IOCL, GSFC etc. I shifted alone, keeping the family in Mumbai as my wife and I decided not to disturb the children’s schooling.
As Indian industry and companies were evolving, local low priced competition was emerging and I could sense that this activity within L&T did not have a bright future. But internal avenues within L&T looked all choked and I felt kind of stuck in a rut. A disturbing jolt came from a middle level officer in ONGC Baroda one day when he bluntly remarked to me that “Aap jo kaam kar rahe ho wo Hamari L&T ki image me fit nahi hota”. L&T was and is known in India for its massive manufacturing prowess with advanced technology hitherto not practiced in India. Examples are galore. Almost 60 to 70% of India’s Refineries, Fertilizer Plants, Nuclear Power Plants including their Reactors, Petrochemical plants, Cement Factories, Large Dairies including bottling plants etc. are L&T Built. Myfeeling of getting stuck in a dead ended side lane of a massive expressway was getting acuter gradually.
The crunch moment came in the year 2000 when due to several business environmental reasons, L&T announced a VRS scheme for senior staff which looked generous. I decided to take the plunge, jumped ship and left. After some efforts, with due moral and financial support of my wife Ketki, that lasted a few months, I became a Govt. Approved Valuer in Plant and Machinery segment and also acquired a Fellow Membership and Chartered Engineer’s license from the Institution of Engineers, Kolkata. This opened the path for activities in the field of P&M Valuation and Chartered Engineer Certification. As GOI regulations evolved for the profession of Valuation, it became mandatory around 2017 to get registered under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board Of India (IBBI) after attending orientation training modules and clearing a computerized test. I crossed that hurdle in 2019.
Presently I am continuing with these activities for which there is NO Government mandated retirement age !!
PERSONAL
I got married in December 1980 – strictly arranged affair duly supervised by families from both sides. Ketki is a Lawyer by profession and was practicing in local District Court in Baroda in 1980. After marriage, and after birth of our children – son in 1982 and daughter in 1984 – she transferred her practicing “Sanad” – a document all lawyers need to be admitted as Members of Bar Councils of respective Courts – from Gujarat High Court to Bombay High Court and started practicing in Mumbai. She is working in the area of Matrimonial Matters and is still continuing but with reduced workload.
My son and daughter were schooled in a very reputed Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan managed school in Andheri.
Son, Ankit got into IIT Madras through JEE for dual Degree B.Tech.+M.Tech. in Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture and graduated in 2005. Got Scholarship to pursue PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics from Stanford University in California and shifted to the US. He successfully acquired his Doctorate from Stanford. After some career altering/defining switches including a foray into Data Science and AI, he worked in Tesla Motors for about 5 years and recently shifted to Google. He married in 2011. Daughter-In-Law is a physiotherapist. We have a granddaughter (Age 9) and a grandson (Age 5). The family is currently living in Cupertino, California.
Our daughter, Raina, lives with us and is a lawyer by profession, specializing in Property matters. She is currently working in a private firm in Mumbai.
MEMORIES FROM IIT DAYS
One recall that comes to mind is my humble contribution to helping my batch/wing mate pals in passing the Machine Drawing Tests! Rooted in my schooling background. During the transition to high school, 8th standard onwards of our 11-year schooling curriculum, I was shifted by my dad to an English Medium Technical School. To the best of my knowledge, it was only one of the 2 or 3 existing in Mumbai at that time for the SSC curriculum.
It was quite a dramatic change. During primary schooling, my twin sister and I were classmates in a Gujarati medium School. My sis was one of the class high rankers. I was quite careless, carefree and mediocre. After the change, I topped the class in my new school. In fact, in the SSC result in 1968, I topped the school in percentage!!
The so-called technical curriculum included vocational subjects. One of them was Machine Drawing. That gyaan helped me to enroll in IIT JEE under the so called Group B where one of the exam papers was Machine Drawing. It proved to be quite a scoring bet. To boast a bit, I was good at the subject and considered the best by the teachers in the school. I sincerely believe my getting into IIT was because of this fortuitous facility.
But I did not keep this gyaan to myself. My dear wing mates quickly discovered this. I have lost count of the number of my Drawing originals that were GTed and helped my dear pals pass the subject. Another recollection is at the residence of dear pal Pradeep. He was living at Gaodevi and I frequented that place during weekends and vacations. On one evening, upon arrival, I was graciously treated by his family with Desserts. After some bonhomie and chit chatting, some main course dishes followed and lastly, appetizers – if I recall correctly, it was Beer! Without doing Shirsasan, the stuff in my stomach was in upside down order. I was strong enough to digest all that and survive!!
IIT Bombay 1974 Reunion 