R. Gopalakrishnan - A Comma in a Sentence

a comma in a sentence

Other books by R. Gopalakrishnan

The Case of the Bonsai Manager
When the Penny Drops
What the CEO Really Wants From You

Published by

Rupa Publications India Ltd 2013

7/16, Ansari Road, Daryaganj

New Delhi 110002

Sales centres:

Allahabad Bengaluru Chennai

Hyderabad Jaipur Kathmandu

Kolkata Mumbai

Copyright R. Gopalakrishnan 2013

Foreword copyright Mark Tully 2013

Front cover illustration inspired by a photograph courtesy

The Hindu archives.

First published in Rainlight in 2013.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

First impression 2013

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Typeset by Recto Graphics, New Delhi

Printed at [PRINTERS NAME, CITY]

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated, without the publishers prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

Dedicated to my father, G. Ramabadran

(a.k.a. Rajam), and my ancestors

I remember, I remember his dignified mien,

With a soul so gentle and a wit so sane,

I crave his presence, a balm for my soul,

Tis twenty long years since Life took its toll.

Born in the year nineteen twelve,

Soon after the Titanic kissed the ocean shelves,

And a score of brave hearts along with Scott,

Scattered in the Antarctic with their brethren apart.

His respect for his parents could not obscure,

Nor his call to duty fails to assure,

A burning desire to make a mark,

And leave his loved ones, in the city to park.

With a quick mind and a formidable will,

Did the village schoolboy unsheathe his quill,

The supreme test of accounting skill,

Did he surmount, bare though his till.

His stride brisk, his bearing erect,

With poise and grace, and pride in his chest,

His face glistening with emotion and appeal,

His voice intense with concern for the sequel.

He nursed in him a hunger to learn,

About all and sundry, no matter what they earn,

His eyes moistened at the plight of the poor,

Much did he stretch, to help them for sure.

Six healthy children did he sire,

Of their education and development he did not tire,

I think he would have been pleased if he had seen,

His offspring, his legacy their inability to wean.

Father, dear father my heart cries out,

The silence is deafening, of that there is no doubt,

I know from his heavenly abode, he watches his offspring,

With a smile and affection, forever doting in the wings.

This poem was composed by my older brother,

R.V. Raghavan.

I first met the author, Gopal, as I came to know him, when he was sitting behind a spacious desk set in his tastefully but unostentatious office in Bombay House, the headquarters of Indias largest business conglomerate, Tata. On that occasion I described him as nattily dressed, with his matching shirt and tie, fashionable rimless spectacles, and neatly trimmed graying hair. He seemed every inch a top modern executive. That impression was confirmed by the staccato but polite sentences in which Gopal talked and his mastery of all aspects of the highly varied twenty-seven publicly listed companies in the Tata group.

The next time I met Gopal he was emerging from the changing room in Mumbais Bombay Gymkhana after playing tennis, before heading for work. He was greeted by several members and was clearly popular and respected. Yet this executivewho has succeeded outstandingly in the highly competitive world of two multinational conglomerates, and is totally at home in the top echelons of Mumbai society who are to be seen in the Gymkhana clubdoes not come from a privileged background.

He and others in his generation were the first members of the family to get a university education, and his father and uncle were the first to move out of their traditional village in the deep south of India.

In A Comma in a Sentence, Gopal tells the story of his family over the last almost two hundred years and six generations. Until Gopals grandfathers time, the Tamil Brahmin family were small-time landowners, some of whom became temple priests. They were perfectly satisfied with traditional village life but, even in those days, had to cope with change. Coping with change becomes the main theme of this family history. It could be called subaltern history because its the story of typical people of their times, the story of how the family gradually came out of the isolation of village life into the world, and succeeded there.

This is not a rags to riches story. There are no sensational twists and turns. But its nonetheless fascinating for that. The six generations accepted and adapted to change, took advantage of new developments, and yet were not swept off their feet. As Gopal says, Each generation felt concerned about how the next generation would cope with change. But the next generation coped marvelously.

The pace of change accelerated from generation to generation. In the early years of the nineteenth century, Gopals family lived in a village where villagers were not much concerned about who their rulers were because the arm of the state was not long enough to reach them. As the railways spread and newspapers began to be published, the remote village of Vilakkudi, in the rice bowl of Tanjore, became less isolated from the rest of India. News which used to be spread by word of mouth from town to village, and was often severely distorted before it even left the town, was now authenticated and spread by the new media. The information they brought made villagers more concerned about their rulers. Gopals great grandfather questioned the justice of British rule when he compared the Indians who died in the Madras famine with the news he had heard about the British feasting at a function to celebrate the proclamation of Queen Victoria as the Empress of India.

Gopals grandfather realized that changes in education had to be accepted. Members of the family had taken pride in the Brahmin tradition that the importance of memory in gaining knowledge is supreme. Without denigrating the value of this tradition and the knowledge that came with it, Gopals grandfather realized that modern schooling was essential if his children were to be adequately prepared for life in the new, fast-changing world. So, he arranged for Gopals father, Rajam, to go to a nearby elementary school, and from there he was sent to a high school.

Gopals father and his brother were the generation that realized they must take advantage of the opportunities offered by Indias burgeoning cities and so moved out of the village. In the village, they would have spent their lives farming three crops a year, and being involved in the village temple, perhaps even becoming priests as earlier generations had done. But agriculture was becoming less and less of a paying proposition. Moving out was not that simple. It required the permission of ones elders. But once again the older generation had the wisdom to appreciate that change must be embraced. The patriarch of the family was Rajams uncle and he was persuaded that the young man was genuinely committed to making a go of it in Calcutta and gave him his blessing.