Balaji Madhukar Mane

Balaji Mane was from Kolhapur. A quiet person, but not shy. He had a thin physique, but very piercing eyes – and one of the sharpest brains I ever came across.

We were classmates during B Tech and also during M Tech. After finishing his M Tech, he joined Larsen & Toubro Switchgear, while I joined Siemens. A couple of years later, I changed my job and landed in Larsen & Toubro Switchgear – in the same department as Mane! This department was called Process Development, and it had been set up to innovate and introduce new technologies in switchgear manufacturing.

Mane (or BMM as he was known in L&T) was a born teacher. He used to help his fellow students even after relative grading was introduced in IIT. He was my guru during B Tech, M Tech and in L&T. I remember that we were using a textbook by Rodin for Cutting Tool Design. This book was a translation from Russian and could put anybody to sleep within 10 minutes. In this book, there was a description of “cross section A-A of a single point cutting tool”. But in the accompanying diagram, there would be no section line A-A! Mane was the only person in the class, who could solve such mysteries. He would figure out where this line ought to have been, and then call us lesser mortals to his room. He would then explain them the entire chapter, raising the class average in the process!

He was also a very systematic person and would plan his projects meticulously and with a lot of thought. His project execution was also very smooth like a well lubricated gearbox, and without any noise!

He left L&T after a few years and started his own company, Orbital Systems in Nashik, which manufactured orbital riveting machines in India for the first time. The design was entirely Mane’s. These machines became an instant hit. This was followed by cam operated index tables. The company grew very fast and entered other areas like assembly automation and automation of testing machines with more and more advanced features. Mane passed away in Nashik a few years ago, but his memory still lingers.

Written by Rajendra Shirvaikar