2002 was a momentous year for me for two things---, my career and my exercise regime. It was also a momentous
year for Sachin and Sandeep as you’ll see below.
But let me start from
the beginning.
Sandeep had sat for his XAT exam in Dec 2001 and the results
came in Feb 2002. He had cleared XAT and was to attend the Group Discussion and Interview on 10th
Mar. I was to leave for Mangalore on that day and dropped him off at the IFMR
Campus in Nungambakkam. Around end Mar, we got the information that he had been
selected for MBA Course in XIME, Bangalore. The XIME Campus was in Electronics
City and he had to catch the bus from Koramangala. My sister Sandhya absolutely
insisted that Sandeep should stay with them , particularly since my upstairs
flat was also vacant.
Sudha and I travelled to Bangalore in June 2002 to drop him
off. I also remember that we attended the 80th Birthday Celebrations
of Mr.S.Nagaraja Rao ( my dad’s colleague from KGF and the father of my good
friend N.Patanjali.)at Woodlands Hotel . It was nice catching up with my KGF
friends at the function.
I was still handling
the domestic marketing for Xomox in India. In the beginning of Aug 2002, I had planned a trip to SAIL, Bhilai.
Since Raipur was close to Bhilai and Sudha’s college friend Sunanda was staying
in Raipur, she came along with me. We took the Tamilnadu Express up to Nagpur
and then changed trains to get to Raipur.
Sunanda and her husband Amit had come to the station and we
stayed with them. After spending a lovely couple of days with them, we returned
to Chennai by train on the morning of Monday
5th Aug.
We had barely got home at 8 AM when I got a call from my
Deputy Chairman. My boss who was the Business Head had been transferred to
another company within the Group. A new Business Head had joined and I was
asked to take him that very afternoon to our factory in Viralimalai and
introduce him to the Plant employees. I was also informed that I was now
responsible for Marketing of our India-made products in the Asia-Pacific Region
( mainly through our JV partner).
A joint trip had already been planned to Japan, Korea and
Singapore starting from 14th Aug and I was now told to get my visas
for these countries and accompany the Director ( Asia-Pacific) who was coming
to India from Germany and then visiting these countries.
I first got my visa photos taken and then went to the Office
for filling up the visa forms. With that out of the way, I flew to Trichy that
afternoon and returned the next day ( 6th Aug).Then I had to prepare
for a review in Viralimalai on 12th Aug prior to flying out on 13th
Aug night.
Meanwhile, my Singapore and Japan visas had come but there
was a delay in my Korean visa.That’s when Thomas Cook advised me that I could
get my visa on arrival in Korea from Japan. The football World Cup had just
been jointly hosted by Korea and Japan in 2002. To encourage more visitors, Korea
had issued a notification that visitors flying in from USA, Europe and Japan
would get a visa on arrival. Since I was flying in from Japan, Thomas Cook
assured me that I would get my visa after landing in Korea.
I took the Singapore Airlines flight on 13th Aug
night and the connecting flight from Singapore to Tokyo on 14th
morning. Wolfgang Schlett ( the A-P Director and a very good friend of mine)
had already flown ahead to Singapore and Taipei and joined this flight at
Taipei. We reached Tokyo at around 7 PM and then caught the bus to Le Meridien
in Tokyo. This was my first visit to Japan and the sights and sounds were quite
interesting.
Next day ( 15th Aug—Thu), we travelled to
Yokohama and visited the Xomox Office. That night, Wolfgang and I had finished
our dinner and we were just strolling close to a Metro station in Tokyo at
around 9.30 PM. Streams of people were coming out and then, all of a sudden, I
heard someone shout “ KP Sir”. It turned out to be a young Engineer from Fisher
Sanmar who was deputed on-site to a customer in Japan. Talk about coincidence!!
Out of all the millions who were on the
streets in Tokyo that day, he found me. This was the second time I had such an
experience. The first time was in 1988 when I had met my senior colleague from
Sanmar while out shopping in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York. One more
experience in 2005, but we’ll come to that later. We had an ice-cream together
and then he went on his way.
Wolfgang introduced me to teppanyaki and a vegetarian sushi
with wahabi . The wahabi was green in colour and was made from horseradish. One
bite and the wahabi went straight to my nose. I almost fainted--- so pungent
was the sauce.
On 17th Aug ( Sat), we caught the morning flight
from Tokyo to Incheon Airport in Seoul. Wolfgang got past Immigration, but I
was detained. The problem--- I had no visa!!. I showed the Officer a copy of
the official notification and said that I had not applied for the visa since I
was entering from Japan. He took me to his Superior’s Office and they were
talking in Korean which I could not understand. After a 30 minute wait and a
few phone calls later, my passport was stamped and I joined Wolfgang outside.
We then took a connecting flight to Busan which is in the South coast of Korea.
Busan is a seaside resort and we were staying in one of the hotels by the
beach. It was already around 3 to 4 days since I’d had a full Indian meal. I
was subsisting on fruits, bread and ice creams.
After checking in and taking a stroll, I spotted an Indian
Restaurant “ Ganga”. My joy knew no bounds. We promptly went there for lunch
and generally lazed around during the weekend.
On 19th Aug, we spent the day in the Office and
then my hosts took Wolfgang and me to a traditional Korean dinner . There was a
separate room reserved for us and I was the Guest of Honour. We all sat cross-legged around a low table
and a girl dressed in the traditional Korean costume sat next to me. Korean
custom was that she should feed me with her own hand, but I shouldn’t touch
her. So there she was, feeding me tiny morsels and then daintily wiping my
mouth with a napkin. I took some photographs of this and then told Sudha that
this is how I would like to be treated during our regular dinners at home. I’m
sure you all know the reply I got.
Karaoke is a major form of entertainment in Korea and it is
very common to take customers for dinner to a Karaoke Restaurant. I’m told that
some Sales Engineers have bagged some major orders on the strength of their
singing alone !! The Koreans also drink a lot during customer entertainment.
There was a shot glass placed near each person. Every now and then, someone
would propose a toast and we were
supposed to down our drink which would
then be immediately refilled. Pretty soon, we lost track of how many toasts we
had and what the toast was proposed for .
Next day, we caught a flight to Singapore. One day in
Singapore and I was back in Chennai.
I made one more trip to Singapore and Jakarta in Oct 2002.
The other major event was the opening of the swimming pool
in Madras Boat Club. It was located on the 1st floor and had
excellent facilities. The best thing was that it was open up to 9 PM, so I
could go for a swim after coming from Office. I soon became a regular and the
swimming regime continues to this day, albeit in a different Club.
Meanwhile, Sachin had quit his job in Career Forum and was
back home to prepare for his CAT. He really sweated it out with all the mock
tests and had given strict instructions that he was not to be disturbed. He
finished his CAT exams on 10th Dec and since he had nothing else to
do till the results came, he joined ICICI Prudential in a Sales position. His
Office was in Nungambakkam, but I used to see him going here and there.
He had a big notebook with him and , one day I happened to
go through the entries in his register. This is how it read:-
18th Dec. Appointment with Mr.Palaniappan at
Besant Nagar Beach. Very exciting prospect.Seems certain of taking a policy.
Next meeting scheduled at Taj Coromandel on 22nd Dec.
19th Dec: Appointment with Mr.Chandrasekhar at
Park Sheraton. Hot prospect. Very good
potential. Next meeting scheduled at Connemara on 23rd Dec.
And so on. I’m told ICICI Prudential made a loss that year.
I wonder why.
So that’s how the year 2002 ended.
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