Random thoughts

on my recent learnings

y friend, Ahmed, invited me to

write an article for Fireside.
Having just been to South Africa,
I wrote one on apartheid but Ahmed was
not too happy with it, saying it was too
much from my head and sounded very
academic and could I write a piece from my
heart.
Since Ahmed is retiring end December and
this will be the last Fireside issue he will be
editing, I readily switched to a more
contemplative subject and I hope it meets
with his strict editorial requirements!

VOICES

I have recently
discovered that
attributes and
qualities which I
strongly react to in
others are the ones
which I have within
me and either I
am not aware of
them or I am not in
touch with them.

So here it goes. Life continues to teach all of

us and the tragedy in life is not when
someone dies but when we stop investing in
ourselves and stop challenging ourselves.
Once I read that since we all belong to the
human race, any human being is capable of
committing a good or bad deed. My
immediate reaction was that I was certainly
not capable of killing a human being. On
reflection, I find these words very profound.
We glibly judge people but do not know
anything about the background they come
from and what karmic force pushes them
towards a heinous act. Similarly, all of us are
capable of stretching our limits and doing
excellent work which we admire in others.
I have learnt that while I do not accept or
condone what a criminal has done, I do
not have the right to pass harsh judgment
and write him off. Similarly, when I admire
someone I have to remind myself that I have
the potential to emulate that person.
Mahatma Gandhi is one of them. Nelson
Mandela is another.
A corollary of this learning is that we tend to
equate human beings with the act of
cleaning rice. We want to keep the good
grains and discard the stones and chaff.
A human being is a composite whole and
we have to accept them as they are. If a
relationship is meaningful, we can offer some
suggestions for change but we cannot
demand that they should be accepted. I have

been coaxing Ahmed to give up smoking for

a long time but with no success!
I have recently discovered that attributes
and qualities which I strongly react to in
others are the ones which I have within me
and either I am not aware of them or I am
not in touch with them. Deceit and
hypocrisy in others makes my blood boil and
it is just recently that I have accepted these
qualities within me and as soon as that
happened, my harsh judgment towards
others has got tempered.
There is a lot of hype about corporate
governance and numerous books and articles
have been written on the subject. It is also a
favourite subject at conferences and cocktail
parties. There are cerebral questions raised
whether what is legally wrong is always
morally wrong or can the two differ.
Recently, I watched an interview with
Warren Buffett and someone asked him
about morality and governance. He said
there is a very simple test you can follow.
If what you have done were to be reported
in the media, would you be proud or happy
if your family, friends and employees read
about it? I thought there was a lot of
wisdom in this simple formula to find out if
you are on the right path or not.
One of Meher's favourite poems is called the
Man in the Glass and I would like to quote
the last stanza:

You may fool the whole world down the

pathway of life
And get pats on your back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartaches
and tears
If you've cheated the man in the glass.
As I end this piece on my random thoughts,
I would like to bid farewell to my dear friend
Ahmed and wish him all the best.
Anu Aga

24

How I rebuilt my broken

L I FE
R

ecently we had our 25 years dialogue

and felicitation ceremony, where
over 80 employees shared their good
and bad experiences about Thermax with
Anu Aga, Meher Pudumjee and
Unnikrishnan. Ahmed Bunglowala and I
were in one of the dialogue groups and he
later encouraged me to share my experience
in Fireside.
Four years ago, on December 4, 2005, a
major tragedy hit my family and me. The
incident uprooted my family life psychologically, physically and financially. My wife,
little son and I were involved in an accident
due to the sudden collapse of the terrace of
our relatives' flat, where we were visiting
them. My 6-year old son lost his life on the
spot while my wife succumbed to her injuries
during medical treatment at the hospital.
I was also at death's door due to multiple
injuries on various parts of the body and was
admitted to Poona Hospital.
Fortunately my elder daughter, Neha,
survived as she was not accompanying us
and was alone at our home, studying for her
exams. My other family members were
mentally blocked and were not able to
understand what they were doing. Everybody
was under tremendous tension and pressure.
I was operated on several times and was
almost bed-ridden for six months in hospital
and three months at home.
During my hospitalisation, under the
guidance of Anup Gandhi and Tamal Dutta,
my colleagues drew up a schedule to be with
me in the ICU, in 12-hour shifts, for one
month. Anu Aga, Meher and Pheroz
Pudumjee visited the hospital and gave an
assurance to my family for necessary support
for medical treatment and any other kind of
assistance. Mrs. Dravid, who is a medical
and social welfare consultant to Thermax,
gave me immense psychological support and
boosted my willpower to come out from the
existing crisis. She emphasised that if you

25

make up your mind only then can you

overcome the situation.
I was very worried about my daughter's
future and ultimately my inner voice gave
me momentum. I developed the will to stay
alive for her future. God must have saved
me to take care of her. Slowly I started
improving day by day with a lot of efforts
from the doctors' team. Ultimately after
seven surgeries and nine months of
treatment the doctors advised me to join
work to speed up my remaining recovery.
I discussed this with the divisional head, HR
and my colleagues. They all welcomed my
decision of joining duty and promised to
provide full support for my recovery.
The company gave me permission to work
with a concession in office hours. In the
beginning they also assigned me suitable
office work considering my limitations of
movement to attend shop floor related work.
I am happy that over a period of nine to 10
months I started my regular duties and today
I am almost as fit as I was before the
accident.
I strongly feel that I have recovered to the
present stage because of the personal
involvement of the management and my
colleagues which strengthened my family's
willpower and morale, day by day. The
financial help extended to me by Thermax
resulted into very good medical treatment for
me in a good hospital. And lastly, I think
God wanted me to survive but that was
converted into reality by the efforts of all the
Thermax people, all the doctors and nursing
staff and my family members. I can't thank
all of them enough.
I have experienced Thermax as a company
with a difference. Thermax not only builds
equipment but also develops employees into
real professionals and human beings. Here
you get respect, irrespective of your
designation or social status. Everybody gets
the scope and freedom to display his

Thermax not only

builds equipment but
also develops
employees into real
professionals and
human beings. Here
you get respect,
irrespective of your
designation or social
status. Everybody gets
the scope and
freedom to display
their potential and
the sky is the limit to
grow.

potential and the sky is the limit to grow. It

is one of the few companies where a trainee
engineer becomes an MD. The company
believes in you and has full trust in your
work. It is a company where there is a major
thrust on customer delight, values, integrity,
overall social responsibility, and the highest
priority to safety.
Mere words are insufficient to express my
gratitude towards Thermax and all Thermax
people. My family members and I are really
thankful to Thermax for pulling me out from
death's jaws and giving me a rebirth. I have
shared my experience not to glorify myself or
to get sympathy for me but to illustrate

Thermax's unique culture to a new

generation.
During the 25 year felicitation function my
daughter Neha who is studying to be a
commercial artist was with me. The
Chairperson, MD and EC members shared
their views about Thermax's future. She was
very inspired and has tried to convert their
messages into a pictorial format which I want
to share with all of you as it shows that we
are on the right path to becoming a worldclass organisation.

Vaibhav R Bhalerao
[C & HHeating (QAC)]

The Stink in the Reception

here are a number of stories about

Rohinton Aga, Thermax's deeply
loved and admired leader for many
years. Probably everyone who worked in
Thermax during his time remembers some
incident, which says something about his
unique personality: his extraordinary drive,
his sense of values, his astounding humility,
razor-sharp intelligence, sophisticated wit.
To that khazana of memories, I would like to
add a few more
In the late 1980s I was a journalist with an
English monthly in Pune. It was the heyday
of economic liberalisation. The 'socialist'
notion that all business people were crooks
was giving way to the idea that some of
them could be seen as nation-builders.
I decided to interview some of the leading
lights of business and industry in Pune.
R.D. Aga was on top of my list.

I had heard him speak on a few occasions, at

public events and press conferences, and like
many other people who received Fireside,
I always read his thoughtful piece in the
magazine. Without ever having spoken to
him, I had come to like him. I wanted to
know him better.
An interview time was fixed. For some
reason my boss a tall and handsome
socialite woman, who didn't do much editing
or writing decided to accompany me.
Along with our photographer, we reached
Thermax House in her Maruti a prized
possession those days. We had to wait for a
few minutes in the reception. It was after
office hours and I remember the area was
poorly lit. I didn't notice anything else.
We were told Mr. Aga was ready to meet us.
He rushed out of his office and greeted us
warmly. I was sure the interview would go

26

very well. Then my boss dropped a bomb.

Not a woman known for being diplomatic,
she blurted before we were through with the
preliminaries: Mr. Aga, there is a horrible
smell in your reception.
I saw the blood drain from his cheeks. Hands
shaking, he reached for the phone. He spoke
to someone. I heard the word odour. He
then apologised to my boss, who said the
smell was no big deal, just something that
had struck her.
I looked down at my prepared notes and
started asking questions. But clearly Aga's
mind was not on the interview. No doubt,
the odour of stale, air-conditioned air in the
reception had not only embarrassed him but
also greatly angered him. It was only after
persistent questioning of around half an
hour, when I got around to asking what
he valued most that Aga forgot about the
smell and started enjoying the interview.
I distinctly remember him saying he loved
the spirit of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.
Of course, when we stepped out of Thermax
House an hour or so later, there was no
odour in the reception. And no doubt,
someone had received a firing of a lifetime
in Aga's characteristic soft-spoken
manner.
Some years later I left full-time journalism
and took up Ahmed's offer of working for
Fireside. A few weeks after I started coming
to Thermax House regularly, one pale
morning, Ahmed told me in a shaking voice,
Aga is dead. For days people in Thermax
were speechless. Condolence letters started
pouring in, in heaps.
Ahmed and I thought of producing Living a
Mission, a book of recollections of RDA. We
interviewed many people in the company,
and people who had worked for Thermax in
its early years. Ahmed asked for
contributions. We talked to Anu, Meher,
Kurush and Pheroz, collected family photos
and interesting nuggets of personal

27

information. We sieved through Aga's

writings and compiled a list of quotable
quotes. One of my favourites is Aga's
definition of quality with a big Q. It was to
do with his Honda Accord. Three years after
acquiring the Japanese sedan, he wrote,
I am still thrilled with it; not by the
performance, which continues to make it a
delight to drive, but by an attribute that
makes it stand out. In the three years, it has
been completely trouble-freeYou can use
any jargon you like fitness for use, mean
times between failures, availability factor
as far as I am concerned, this is Quality. My
Honda Accord will never let me down.
After weeks of relentless but untiring work,
Living a Mission was published. Anu invited
Ahmed and me to her Boat Club Road
residence for a thank you dinner. There
was a fabulous Parsi spread: tongue, meat
balls, and dhansak. Meher was there with
her (first) baby, who latched on to my wife,
and Ahmed inadvertently occupied Aga's
favourite place at the dining table with a
drink in his hand. Pheroz, who joined later,
regaled us with accounts of how,
notwithstanding his love for his Honda
Accord, RDA was a lousy driver. And
then, when it was close to midnight, we
recalled what is probably the most
memorable of Aga stories, one my wife
remembered the other day when I told her
I was writing this piece.
In case you don't know, it's the story about a
new watchman at Sai Chambers who
stopped the Chairman and Managing
Director of Thermax at the entrance and
asked him brusquely who he was and what
business he had in the building. While the
big bosses who were with Aga turned red,
Aga politely told the watchman, Main
main idhar kaam karta hoon.

Ashok Gopal
(Former Consulting
Editor of Fireside)

He rushed out of his

office and greeted us
warmly. I was sure
the interview would
go very well. Then
my boss dropped a
bomb. Not a woman
known for being
diplomatic, she
blurted before we
were through with
the preliminaries:
"Mr. Aga, there is a
horrible smell in
your reception".

Each time I had a

new car, I was very
reluctant to let
anyone else drive
it, including my
grown up
daughters, lest they
scratch it
somewhere. It took
great internal
struggle to let them
drive my new car.

Let Go and
Ride the Wind
the art of letting go from nature.

ne of the sights I love to behold is

a big bird floating gracefully and
effortlessly high up against the blue
sky, riding the wind. After flapping its wings
for a while to gain height, the bird
completely lets go. It appears to enjoy what
it is doing but is simultaneously very alert,
ready to swoop down when a prey is spotted.
By letting go and not flapping its wings, it
conserves its energy for the right moment.
And when it wants to dive, it only slightly
turns its wings and lets gravity do most of
the work. By letting go and trusting its
natural instincts, it achieves its objective
with the least effort.
In contrast, I realise how difficult letting go is
for us human beings. We feel the only way
we can achieve our goals is by constant
action and trying to control every situation
with our minds. In the process, unlike the
bird, we expend more physical and mental
energy than necessary, and are neither fully
effective nor happy. I think we need to learn

The opposite of to let go is to hold on.

Starting with material things like money or
property, we also tend to hold on to our
children, our team members, our functional
associations, our opinions, our theories, and
our concept of who we are. I have
understood that behind everything I hold on
to, there is some fear or a search for identity.
Each time I had a new car, I was very
reluctant to let anyone else drive it,
including my grown up daughters, lest they
scratch it somewhere. It took great internal
struggle to let them drive my new car. I was
aware that by not letting them do so, a
barrier was creeping in between us. They felt
that my car had become more important
to me than them. Once, after one such
internal struggle I had allowed my youngest
daughter to take the car out and it got a
minor scratch. She could see it on my face
that I was upset. For a long time after that
she never asked me to borrow the car.
We find several examples around us of
people who are so obsessively attached to
material things that these things have
become more important to them than
relationships, causing breakdowns in families
and quarrels between friends or neighbours.
In our own extended family we have
examples of great bitterness and tragedy
arising out of holding on to wealth and
property, even when there was plenty to go
around.
The other thing we tend to stick to is our
opinions and judgments my way or no way.

28

In organisations huge barriers to teamwork

and collaboration are created when people
hold on to their opinions and act from them.
In Thermax, many years ago, when we
initiated cross-functional teambuilding we
had to deal with many such rigid opinions
and learn to dissolve them in the glare of
objective reality. It was not easy for many of
them to back off from their impressions of
each other, formed over a period of time.
However, there were some amazing
turnarounds in performance when people did
let go of past images and worked together.
One more thing I have realised is when we
are stuck with our identities and start
believing that my identity is superior to
yours then matters start getting
complicated. A lot of the religious and

I have, over the years, tried to reduce the

hold-ons in my personal life. It is not easy
but it is very liberating. And in those
fleeting moments I have felt like the bird in
the sky.

Kiran Gandhi
(former General Manager
HR of Thermax)

IN GOOD
HUMOUR WE
REJOICE

am a Parsi and I like being one.

So what's so great about being a Parsi?
you may ask.

Everything, believe me. The beauty of

Zoroastrianism lies in its simplicity and
positive outlook. We Parsis are full of joie de
vivrewe love life, the very act of living!
Life is a celebration for us. Be happy and
make others around you happy.
The moment you say Parsi, you think of
someone with a long nose, fair complexion,
fun-loving person often chatting nineteen to
the dozen in a language full of expletives
(those of you who know my brother Zubin
will know what I am talking about).

29

regional intolerance in the world is nothing

but a clash of identities, arising from how we
define ourselves, and the sense of superiority
or inferiority we attach to it. How can we get
out of this? To my mind the solution lies in
letting go of our narrowly defined identities,
and not confusing these identities for what
we really are human beings.

We celebrate our birthdays twice every year

one is as per our Parsi calendar 'roj nu'
birthday and the other is as per the English
calendar 'tareek nu'. And the same goes for
anniversaries too. We simply double our joy
and the accompanying gifts, too!
Go to any Parsi wedding or navjote (thread
ceremony) celebration to experience the
gaiety, the fun, the laughter and when you
hear dinner being announced 'jamva chalo
jee' you better make it quickly to the
dinner tables or ten to one, we Parsis will
beat you to it. Believe me, Parsis can run like
the wind, beating Carl Lewis' record, when
they hear the magical words, 'jamva chalo

Humour is our
staple diet and we
thrive on it. Parsis
are the life and
soul of a party,
exchanging jokes,
laughing heartily
and, when the
joke is aimed at
themselves,
laughing the
loudest of all!

jee'. Yes, we Parsis are very fond of good

food. Delicious, sumptuous Parsi delicacies
like saas ni machhi, sali murgi, bharuchi
akoori, lagan nu custard, mutton pullao dal
and malai ni kulfi are irresistible to us.

a visit to their house and they will show you

beautifully framed ornate photographs of
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip and they
will talk, in impeccable BBC English, about
aapri rani and aapro Phillip.

No Parsi meal is complete without eggs. We

Parsis are the biggest egg eaters and have it
on any and every vegetable be it lady
finger, potato or tomato.

Talk in Hindi to these soft-spoken, gentle

souls and they will reply in such a delightful
lilting blend of Parsi-Gujarati and Hindi, that
you will end up being totally flummoxed.

The traditional chaato-paani (liquor) is

virtually mandatory at the end of a long day,
as also during weddings and other auspicious
occasions.

Just hearing us talk in our broken Hindi with

the bhajiwalla and the doodhwalla is enough
to make anyone double up with laughter.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you is

quite apt as far as Parsis are concerned. For
we are pretty jovial and good hearted.
Humour is our staple diet and we thrive on
it. Parsis are the life and soul of a party,
exchanging jokes, laughing heartily and,
when the joke is aimed at themselves,
laughing the loudest of all! For, you see, we
Parsis, who are good at a number of things,
are also good at laughing at ourselves. Why
else would I be writing this article for
Fireside?
But there is one thing we are very serious
about and that is our Zoroastrian religion.
The ever relevant message of our prophet
Asho Zarathushtra is, Always walk on the
path of truth and righteousness, and you will
have nothing to fear. We are expected to
live our life on the three principles of
humata, hukhata and huvarashta good
thoughts, words and deeds.
So while we may ape the west and its
current fashions and fads and appear more
westernized than the westerners themselves,
yet when it comes to our religion, we are
dedicated, devoted and sincere and we
tolerate no deviation. Most of us are
conservative and staunch and our religion
occupies a very special place in our heart,
mind and soul.

You may have heard the oft-quoted phrase,

Parsi thy name is charity. Parsis and charity
are synonymous. Their numerous trusts and
foundations lend a quick, helping hand to
those in need. They extend their largesse to
all, be it human beings or animals. And
when it comes to dogs, some Parsis have
willed their entire fortunes to their dogs!
And now, since all good things have to come
to an end, it's time to say goodbye. But let
me caution you beforehand. For us saying
goodbye and actually making an exit are
two entirely different things altogether. At
the end of a get-together, when we all have
to go our separate ways, we may hug each
other fondly and say goodbye a dozen
times and yet still keep on talking about this
or that Oh, I forgot to tell you this or
Did you know.., And what about.
and so on and so forth. And, oh, that
reminds me, I forgot to mention the Parsi
trait of honesty which is an integral part of
our character and for which we bawajis (as
we are affectionately called) by the other
communities, are respected for. A Parsi's
word is good enough.
Oh, by the way, did I say I like being a Parsi?
Then let me correct myself. I love being one.
Binaifer Gagrat (Internal Audit)

Speaking of western influence, many of the

oldies of my community are walking-talking
relics of the British Raj they grew up in. Pay

30

My fantasy career as an annual report writer

any of us have one helluva time

thinking how it would feel to
have one helluva time.

I sometimes wonder how I would have fared

pursuing a very different career or way of life.
Suppose I had been an actor, presenting the
dilemmas of life in powerful roles? Or an
easy rider, experiencing the open road on a
bike? Or a barefoot doctor traveling to
remote parts providing some medical comfort
to our poor populace.
But then, I have always worked for an
organisation and naturally my thoughts
turned to the complex links between
companies and people how companies help
in creating communities of people; how life is
finite while a company is a perpetual entity
till such time it is extinguished through the
liquidation of its assets. Companies and
people are similar in anatomy (they both
have structure bones, hierarchy) and
physiology (embedded processes respiratory
and circulatory processes in people; decision
making and innovation processes in
companies). So, companies are as complex
and unpredictable as humans.
Then there is the stock market linking
people and companies. If you dabble in
shares, you get to receive annual reports of
companies from different sectors and
cultures. In these reports almost everyone is
outdoing the other in explaining the business
they do in the most baffling prose, liberally
garnished with jargon.
This discovery made my retirement plans
much clearer.
I could offer to write out parts of the annual
report for the CEO, COO, CFO, CMO,
CIO, CTO, or for that matter any other
UFO. Subtle disclaimers built into the
qualification of the accounts for the benefit
of auditors shall be written free of charge. A
discount will be thrown in if all the above
luminaries of the company retain me.
Over several weekends, drawing inspiration
from various annual reports, I began creating
forward looking statements. Some were
obviously sector specific, and others were
sufficiently grandiose for any business. And I
found it is a fine line that divides plagiarism
from research.

31

Here are a few samples for your

sanctimonious approval:

Housing finance
We help you purify your soul by helping you
renovate your home. Your home gives you a
sense of identity, defines who you are,
creating a sense of inexplicable well being.
For every segment we provide flexible
housing solutions including the latest loan
product where interest rates are linked to the
ambient temperature.

IT sector
Our multidimensional customer partnership,
combined with our global delivery
capabilities offer an unmatched sustainable
value proposition supported by a robust
business model unparalleled in the chosen
niche markets that we operate in.

Auto sector
Our innovation engine is now firing on all
four cylinders, aided by the automatic
transmission of all our inventions into a
clutch of value added products which we
anticipate shall fuel our future growth,
steering your company out of recession aided
by air bags to cushion your losses.

Any sector
The world witnessed the worst global
recession, crumbling of established
institutions, bankruptcy of banks, closure of
companies, and liquidity crunch. Yet our
assessment of the future continues to remain
positive in the medium term with a bouncing
back of our fortunes no sooner the economy
recovers.
While we continue to make tough choices
on long term objectives to optimise short
term gains, our continued efforts are to
remain environmentally friendly and socially
responsible.
So, dear reader, if you are engaged in a
simple business driven by supply and
demand, and you have succeeded by keeping
your employees and customers happy, well,
for a small fee you could engage me for
clothing it in complexity !
L. Venkateswaran (Power)

If you dabble in
shares, you get to
receive annual
reports of
companies from
different sectors and
cultures. In these
reports almost
everyone is outdoing
the other in
explaining the
business they do in
the most baffling
prose, liberally
garnished with
jargon.