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---------- Forwarded message ----------Subramanian Sivaraman <shiv35Sun, May 17, 2009 at 4:30 PM

[ourkittyfamily] Fw: [afvoachennai] InfosysHello my dear friends <ourkittyfamily >, Amazing Gopalan <emailambika, Ashwin Gopalan <emailashwin, ritu kumar <adosh_ritu, Divya Mahesh <divya_mahesh97, Aishwarya R sivaraman <raishwarya, Rahul <blakshmi, Rahulagain <rhlzizou, Ravi Kavitha <kavi_ravi, subramanaian sivaraman <herrshiv35, Arjun Sivaraman <arjunravi97

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great and true story follows for you all to emulate. Good LuckGOD BLESSBrigadier S Sivaraman,IAO8O 25282065 / 09880305343

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and   gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in  my postgraduate department and   was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing   research in different  departments of Science.

  I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in   computer science.   I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US . I had  not thought of taking up a job in India .  One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall

  complex, I saw an  advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement  notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors).   It stated that the company required young, bright engineers,   hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.  At the bottom was a small line: " Lady Candidates need not apply. "   I read it and was very upset.. For the first time in my life I was up   against gender  discrimination.

  Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge.  I had done  extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers.  Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not

  enough to be successful?   After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to  inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice   the company was perpetrating.  I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I   did not know who headed Telco I thought it must be one of the Tatas.

  I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group;  I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar   was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to  JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote.

  " The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who   started the basic infrastructure industries in India , such as iron  and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives. They have cared for  higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for

  the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I  study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is  discriminating on the basis of gender. "   I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I   received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at

  Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by  the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to  go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap!

  I collected Rs 30 each from everyone who wanted a sari. When I look   back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back  then they seemed good enough to make the trip.  It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with   the city. To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home

  in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown.   The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to  Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.  There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was   serious business.

  " This is the girl who wrote to JRD, " I heard somebody whisper as   soon as I entered the room. By then, I knew for sure that I would  not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so   I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.

  Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased,  so I told them, rather impolitely, " I hope this is only a technical  interview. "   They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed   about my   attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all

  of them.   Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, " Do   you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is  that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is   not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics,

  you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people   like you should work in research laboratories.  I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a   limited place.  I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their   difficulties, so I answered, " But you must start somewhere,

  otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories. "   Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful.   So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought

  I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka   there, we became good friends and we got married.  It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the   uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not

  get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay . One day I had to   show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman,  who we all knew a SM. I was in his office on the first floor of   Bombay House   (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the

  first time I saw " appro JRD " . Appro means " our " in Gujarati. This   was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.  I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM   introduced me nicely, " Jeh (that's what his close associates called

  him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.   She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor. " JRD looked  at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my  interview   (or the postcard that preceded it).

  Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. " It is nice that girls   are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is  your name? "    " When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir, " I replied. " Now I   am Sudha Murthy.

  " He smiled a kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost   ran out of the room.  After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group   chairman and I   was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common.   I was in awe of him.

  One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after   office hours.   To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to  react. Yet   again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I   realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small

  incident for him, but not so for me.   " Young lady, why are you here? " he asked. " Office time is over. " I   said, " Sir,   I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up. " JRD said, " It is  getting dark   and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your   husband comes. "

  I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting   alongside made   me extremely uncomfortable.  I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore  a simple   white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There

  wasn't any air   of superiority about him. I was thinking, " Look at this person. He   is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting  for the sake of an ordinary employee. "

  Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, " Young   lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again. " In 1982  I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I   really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay

  House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming   up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I  stopped.   He saw me and paused.   Gently, he said, " So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni? " (That was

  the way he   always addressed me.) " Sir, I am leaving Telco. "    " Where are you going? " he asked. " Pune, Sir. My husband is starting  a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune. "

  " Oh! And what will you do when you are successful. "   " Sir I don't know whether we will be successful. " " Never start with   diffidence, " he advised me. " Always start with confidence. When you

  are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so   much; we must reciprocate. I wish you all the best.. "   Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what   seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.

  Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House,   occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet  memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, " It was nice   hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to

  see you today. "   I consider JRD a great man; because despite being an extremely busy   person,   he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He  must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have   thrown mine away, but he didn't do that.

  He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither   influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He  did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

  Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges   are girls.   And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I   see these  changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I   want from life,

  I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we  started has   grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.  My love and respect for the House of Tatas remains undiminished by   the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role

  model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care   he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the  sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence.  (Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the  Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development

  initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy   is her husband.)  Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special  Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to  commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on   July 29, 2009

          

 

 

 

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