Corporate

DRAUPADI Chronicle of a courageous woman‟s crusade

Against Corporate terrorism

2nd

Edition 2013

Copyright rests with the author

chaya_srivatsa47@yahoo.com

Cover Designed by : Ishan Singh

Graphic Designer

Radiowalla.in

The HMT saga

(Written in 2004)

The purpose of my writing this is to offload the pain and anguish I have

been carrying the past ten years. While I have accepted the reality that

a woman cannot fight a system, which is male-dominated, I have tried

by best to seek justice, fighting my way through a maze of male

chauvinism. This book is my way of „telling all‟ the way it is. Our

society conditions women to suffer saliently. I will not. It is my

mission to document the harassment I was subjected to and hope it will

warn, motivate or inspire victims of injustice of any kind, to voice their

anger. Silence ratifies the action of the evil doers. The pain of

swallowing ill treatment is worse than going through it. So I have

embarked on this marathon task, reliving the ugly situations and

sentiments, if only with an academic approach to get facts right.

There is another purpose of this narration. My four-year term with

HMT, though punctuated with traumatic experiences, also gave me an

opportunity to implement my ideas on what Public Relations should be.

It was the most professionally productive time of my life. By sharing

the case studies, I hope to document the work that I had the good

fortune to do. What I want to convey is that however hostile the

environment, one must not lose the big picture – that you are paid to do

your best for the organization and your loyalty should not waver.

The narration is divided into segments. It starts with-

A diary of my entry to HMT and the subsequent events.

PR my way, with case studies of activities in the organization.

The way I was terrorized by the management till my ouster from

the company.

The legal battle culminating in the Supreme Court.

Dwaparyug

She laughed when he fell and Duryodhana vowed to humiliate

her. In an open court, with the „Elders‟ of the kingdom seated as

impotent onlookers, he made his stooge Dushasana drag her by the hair

and started disrobing her. The worst act of a coward. Five valiant

spouses sat as mute spectators while the villains did what they pleased.

She sought the help of the Supreme Being who stepped in as Lord

Krishna to save her modesty. Draupadi, with her hair flowing and

seething with anger, resolved to braid her tresses only after avenging

the insult heaped on her. She fulfilled her resolution after the battle of

Kurukshetra when the culprits were defeated.

Kaliyug

This is the tale of a corporate Draupadi. Hastinapur and HMT have

more than the letter H in common. There was the vicious corporate

Duryodana who made use of his Dushasana – colleagues to proxy for

him and humiliate me by pulling streams of charges while the „elders‟

like CMD and Directors watched zombie like. The „valiant‟ protectors

of Executives-the Officers‟ Federation-stood by passively while I was

subjected to the most outrageous experience of my life -dismissal. I

resolved to wear a watch only after I get justice and get back to my seat

in the company. I appealed to the Supreme Court, which was not as

helpful as Lord Krishna (ironically, one of the judges was Justice Sri

Krishna!). I can never wear a watch because there is no Lord Krishna

in Kaliyug.

The Dharmakshetra of Kurukshetra is not a mythological concept. It is

reality. Only, there is more adharma here, especially against women

who speak their mind and hold their own in a man‟s world. My story,

which will unfold through these pages, is that of a woman professional

who had no idea about the games the big boys play. It is the plight of

many working women who do not follow the culture of

wining/dining/golfing or discuss over a swig of beer. It is the glass-

ceiling syndrome turned into a hard plastic ceiling. This is also an

example of what I call corporate terrorism.

Everyone talks of terrorism, which has become a global phenomenon.

The Air India disaster eighteen years ago, killing all 300 odd passengers

on board its flight Kaniska to Mumbai from Toronto, brought terrorism

to the backyard of ordinary people. The bombing of the twin towers in

the heart of New York, wiping out the symbol of world trade and over

tree thousand innocent lives, shook the complacence of the United

States of America. Indian newspapers, over the years, have been

thriving on their front page headlines of terrorist activities in Punjab:

the Mumbai blasts: unrest in the North East and Kashmir: not to

mention the LTTE. This, besides the daily dose of hijacking, blowing

up of trains and other mindless destructive happenings around the

world.

Yet, there is a subtle form of terrorism that has never been

written about nor discussed, that stresses the lives of common people

who go to eke out a living day in and day out. It does not cause

sensational headlines, nor does it destroy buildings. All it does is

devastate emotions, encourage alcoholism, break up families and

destroy ones peace of mind. It only demotivates and robs ordinary

employees of their capacity to do extraordinary feats. It does not attract

public shock or sympathy because it only generates grief that affects

individuals.

Corporate terrorism is a malaise that permeates organizations,

big and small. In ordinary parlance, it is referred to as harassment at

workplace. Its affects are slow but far-reaching: hence no one takes

cognizance of it. When a business fails, it is attributed to various

reasons like bad planning, wrong product mix, market recession etc.

All this can still be managed provided there is a highly motivated,

committed, loyal employee base. Unfortunately there are internal

terrorist camps instigating petty squabbles, power politics and ego

clashes-making the workplace a tension ridden combat area instead of a

nursery for the growth of individuals as envisaged by VS Mahesh in his

book Threshold of motivation.

A victim’s tale

A victim of the most vindictive form of terrorism as it stalks the

corridors of a Public Sector Undertaking; I voice the misery of millions

of employees trapped in this no-way-out situation, swallowing the daily

pinpricks of mean minded management, boorish bosses, sadistic seniors

and mischief making colleagues. Even as I protested against the torture

I was made to undergo, there was no internal support system to help me

cope with it as colleagues look the other way for fear of being the next

target. It was my staying power and good fortune that I did not have to

depend on the job for my sustenance. It gave me the strength to resist

the collective onslaught launched by a group of powerful people in the

organization with a tunnel vision. They used official machinery to

settle personal scores. I am sure many employees can relate to my

experience.

Having worked in both private and public sector, I have noticed that,

most employees bring to the workplace a lot of negative baggage. This

is apparent in the way colleagues interact. The playground bully

mentality surfaces in the professional sphere too. This is more so in a

Public Sector where the environment resembles fiefdom. I found it

very difficult to adjust to that culture having come from a lively set up

like Eureka Forbes and the sophisticated ambience of the Taj group of

hotels.

As the only woman HOD, I felt very uncomfortable when we

had informal meetings over a cup of coffee. Most often the men made

irreverent remarks about their women secretaries or flung gender

biased statements at me. This made me feel violated and I stopped

attending those get- togethers. Being in the minority is the biggest

disadvantage we women have, be it n the workplace, on committees or

in the Parliament. However assertive one is, it is difficult to survive in

a society where numbers matter. Another reason is women cannot

muster support from their own sex as those in the higher echelons wear

a „moustache‟ and shy away from bonding with other women for fear

of being branded feminist. Very rarely do women in high positions

help those in the junior cadres and facilitate their professional growth.

I did not get any empathy or support from the women within the

organization. My own peer group expressed no shock or sympathy at

the unfair treatment I was subjected to.

Legal lethargy

As for the legal system that affected employees want to tap for

justice, you will read how effective that is! There is lethargy that

slackens the process and the pace. For fear of being pulled up for

contempt of court (another form of terrorism!) I wish to reserve my

opinion and relate only facts for the reader to understand. I follow the

dictum- „you can legally criticize the judgment but not the Judge nor

can you impute motives to him!‟

Law is followed, justice is not done

I went for justice and I got Law. Two eminent Judges of the Supreme

Court of India wrapped up in ten minutes, my ten-year battle with

injustice. Brushing aside the silent cry of a professional who had her

livelihood robbed, her career quashed and her image tarnished, their

Honorable Lordships preferred to go by the doctored inquiry report of a

biased officer nominated by a vindictive management. It is said that a

Judge should listen attentively, analyze wisely and judge impartially.

As I heard my advocate desperately trying to make their Lordships

listen to his submission, I realized he was wasting his time. They had

already made up their mind that I was guilty of the six charges framed

by the management as the Inquiry report said so. They had already

decided that the evidence as deduced by the inquiry office was more to

be relied on than the proof I had presented in my defense. They had

concluded that the learned Single Judge had no appellate authority to

reverse the findings of the inquiry officer, however perverse they were.

They had assessed me as one who had too many activities because I had

produced Videos, published a book, conducted seminars and brought

out a daily newsletter – all to project the image of my organization.

They did not take into consideration that Public Relations is a

multidimensional profession. But then they are Honorable Judges of

the Apex court of India. They had the wisdom and knowledge to assess

my wrong doings, as they perceived it. They had the authority and the

experience to put aside the findings of a Judge of a lesser court. Just a

couple of days ago, the same Honorable Apex court had said that law

should be followed in spirit and exonerated the Chief Minister of a State

directing her to answer her conscience by returning the property… is

there another Law for ordinary individuals like me who are charged of

so called offences in the course of one‟s work and not given an

opportunity to prove their innocence or repair the minor infractions that

occur in any performance oriented professional‟s career?

As I walked out of the Supreme Court of India, I shed a few

tears, not for my losing a ten year battle I was fighting against a

behemoth organization but for the death of my deep faith in that lofty

saying Satyameva Jayate.

I went home and wept at the loss of justice.

My tryst with the timekeeper-the beginning

With half a century and more behind me, I begin from the most

dramatic period of my life between 1990 and 1994. What happened

during this time has changed my perspective of life, made me sensitive

to issues which hovered tentatively in my subconscious and convinced

me that you can make good use of bad rubbish. It was a heat treatment

process of my will power, resulting in a deep, inner strength, giving

more grease to my elbow, as they say. It was the greatest test of my

faith in God and His assurance that all His actions have a positive

purpose. I also came to know who my well-wishers and friends were. I

am happy I went through those grueling times because I have come out

a better person and more focused about my goal for the rest of my life.

I am now convinced that you can bounce back from any pit you are

pushed into, if you have the tenacity to hold on to your belief in

yourself. No one can take away your self-esteem. It belongs to you.

At this point, I‟d like to thank all those people who went out of their

way to harm me and tell them I hold no grudge. They were only the

instruments of God, to take me where He intended. So, I write the story

with malice towards none but with a purpose to communicate what

happens when the powers that be in an organization, forget the big

picture of its welfare and get into petty personal vendetta, unmindful of

the repercussions on the corporation and its image. If you detect a note

of pain, it is not for what happened to me but for those who were

responsible. They resorted to witch hunting with merciless precision

which no ordinary person with any modicum of decency would have

done. A vindictive person is killing the most valuable quality bestowed

by God, the quality of Mercy. I appeal to all those out there who are

engaged in any action or behaviour aimed at destroying a fellow being

to please tarry awhile and ask for whom „the bell tolls.‟

Preamble

It was a professionally hectic tenure for me in Mumbai- teaching in KC

College; Copywriting in ARMS advertising; Freelancing for leading

newspapers and periodicals; I had the thrill of modeling for the big

screen as there was no TV yet. One of my modeling assignments was

with Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihlani; Emceeing prestigious

Conferences and working for companies like Westerwork Engineers

Limited, Eureka Forbes Limited, and Taj Group of Hotels. Then

followed a heady experience of being a video scriptwriter in New York

before moving to our hometown Bangalore where Srivatsa, my naval

officer husband, decided to settle after retirement. A year later I

launched my own publication Blossom City, a monthly city Magazine.

It was the most exhilarating period of my career-Editor/Publisher-

commanding a lot of respect in the social, cultural and intellectual

circles of Bangalore. Life could not have been more fulfilling.

Sequence of events

One morning, while on my usual walk, I saw a gruesome road accident.

A Public Sector undertaking bus and a tempo had collided and there

were six passengers of the tempo, severely wounded. To my horror, I

saw them being picked up like a sack of potatoes and carried in a

corporation dog van to the hospital. Hurrying home, I called the

Commissioner of Police and asked him why there was no ambulance.

He told me that his repeated request for accident relief vehicles from the

govt. was futile and the Traffic Police wing was crippled without this

facility. He would have liked to have at least four to service the city‟s

need. At that moment, I resolved to make the company that owned the

bus causing the accident, donate an Ambulance to the City police. I

went back to the spot where the bus was parked and found it belonged

to HMT. Were the subsequent events an act of Providence?

Diarizing the events that followed

29.3.1990- HMT advertised for the post of DGM/AGM (PR) specifying

their requirements by way of qualification/experience. There was no

job description.

3.4.1990- Out of curiosity to gauge my value in the job market, I

applied though I had neither the qualification nor the experience HMT

was looking for. My application said, „The enclosed Bio-data would

support my hope that I meet your requirement‟. It was a narration of

my cumulative experience in different fields. I forgot to send the DD

for Rs 30/- they had asked for and believed my application would be

rejected.

Apr/May ’90- I was called for an interview at 9 a.m. and it surprised

me! A rather rude gentleman from the Personnel department asked for

my degree and experience certificates. I told him I did not have them as

I had not collected them from my previous employers. I thought I

would be asked to leave.

11.30 a.m. - I was ushered into the presence of the Chairman and MD,

and directors- Personnel, Finance and Marketing. It was an hour-long

inquisition, lead by the CMD, Dr MR Naidu. He wanted to know what

would be my first task if I were to be Chief of Public Relations (CPR).

I said I would have treated the assembled candidates with courtesy by

seating them in a clean room, given them some corporate literature to

read, made an audio visual presentation of the organization and kept

them fruitfully engaged. The Big Four were taken aback by my

response. But I must give credit to Dr Naidu for not flinching and

wanting more possible ideas for PR.I told him about the rude behavior

of the person „demanding‟ certificates and said PR was not the job of

only the department concerned but of everybody in the organization.

As only one out of the six of us present was to get the job, the rest

should carry positive memories of the Company. Incidentally, I told

him how important it was to win the goodwill of the outside publics

which HMT could do by gifting an ambulance to the Traffic Police!

I was sure I would not get selected after that frank feedback I gave

them.

18.6.1990- HMT sent me an appointment letter. What started as a

professional dream was gradually turning into a reality (later a

nightmare), I accepted, as I was curious to have a ringside view of

whether the PSU work culture is as bad as it is portrayed. As a

crusading journalist, I could not resist the temptation.

3.7.1990- HMT sent me another letter withdrawing the earlier

appointment letter saying that they had to investigate my character and

antecedents. The PSU culture was already showing – Act and then

think. Instead of doing their homework, they were in such a hurry to

fill the post that they sent me an appointment letter. For some strange

reason, they woke up to educate themselves a little more on my

character and antecedents. For two years, HMT‟s PR department was

being run by a Junior Officer following the retirement of a DGM (PR).

More than one advertisement costing thousands of rupees was released

in national dailies. The Management could not obviously find anyone

suitable. Though I had no relevant qualification or experience; though I

did not send a DD for Rs.30/-; though I did not produce the experience

certificates- in their anxiety to fill the post, they selected me and sent

the appointment letter. Chickened at the last minute and they withdrew

the letter!

25.8.1990- HMT sent a back dated reappointment letter. Obviously

they were satisfied with my character and antecedent. Resisting the

temptation to refuse and out of growing curiosity to see what makes the

Management blow hot blow cold, I decided to join. I think it was very

unethical of the management to appoint a person who had none of the

qualifications and experience they specified. It was defrauding other

professionals who refrained from applying thinking they did not fit the

bill.

10.10.1990- I wrote to the ED (HRD) that I would report for work after

getting all my certificates and satisfying the office that required papers

are in order.

16.10.1990- I wrote to ED (HRD) again about the delay in getting the

experience certificates and assured him that I would make all attempts

to get them within a month of joining

20.10.1990: ED (HRD) asked me to join duty „immediately‟ subject to

„production of experience certificates within a month of joining‟

Beginning of the end

I made news headlines in PR circles. This was a much-coveted job and

many were in the fray but rejected in the earlier instance. Rumours

about a possible political connection and other wild speculations did

their rounds. I myself was flabbergasted but decided to take the offer as

I had planned to hand over the Editorial reins of Blossom City to my son

Anil who had just graduated in Journalism and showed great promise.

Srivatsa was very upset since he felt I did not have the temperament to

last out in the bureaucratic setup of a Public Sector. But I was

determined to try it out. I had my sight set on the ambulance for the

city.

I joined HMT and failed to see the shadow that coming events cast.

I walked into the PR department of HMT, the Jewel of Public Sector, as

extolled by the Late Prime Minister of India, Pundit Nehru. To be the

spokesperson of a thousand crore company with its presence all over

the country and products ranging from watches to tractors to printing

machines to machine tools to lamps. To represent an organization that

pioneered the horological industry and helped millions keep time with

the first made in India watch. It was indeed an honour to be part of a

nation building activity and I sought God‟s blessings to live up to the

expectations of those who put me there.

Overhauling the department

The PR department resembled a go down. I set to work, straightening

out slackened systems, streamlining work schedules, reorganizing job

allocations, cutting costs and bringing in discipline. It made me

unpopular in the department especially with the two junior officers who

were so far having a merry time. Adverse reports were communicated

to „higher ups‟ that had hitherto used PR staff as „errand boys‟ for their

„personal relations‟. I was branded „authoritarian‟.

Two officers and five supervisory and clerical staff were to be assisting

me. My first item on the agenda was to know them, the work and then

plan the next move. Meanwhile, I concentrated on housekeeping of the

department, which looked like it was a local stationery dump. Potted

plants, crockery, curtain rings; these were my priority buys for the

department. I spent the next couple of weeks going through various

files and correspondence to educate myself. Vijaya, who was to be my

Secretary, was very helpful. You will hear more about her in the

narrative. Two more of my junior colleagues I‟d like to introduce to

you at this juncture are, Lata and Ramachandra. The three of them

contributed a great deal to my effectiveness at work and were loyal co-

workers. I look forward to their New Year cards even now, which they

send without fail despite my not being their boss anymore.

Understanding Public Relations

Public Relation has been defined as a Profession without definition.

Each organization defines its role and objectives as per its business

requirements. Each Chief Executive lays his own ground rules for the

performance of the PR department. In the absence of either of these the

person in charge, in keeping with the organization‟s business goals and

corporate mission, chalks out the activities related to Public Relations.

This is largely dependent on the creativity, resourcefulness, innovation

and commitment of the PR Chief. As the spokesperson of the

organization, the PR Chief uses Media, to project the image of the

company, which is the core function of the profession.

With regard to the qualifications and experience required for a PR

professional, the basic requirement is a PG diploma in PR/Journalism.

This is because there is no full time PR course available at the

University level. This is another reason why there is grey area around

this profession. Since PR has a lot to do with people within and outside

the organization, it calls for excellent communication skills-oral and

written. Some organizations associate PR with marketing, hence, an

Advertising/Marketing experience helps. Some other organizations

relate it to Personnel/HRD through internal communication. PR

activities and the role of PR are very nebulous, making it a unique

profession with a vision. Public Relations is more than a profession,

it‟s a way of life-of individuals and an organization. It is an aptitude

and above all, an Attitude

When I assumed office as CPR, there was no job responsibilities

defined. The department was primarily handling Press releases; visit to

Plants, hosting Company parties and other miscellaneous errands.

There were no clearly defined duties and the department was like an

orphaned child, left to fend for itself. The two junior officers did their

own thing in the name of PR. So, it was up to me to continue with the

status quo or introduce some professionalism. I was reporting to the

CMD who put PR on second track and left me to myself. Ideally, I

should have followed the existing system, collected the comfortable pay

cheque and enjoyed the perks that went with the job. But I would

neither have been true to my profession or the organization. My

professional integrity was my downfall.

Months pass

As and when my certificates reached me, I passed them on to the

Personnel department. Interestingly no one asked me about the DD of

Rss.30/- I had not sent. This is another lapse on the part of the

management. An applicant that should have been rejected on this one

point, was accepted, interviewed and appointed. That is how

accountable PSUs are.

Danger signal

“What do you want me to do as PR Chief?” I ask. “You set your goals

and objectives”, said CMD and I gave him my PR proposals. He gave

the necessary permission and I went ahead doing things my way (had

mentioned this trait of mine very clearly as my „weakness‟ in my bio-

data and no one had questioned me on that!).

I should have recognized the signal. It is one thing for a CEO to

promulgate the role of PR for he ratifies all related actions. It was

suicidal for me to chalk out my own PR plan because I was to tread

many toes. Totally oblivious to repercussions, I went ahead with my

calendar of proposed PR events, after consulting the Directors and

brainstorming within the department.

Dr Naidu scribbled good concepts on it and sanctioned the proposal. In

a way it was a death sentence for my career in HMT.

Corporate upheaval

CMD, Dr MR Naidu, to whom I was reporting, resigned suddenly just a

few months short of his retirement. Little did I foresee the impact it

would have on my own survival in the company. I realised then that it

was he who had selected me, while the other three Directors were not

too keen. As a parting gift, he sanctioned the ambulance for the traffic

police. If one believes in destiny and the plan providence has for poor

mortals, I think, my purpose in HMT was served.

Tuglaq Raj

The Committee of Management (COM) comprising the three Directors,

who had interviewed me, DK Chakraborty, HR Alva and Kanna Reddy

took over as the Government was still dragging its feet on appointing

successor to Dr Naidu. I was to report to D.K. Chakraborty, (DKC)

Director, Marketing Policies and Corporate Planning. Our combo was

doomed from day one. He walked into my department unannounced

and to the astonishment of all my junior colleagues, said, “Is this the

way you keep your department madam, is this how you keep your

house?” The next day I went to his office and very politely but firmly

told him that he had insulted me before my staff, which could hamper

the discipline, which I had so laboriously inculcated. I also pointed out

that my domestic affairs were my personal issue and his remark was

gender biased. This came as a shock to him as he was bred in the HMT

culture of mute subordinates. On another occasion, I politely declined

to be present at a dinner where I was professionally not required.

Similar minor difference of opinion at work continued. The crowning

glory was when I stopped the system in the PR department of drawing

imprest money to be given to the drivers of Directors during official

dinners. Since they already are paid OT allowance, auto fare and a food

allowance, I felt this was an additional payment, which each Director

could make from his budget. This decision had the endorsement of the

Company Secretary, DGM F and the Executive Director Vigilance. But

later, they all declined to disclose their involvement in the decision and

left me out in the cold. I was now on the hit list of drivers too.

Headless HMT

The unexpected exit of Dr Naidu and the temporary Tuglaq Raj of

COM were dark days for the Company. There was no proper

succession plan either by the Ministry of Heavy Industries or within

HMT. There were number of home-grown contenders, each running to

New Delhi to tap his connections. The bane of the Public Sector is

remote control interference by the Politicians. Ill equipped to run the

Government for which they are elected, they even want to control

industry, which they do through Unions. This takes away

accountability of the CEO who is a kind of puppet in the hands of the

two. In between you have the Bureaucrats who do tight rope walking to

please both and save their skins. Caught in the crossfire are the junior

and senior level managers who have no direction from the top and have

IR problems from the bottom. Down goes their morale. Add to it a

situation where there is no CEO and you have total anarchy.

Drama of vengeance

DKC wanted to nail me. He found a hammer. I was not yet confirmed

and he would use that as his weapon. The other being some hair-

splitting on my experience certificates.

15.10.1991- A bombshell was delivered to me by the General Manager

(Employee Relations) in the presence of the Deputy Manager

(Personnel). It was a letter signed by DKC saying my probation was

extended by three months for „unsatisfactory‟ performance! A further

paragraph reminded me of the experience certificates still not submitted

by me.

21.10.1991- I wrote to DKC to kindly specify what he meant by

„unsatisfactory‟ and enclosed details of what I had been doing, with his

and the COM‟s approvals.

I took leave and went to Bombay to get all my experience certificates.

10.11.1991- I submitted the certificates as per the format specified by

Management. The Deputy Manager (Personnel) sat with me in the

Boardroom and verified all the originals and affixed his signature on the

copies. I could not believe all this was happening to me. Why was I

going through all this torture?

21.1.1992: Another letter was delivered to me in my cabin, further

extending my probation by three months stating that despite warning, I

had not „improved‟ my performance!

Amazing!

There I was , a prolific writer, public speaker; publisher and Editor

who had been honoured by AWAKE, an association of Women

Entrepreneurs, for my achievement in a „ challenging field‟; an Emcee;

an actress and presenter of TV and Radio programs- branded „

unsatisfactory‟ performer in HMT, where there was no job description

or performance parameter for a PR Chief! It was the most vindictive

action a boss could take against an outspoken subordinate.

Meanwhile, a rumour had spread in the company that I had produced –

a) false b) fake, c) forged certificates. The strategy was to give the dog

a bad name and later justify its hanging

The Saviour

10.02.1992- Mr.P.C.Neogy (PCN) took charge as CMD

8.5.1992- I was confirmed in service. PCN, a total outsider who had

come from Ranchi, had no clue about the corporate intrigues. He went

by my track record and confirmed me. This was a blow to all my

enemies who had doubled by now!

Racing ahead

In a book called Horse Sense, the authors believe that in a large

organization, one must make friends and not waves. More so when you

are a woman. I wish I had read the book before going on a performance

spree. With the enthusiasm of a teenager on her first bike ride, I went

zooming into reorganizing my department and drawing out a Magna

Carta of what we would do. PR is a service function. It can deliver as

much as it is asked to. Instead of waiting to be asked, I offered PR

service to all departments, making them feel very shaky and insecure.

Since I had the CMD‟s ear, I could even get sanctions for my proposals,

so I went on a roller coaster ride, making everybody‟s business my

business, which in a way is what PR all about. Minding everyone‟s

store to help them serve the customer better.

PR case studies in HMT

Just to prove how I inadvertently rushed where Angels fear to tread,

here are some interesting case studies. Both Management and PR

professionals may benefit by this narrative.

Part of our job is to scan publications for news about our

organization and competition. Ramchandra was a wizard at it. His

hawk-eyes could pick out the smallest Para on what would interest the

company. He brought to my notice, a letter to the Editor of a premier

financial daily. An elderly gentleman from a small town in the North

had complained about not receiving the Dividend for his Public Deposit

in HMT. I sent it to the Public Deposit cell and instead of washing my

hands off the matter went on to follow it up with letters to our Bankers,

the Post Master of the receiving PO, and the depositor, assuring him of

our action. I believed I was doing my job but the departments

concerned felt I was interfering. Finally, the person got his money and

that was my reward.

Ten years before I joined HMT, a renowned filmmaker had

made a corporate film after which he died of cardiac arrest. His

payment was pending a court decision on a dispute between his wife

and mother about succession rights. The legal battle ended and the wife

was to receive the dues. Her attorney‟s letter came when I took over as

CPR, with no clue as to what transpired between my predecessor and

the filmmaker. I hadn‟t even seen the film, which was lying, in the

storeroom and there were not sufficient documents to support the claim.

I knew the lady was in dire need of money. Seeking the help of my

colleagues, Sadanand in the Legal cell and Padmanabh in the Finance

dept, I was able to piece the paperwork necessary for the payment.

Meanwhile, I booked our Company‟s movie theatre one morning and

screened the film to certify its existence. The thank you note from the

lady when she got her cheque was my reward.

Outside publics consider the PR department as the Encyclopedia

Britannica of the organization. It is also grievance cell, which has to

stomach a lot of gripes from customers. A person once called asking

for the residence telephone number of his long lost friend, MR.X who

was living in Y location and moved to Z location. He had no idea

which department the friend worked in. I got Lata and Vijaya to try all

our units and find out from the personnel dept. In the next half-hour

they had the info and we passed it on to the caller.

A furious car owner lambasted me on the phone, for putting our

Quartz watch sticker on the body of his car. I patiently listened to his

tirade (I had nothing to do with it since the Marketing dept was the

culprit), empathized with him, promised to get the sticker out and

spray paint the area, all the time hoping he would not jump at the offer.

However, he calmed down and ended up saying it was actually a neat

sticker. Whew!

Image building

Since Dr Naidu had given me a free hand to come up with PR ideas,

I thought of producing a Video Image Builders- a training capsule of

ten minutes, on how every employee in an organization, is in a way,

contributing to its image, either positive or negative. I could put into

good use, what I learnt while working as script writer for a broadcasting

company in New York and save the company a lot of money by making

it an in-house production. It was shot in my department with our

employees „acting‟ the dramatized parts. The film was completed on a

shoestring budget, much below the amount sanctioned. It got us an

award at the Public Relations Society Video contest and me into a big

mess, thanks to my over enthusiasm.

Messing up my image!

Image building is relevant to any organization interested in making

its positive presence felt. The Video I produced had a universal

message and I felt it could be used by other organizations too, as a

training film. I wrote to business houses about the film, offering it at a

nominal price of Rs 300 (I worked out the cost of copying and postal

charges). My boss at this time was P C N and he supported the idea.

Orders poured in and Vijaya sent off the tapes to the buyers who sent

money by cash (VPP). When she asked me what she should do with the

amount which kept coming in trickles every day, I suggested she put it

in a short term 15 day fixed deposit in our Bank‟s extension counter till

we received all payments and then deposit it with the cashier. I would

have been smarter if I had just told her to keep it till further orders. But

I was acting like shrewd housewife. Instead of the money lying in the

office, I felt it would be safer in the Bank while it earned some interest.

I told the Finance manager, of my prudent move. Amused by my thrift,

he suggested I pay it to the cashier right away. The Bank refused to

break the short term FD so I drew money from my personal account and

deposited it with the cashier. Thereafter Vijaya deposited the payment

received, on the same day. I forgot about this incident till it raised its

ugly head in a vicious manner a year and half later, to hound me out of

the company. The fact that I used my talent to create an asset for the

company and earned revenue for it was overridden by the accusation

that I deposited the money in the Bank to earn interest for myself! I

was accused of trying to enrich myself with the interest on a sum of Rs

9000 for 15 days in fixed deposit!

Launching a product

I saw only the roses and failed to notice the thorns,

which were waiting to bleed me later. It was great excitement for the

PR department (or me to be precise) when Dr Naidu agreed to our

handling the Launch of PACE watch for the youth segment, in Mumbai

and Bangalore. Earlier, product launches were marketing activities. I

convinced Dr Naidu that a launch, with corporate image focus, was in

the realm of Market driven PR. He saw sense in this. While the

advertising agency took care of publicity and audio visual promotion of

the product, I had the most thrilling experience a PR professional can

aspire for. From interacting and negotiating with artistes, to hosting a

well attended Press Conference to inviting celebrities to organizing

seating arrangement to presenting the launch show. It was a mind-

boggling exercise.

Mumbai was to be the first launch base for PACE. The

Press meet coincided with Rajiv Gandhi‟s visit to attend Sharad

Pawar‟s daughter‟s wedding. When I went to invite the Press, they all

promised to come but would leave early to follow the excitement of

Rajiv Gandhi‟s presence in the city. Mr. Venkateswaran, resident editor

of HINDU in Mumbai is a grand old man of print media and rarely

attends Press Conferences. But he turned up and said it was because I

invited him. There was Bachi Karkaria, Khalid Mohammed (a film

critic, his response to my invite was a surprise. In his column in TOI,

he referred to me as „Ms PR Plain speak‟) Shanta Gokhale, Nazeen

Karmali (Business India) and a whole lot of friends from all

publications. Since I was a freelance journalist in Mumbai, I knew

most of them personally. It was not a conventional Press Conference as

I designed it as a celebration sit-down lunch with one senior HMT

executive at each table to answer queries. The same was repeated in

Bangalore when V Subba Rao, the veteran journalist of the city, hailed

it as one of the best Press meets he had attended.

My colleagues K S Narahari was with me throughout. He was a junior

Marketing officer in the watch division and too talented to be in that

position. A good writer and speaker, he was a typical PSU employee,

toeing the line and keeping his skills at low key. Like a Pepsi bottle

with the cap holding down all fizz! We made a perfect team, with a

Man Friday like Prakash to assist us. I am glad Narahari had the sense

to leave before getting sucked into the vortex of a hierarchical set-up.

Today he is doing great.

Narahari and I had camped in Mumbai to negotiate with Shiamak

Davar, the inimitable Jazz dancer to perform for the launch and invite

celebrities to receive the different series of PACE at the launch. I

remember how reluctant Sri R K Laxman was to accept our invitation

and even chided us for „degrading‟ the image of HMT with a Jazz

show! But the sport he is, he agreed to release the International series.

I caught him tapping his foot during Shiamak‟s performance.

Bangalore was the next launch and we had none other than Zakir

Hussain and Viku Vinayakram with the most thrilling jugaldbandi.

Zakir and his wife Tony are close friends of my aunt Prabha in San

Francisco where they live. I had interviewed the publicity shy Tony for

Sunday Observer when I visited her home. So, when I requested him to

perform for HMT for a price way below his normal fee, he was gracious

enough to accept. He even agreed to stay in Hotel Ashok, instead of his

usual haunt Windsor Manor. He was a wonderful guest, threw no

tantrums and delighted the audience with his wit and brilliant

performance. Viku and he were superb.

Dr Naidu confessed he had not expected anything so spectacular when

he had assigned me the marathon task. I considered it my professional

and not personal achievement. But little did I know that my detractors

were sharpening their saw even more, to clip my wings.

Fine-tuning PR

It is important to have perfect understanding between the

CEO and the Public Relations Chief. While the former spells out the

corporate requirements, PR can implement them, to fulfill the

organizational goals. Unfortunately, in most cases, PR becomes the

„errand boy‟ of the higher –ups, pandering to their personal needs. I

tried to keep my department as professional as possible, helpful by all

means, but not at the beck and call of self-servers. I interacted with

Press on a one to one level and they appreciated it. No self respecting

Media person would like to be manipulated by PR practitioners, to get

undeserved publicity. I had a very good rapport with those in the Print

and Electronic Media who did not look for freebies but wanted

authentic information and they continue to be my personal friends with

no strings attached.

Dr Naidu was a CEO who believed that internal publics are

the best image builders and hence, did not pressurise me to have unholy

alliances with reporters to „plant‟ stories. This suited my own

philosophy, so we had no problems, unlike what I had to face later after

he left, with the Trimurthy of COM.

***

My predecessor had commissioned a Production house in

Delhi, to make corporate films of HMT and sizable footage of our Units

and products, was lying in their library. Director Personnel, HR Alva

sent Ramdas from Machine Tools and me to Delhi, to retrieve relevant

footage to make a twenty- minute corporate film for formal

presentations to visiting dignitaries. Ramdas, and I spent back breaking

hours at the editing studio, put together a capsule (which is still used)

and prepared to fly back to Bangalore. At that point, I was told by

DKC to oversee Press and TV coverage of the launch of a watch with

Dr Ambedkar on its dial, the following day, Sunday. The Minister of

State for heavy Industry, Mr. Thungon, was to be Chief Guest.

New Delhi is, at, any given time, floating with high level

Ministers and Foreign Diplomats. Conference, Seminars, inaugurations

and launches, are a dime a dozen. Try enthusing the media to wake up

on a Sunday morning at 10 am to report a junior Minister launching a

watch released to pamper a particular section of Society! I tried my

persuasive charm on a few reporters, who, only out of the kindness of

their heart, turned up. I even got round to getting the DD Camera crew.

That is the ultimate in Media relations. It was a pathetic show during

which even the PACE watch for youth was launched as they had the

Hall and Chief Guest and audience anyway! After the snazzy PACE

launches in Mumbai and Bangalore, this was a damp squib. Talk of

death of a salesman....this was murder of a product!

***

Before I continue the story of my own slaughter, I must tell you of

marketing department‟s launch of ZAP, children‟s watch, at Delhi. It

was a great hit in Bangalore where entire Cubbon Park was rented out

to HMT for a day and the kids of the city were treated to a great fete.

Once a success need not always be a success. In Delhi, they repeated

the idea at Appu Ghar, which is ten times the size of Cubbon Park and

had Preeti Sagar singing nursery rhymes at the outdoor theatre. She

was superb and so was the Hindi Emcee and the setting was perfect

.Only, the audience was a group of children from a vernacular medium

school, on a picnic and forcibly made to sit! They had no clue what

Preeti was singing. The only one, who really enjoyed clapping and

singing along, was Mr. Thungon the Minister. Talk of a brilliant idea

in the wrong setting.

Going back to the Delhi death of a PR chief, I was held responsible by

the COM for DD not featuring the launch on that night‟s news bulletin.

Like I had to go to the news desk and ensure its appearance! That it

appeared on the next day‟s news bulletin was not going to save me,

because I was doomed anyway. The COM-Alva, DKC and Reddy-

summoned me to the board room and pulled me up for not ensuring

proper coverage of the minister on DD.A few years later, when there

was a train accident near Bangalore, the PRO of the railways was

summarily transferred overnight because he did not have the minister

covered by DD! My probation of one year was extended by three

months, for my unsatisfactory performance. It was round one for

DKC. The first nail was driven into my coffin.

Agony and Ecstasy

The noose was tightening and I thought it was only an

irritation around my neck. I was like the marathon runner who is only

thinking of the finish line while those behind are closing in to trip her at

the last lap. One of them was Alva nominating me coordinator of the

Women in Public Sector (WIPS) of HMT. He was very appreciative of

the work I did as WIPS nominee and sanctioned all the activities I

initiated. He even signed the permission letter for me to open an

account in the name of WIPS in the extension counter of the Bank, to

deposit the revenue I generated with his knowledge, for the WIPS book

I published. Yet, he did not come to my rescue in any way when I was

charged with financial misdemeanors. Of course he had left the

organization when these charges were leveled but he could have

intervened, if he was true to his profession as a Personnel Director and

saved me. But then bosses are not supposed to be loyal to subordinates!

In spite of his cold shouldering me, I am thankful to him for having put

me in WIPS as it has helped me launch and successfully run a women‟s

organization now! WIPS opened up a new avenue of activity, along

with my main role as PR Chief.

WIPS whips me out!

HMT is one of the first Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) to employ

women. The others followed later. Most of the women employees in

HMT are concentrated in the watch assembly line; majority of the rest

in Supervisory and clerical ranks and very few in Executive cadres. I

was one of the three lady Deputy General Managers as against 250 men

of the same grade. This has nothing to do with discrimination.PSUs are

equal opportunity employers. In recent times, many women have

climbed the Executive ladder and it is not rare to find them heading

both service and technical organizations. In fact, I would say a PSU is

more woman employee – friendly than the Private sector as the

reproductive and productive role of a woman is given equal

weight age .If only for political reasons, the government has set up

panels to ensure better treatment of women workers .

WIPS was conceived by a group of senior women

executives from PSUs. Its objective was to focus on professionalizing

women employees to shoulder greater responsibilities in their career.

While the Apex body deliberated on policy issues and networked with

the Govt., individual coordinators from different PSUs were asked to

initiate in their respective organizations, programs to fulfill WIPS

objectives. As usual, yours truly got into it with great gusto. That is

my Problem in life. I take everything seriously except myself. My Girl

Friday, Vijaya was equally enthusiastic so I went ahead with my plans.

H R Alva was very supportive of all programs I put up for

sanction (and then he would also support DKC in harassing me!) Essay

and slogan contests, know – your - company – quiz, guest lectures by

senior male executives on company matters… it was a busy time for

HMT women. The response was encouraging from PR colleagues in

other Units. Especially KMK Rao from Hyderabad who helped WIPS

activities become popular. Since the entries to the essay contest were

good, I decided to spruce them up and publish a collection of the best

– Recipes for a healthy organization. To make it self- funding, I invited

manufacturers of products for women to advertise in this for a sum, as I

intended printing 10, 000 copies and distribute them free at the National

Convention of WIPS to be held at Bangalore. Naturally, I wrote on the

company letterhead as WIPS was a recognized body of HMT. The

response was positive and a similar appeal to our Watch Marketing

director got us an Ad of our Watches. The book was released at a

public function by a senior lady IAS officer and attended by my senior

colleagues including the DGM who was later the inquiry officer who

indicted me in his report. It had a foreword by the Minister for Women

welfare from the Central Govt. Leading dailies and periodicals wrote

about the innovative venture. At the National Public Relations Society

conference at Chennai, I received the second prize for my case study on

how we projected the image of HMT through WIPS, without any

financial outlay from the company. The case study also got a special

Judges mention.

I also got a charge sheet and later, dismissal from the

management for indiscipline, misconduct and acting against the interest

of the Company by misusing letterheads of the company to raise money.

Talk of perverse Interpretations!

Women as Mentors

In a way, WIPS whipped me out of office. However, it also prepared

me for the big event in my life, launch of Guild of Women Achievers.

As I interacted with women colleagues from HMT and other PSUs at

the National Convention at Delhi and Bangalore, one fact emerged.

Women employees were afraid to speak out, make a point or be

assertive, for fear of negative repercussions. As supplementary

providers to their family kitty, they needed to hold on to their jobs even

if it meant being submissive to bullying senior colleagues. Most of

them had personal problems to cope with like drunken or womanizing

husbands, cantankerous mothers – in – law, wayward children and other

hassles. Unable to deal with this two pronged attack, many of them had

lost their zest for life and were demotivated. Some others were

aggressive and demanded soft options just because they are women and

every act of Management was seen as discrimination. Very few had the

honesty to take stock of their priority Vis a Vis the organization and try

to find a mutually beneficial middle path.

As for personal conflicts, they had no objective counseling facilities,

except for unprofessional advice from friends or relatives. The

discovery bothered me as the solution was so easy and they did not

know it. I sincerely felt women need Mentors within the organization.

To create an awareness of this concept, I put together a two day

workshop, Women as Organization Mentors, for women executives of

different organizations. I sent out fliers to companies, to send

nominations, and the fee was Rs. 1500 per person. Alva had left and T

K Gururaj was the Director Personnel. He responded to my flier and

nominated six Welfare/Personnel Officers from HMT to attend. All

cheques were payable to the account Alva had permitted me to open in

the name of WIPS, at our extension counter. We had 40 women

executives representing leading Private and Public Sector organizations

with a special invitee, a lady Inspector of Police. Qualified Faculty

were invited to speak on Counseling, Listening Skills, Communication

and empathy and group discussions to iron out doubts. At the end of it,

the participants were initiated to form Mentor‟s Association and a

certificate distributed to that effect. I was unanimously elected

President and we selected a Secretary and Treasurer, each from a

different organization. Our objective would be to „listen‟ to our women

colleagues and be Mentors. Gururaj was the Chief Guest and gave

away the certificates. That evening DD (there was no other channel

then) covered the event in the News section and commended HMT for

the innovative idea. The following day, newspapers wrote about it and

our own in – house bulletin Aaj ki Khabar featured it. A few days later,

I got a letter from the senior Vigilance Officer, asking for all WIPS

documents for „investigation‟. A few months later, Gururaj signed a

charge sheet accusing me of going against the Conduct and discipline

rules of the company, collecting money from organizations to hold a

work shop and starting Mentor‟s Association as private enterprise for

personal gain. I was desperately in need of a Mentor myself who could

explain what was happening!

The first missile

DKC gave me another letter after the first extension of my probation,

further extending it by three months, for continued unsatisfactory

performance. Wizards were at work in the Personnel department to

find something, anything, to drive me out. I had, for some reason,

become the most „wanted‟ person in the company, as some people did

not want me! I was on the corporate hit list. With all those banshees

plotting for my downfall, I should have quietly resigned and found

another job but as dear old Shakespeare commented, there are some

tides in the affairs of women also. It was just that I was swimming

against it.

DKC came up with another missile to attack me. This time in the form

of an accusation that I had lied in my Bio- data. Well, well... The

magicians had pulled out a rabbit from an empty hat. According to

them, my claim that „I started my career as a lecturer „was false

because my certificates revealed that I was a part – time lecturer for

some time! I was to sit with the personnel Officer and submit every

detail of my work experience and match it with the certificates and

draw out a matrix or table or whatever. I am glad I did it though, on

Company‟s time because I now have a thoroughly researched and

documented evidence of my checkered career to regale my grand

children with. My friends wondered why I stuck around to take all this

rubbish but I have some masochistic tendencies you see! DKC was

pretty determined to eliminate me from the scenario and almost

succeeded till suddenly a CMD was appointed by the Govt.

Disappointed, DKC retired a couple of months later with a heavy heart.

I had the pleasure of organizing his farewell dinner.

The Messiah for PR

As CPR, I received PCN at the airport when he arrived to join HMT

and become my boss. We hit it off from word ‟go‟. We shared two

interests – reading and discussing what we read. Looking back at the

number of bosses I had, I enjoyed working with him the most (while it

lasted). He was intelligent and polished, with a sense of humour.

Above all, he was quick on the uptake and could grasp the essence of an

idea. He came from a dismally loss making PSU from Ranchi and

HMT was like El Dorado for him. In all fairness, he came with no bias

and every intention of keeping the torch burning

PCN‟s entry was like a resurrection of the PR department. Released

from the evil clutches of DKC, I could think of singing „happy days are

here again‟. My position was still dicey, as my extended six – month

probation was to come to an end. I could either be confirmed or my

services terminated.

***

Behind – the – scenes plotting had continued with DKC and his partners

in crime trying to prejudice PCN to get rid of me. Their trump card was

I had lied in my bio – data. PCN wanted to form his own judgment and

took all my personnel files home to study. A month later, I got a letter

from the CMD‟s office, confirming my appointment. After what

happened subsequently, I wish my service had been terminated instead,

at this juncture. But then, God has His own ways!

The hen had come to roost or so I thought!

PR manual

Since this was the most professionally productive period for me in

HMT I would like to organize the events in proper slots. This means, I

have to spell out what PR entails. Forgive me if I sound like one of

those learn – PR – in – 30 – days – kind of books! Basically, it consists

of four broad functions, classified under:

* Internal Communication

* External Communication

* Hospitality

* Community service.

Just so it does not sound pedagogic, I will integrate my experience with

explanation of each category

Internal Communication

The best ambassadors of an organization are its employees who are its

internal publics. To keep them informed of management policies,

changes and anything else that affects their life, is what internal

communication all about. Most organizations do this through house

journals, wallpapers, posters, video etc. in fact, this is a vastly untapped

area and rarely given its due recognition by management. HMT had a

quarterly house journal from the Head office and each unit had its own,

depending on the initiative and interest of the GM. Dr Naidu was a

strong believer in internal communication and perhaps that is why he

selected me for the job as I had emphasized its importance, in my

interview. Luckily PCN had similar views. He wanted to introduce an

open door policy and transparency. But the old guards did not want it.

The culture in the company is of fiefdom. Playing your cards close to

the chest is how it is preferred. Very soon, PCN understood the

resistance to his open communication style and soon, he too succumbed

to the good ole poker game. But before that happened, I could

introduce some innovative channels.

Aaj Ki Khabar

„What were you doing before you came to HMT?‟ PCN asked

me one day. When I told him I was publishing a city magazine, he

promptly said, „why don‟t you bring out a daily newsletter here?‟ I am

like the Genie of Aladdin‟s lamp. Tell me something and you get it.

The next day, I had on his table the first issue of Aaj Ki Khabar. It was

a single sheet bulletin with sections on Product, people and Plants. He

was thrilled to see it and took it with him when we had to meet Mr. A R

Antulay who was Chairman of the Committee on Public Sector Units.

He showed it off like a kid with a new toy, to the Chiefs of BEL, HAL

and Kudremukh, who were also there to meet the VIP. Aaj Ki Khabar

(AKK) had come to stay. It was his idea so it got hundred percent

support from him. He never asked me how I managed to bring it out so

fast without infrastructure support like a DTP, in my department. All

that mattered was his brainchild was growing day by day, with new and

interesting features. I stopped the house journal and AKK became the

daily newsletter that the employees got hooked on to (it continues to be

published even now). Every morning, I kept a copy of AKK on PCN‟s

table and by noon, it was faxed to all units, where it was photocopied

and put on the notice boards for employees to read. Those Units, which

did not have a Fax, were sent a bunch of weekly issues by courier.

Initially, I had to send telexes to my PR colleagues in the Units, to send

me news but soon, we had a flood of information pouring in every day

and we had to sort out priority wise to carry them. Every Unit PCN

visited, wanted to have its story featured so he could commend them. I

started a column, CMD says and put in little bits of wisdom I heard him

drop while we would be at the airport waiting for a VIPs arrival or

while addressing a group of officers. After that, he sent me matter for it

himself. He was as excited about AKK as I was. I used it to squash

rumours. There was a wild speculation about a senior Director

resigning. The next couple of days, AKK carried his tour itinerary to

various Units and reproduced his motivating messages to the

employees, thus squashing the speculations. Readers collected the

Thought for the Day in AKK and took it home to their children. It was

a diary of events and happenings, which any future chronicler would

love. Unit PROs became reporters and improved their writing skills.

My department was like a regular newspaper office with each person in

charge of different activates like newsgathering, distribution, mailing

and filing. There was never a dull moment. We had massive problems

with photocopying as we had to beg other departments to let us use

their Xerox machine. I casually mentioned it to PCN and he sanctioned

a brand new machine for PR. Anything for AKK!

AKK made me Kal ki khabar!

Dark clouds were gathering. Like that marathon runner, I was only

concentrating on the tracks to the finish line. A lady entrepreneur had

set up a DTP unit to help her daughter have an enterprise. She offered a

competitive rate to produce AKK – Rs 1500 a month and I gave her the

assignment after seeking oral permission from PCN .He signed all the

bills for payment every month. This went smoothly till a peon from

the Finance Director‟s office wanted his son to get the contract of

producing AKK. I explained to PCN the logistics hassles and he

forthwith directed his MIS department to provide DTP services for in

house production, to avoid IR problems! AKK„s troubles began and for

the first time, issues were delayed and skipped because the MIS dept

had its own priorities and my staff was not trained to work on the

Computer. A year and a half after we stopped using outside resources

for AKK, one of the charges leveled against me was giving work out to

a fictitious supplier and making payment on a bill which was „

overwritten‟ and a duplicate. How irresponsible of the Finance

department to issue a cheque for a technically faulty bill; how careless

of the internal auditors to have passed it and the Govt. auditors to have

overlooked it! And I was being penalised.

Monday Musings

Weekly Wallpaper was my next product. Every Monday, we had

Monday Musings posted on the Notice Board of all Units across the

country with a motivational message and a Para from the archives on

the history of HMT. Instead of indulging in idle gossip, employees

crowded around the notice board to read the musings and debate on the

piece of company history doled out every week.

In house Video

Besides AKK, I thought of introducing a video magazine. PCN

Okayed the proposal and we had HMT Darshan, a 10 – minute video

on the same format as AKK, only it was visual and shot on location.

PCN was facing the camera for the first time for his message to

employees and very self-conscious. I had to tell him what colour shirt

to wear and how to look into the camera! He was a willing student.

He was better in the second capsule. We put it on cable TV in our

township so families could view. This was again an in – house

production on a shoe string budget. It died a natural death after my

grand exit (as did WIPS and many other activities.)

Art & Craft exhibition

Another innovative activity under internal communication was a

companywide art and craft exhibition of work done by families of

employees. This was during the reign of the COM when I had

suggested it to Alva as morale boosting PR exercise. Considering the

wholehearted support he gave to all my ideas, I cannot still figure out

why he backed DKC in hounding me out of the company. I can only

put it down to the old – boy – network syndrome that brings men

together even when they do not share the same ideology. And if the

target is a woman, they bond even more.

On a particular day, all the Units of HMT held this exhibition which

had a fantastic response. Each PRO used his own imagination to get

publicity for the event. So, HMT was in the news for different reasons

and this was a perfect way of getting external publics to interact with

internal publics. My aim was to have an all India exhibition of

winning entries and throw it open to public viewing along with a Photo

story of HM write a company song competition. The response was

inspiring. Our adverting agency helped us short – list the song entries

as they were in different languages and an in – house panel selected the

best flag designs. In the ensuing corporate intrigues that were

brewing, all these got bombed. Somewhere, buried under the files in

the cupboard at HMT, lie the creative and inspired tributes to HMT by

its employees. Full many a flower, wasting its fragrance…

In house conference

At PCN‟s instance, we held a conference of our PROs from all units.

We discussed issues that bothered us and framed a recommendation to

the Management to empower PROs to help them perform better, in the

interest of the organization. HODs from different product divisions

were invited to share their expectations from PROs and vice versa.

Theoretically, it was a fruitful exercise but stayed that way, on paper.

However, some projects got under way. One of them being a series of

two minute videos on subjects like wastage of food in the canteen,

optimum use of time at work, housekeeping in the office, interpersonal

relations and saving resources. I again decided to produce these in –

house and use the video to communicate the messages to employees at

training sessions. As usual, PCN agreed and soon, we had the most

viewable tapes on subjects, which could otherwise sound instructional.

As before, I used our own employees and our office to shoot. The film

won me the best institutional video award from the Association of

Business Communicators of India. Since I was stripped of my duties

as CPR, my junior officer who was running the department, purposely

withheld the fax they sent to announce this and invite me to the

function to receive it at Mumbai, till a few days after the event! I had

fallen from grace and he was Lord of the show. I was consigned to the

dustbin as Officer On special Duty (OSD).

HMT School

Few books on PR have included what I wanted to handle as part of

internal communication. The HMT Township has a school, which is

primarily for the children of its employees but also serves the

educational needs of the surrounding village, Jalahalli. There is an

elementary and a high school. When I visited the elementary school, I

was shocked to find it in a terrible state. Stinking bathrooms, dingy

classrooms with poor ventilation and lighting, bare walls. It was a

pathetic environment for children to study. I asked DKC if I could

supervise its sprucing up as part of PR functions and he said I could do

what I wanted. He did not care anyway.

My colleague Sharma was in charge of township upkeep so I requested

him to work on giving the school a face lift. I must give it to him for

his enthusiastic response. I invited Mrs.PCN to visit the refurbished

school and distribute biscuits, which my friend in Britannia Industries

had gifted in response to my request. Even the teachers were happy

somebody had taken the trouble to think of them. Earlier, they had

faced administrative problems, misuse of their PF contribution being

one of them. The school is part of the Machine Tool factory regime

and the Personnel dept there has enough IR fires to put off and school

was last on their agenda

To boost the morale of the teachers further, I organized a one day

workshop for them on creative teaching by an excellent trainer. My

friend in the Environmental education dept of the Govt gave me lovely

wildlife posters which I got laminated from the PR budget sanctioned

by PCN. These were put up in the school. I had negotiated with a

leading TV manufacturer for a substantial discount to acquire a set for

the school to show the kids educational videos. To go a step further, I

suggested to Sharma to make optimum use of the school‟s

infrastructure by leasing it to another educational institution, in the

afternoon, so that, it could be self funding. He readily agreed and I

took him to various schools run by Corporate houses, like the Bhoruka

steel, WIDIA, Jindal etc.,

We also went to private schools run on modern methods and came

across the New Generation School which was doing excellent work. A

series of meetings with the founder convinced Sharma that he would

be the right partner to run the afternoon shift. He was introduced to

our Finance and Personnel Directors and Sharma soon had a workable

blueprint to modernize the school further both for the benefit of our

workers‟ children and other students. He had involved the union office

bearers so that he could get their support. I invited our Ad agency to

brief them to come up with newspaper Ads inviting applications for

admission to the afternoon school. We went to the Commissioner of

Education to seek his guidance. If it had gone through, it would have

been a boon to our workers‟ children and taken off some financial

burden on the Company‟s coffers. But it was not to be. Instead, an

anonymous letter was sent to PCN, accusing me of striking a spurious

deal with some outsiders to sell off the HMT School, for my personal

gain! Instead of consigning it to the dustbin where it belonged, it was

used as one of the reasons to start a domestic inquiry into my activities.

Ironically, a few months after my ouster, there were Ads released by

HMT asking private managements to bid for contracts to run its

school!

External Communication

Media is the most important channel through which the outside publics

(everybody other than employees) come to know of an organization„s

successes or failures in business. That is why, it is crucial to maintain

a healthy and honest interaction with the media. This can be either

through Press meets or releases or visits to Units. With increasing

competition, public opinion has become a deciding factor for the

survival or otherwise, of an enterprise. Media can shape this in favour

or against. It is important to win the confidence of Media by being

open with them and keeping them informed regularly of both good and

bad news. Unlike popular belief, the Media is not out to butcher

anybody. There are some that specialise in this but by and large,

media is objective and willing to listen. They are interested in the

truth, not being eye washed. Few corporate heads understand this and

antagonise the Media by their hide and seek attitude. They are not

even willing to heed the advice of their PROs (the good ones) to come

clean and expect them to „kill‟ negative stories by „buying‟ column

space and their reporters. What else can account for the success of

some PR Consultants who specialise in Press relations? It is important

for customer to know everything before buying a product or service

rather than have unpleasant discoveries later. Surprisingly, even

multinational companies have goofed up and had problems. It is high

time organizations gave serious thought to PR as a line function like

Marketing or Sales because it is also a sales department. Sale of

goodwill.

Press Relations

When PCN took over as CMD, I had to brief my reporter

friends before letting him lose on them. He had a habit of rambling and

holding forth on management concept he had read that day. The same

way, I would brief him about the reporter and his expectations. We had

some pretty good coverage but got defeated when the Tumkur watch

factory scandal broke out (of large – scale pilferage of watch parts from

the factory). Even that could have been mellowed down if the

management had come clean and expressed their intention to set thing

right. But the truth was bitter. Unscrupulous executives and unionised

staff had colluded and looted the factory. All this even when the

Company had a high level police officer of DIG rank as Executive

Director, Vigilance! Vigilance does not mean locking the stable door

after the horse is stolen. It does not mean witch hunting. It means

keeping watch and catching the real thieves before the theft. However

good your rapport with the Media, you cannot suppress mews of bad

business practices. Being a PSU, HMT is accountable to its

shareholders, the citizens of India. When it resorts to malpractice,

dismissing gunieapigs to save real culprits does not help. The Minister

concerned and the CMD are accountable. For a long time, we were in

the news, defending violation of Excise regulations. Those with vested

interests raised questions in the parliament and the Minister tried to

ward off unpleasantness. Then, it would die down to give way to some

other scandal. Public memory is short and Media looks for something

new to kindle interest. The culprits thus get away.

HMT Samachar

There were lots of great things happening in HMT .Sorry to

sound like I am relating a Fairy tale. In its present state, one can only

recall its past glory. To keep the Media informed of new products and

plants, I brought out a tabloid HMT Samachar, exclusively for

distribution to Media. Got it printed in our printing division on the

demo machine! Naidu loved the idea but he quit soon after the first

issue came and thereafter the COM was not interested in my continuing

it.

I must share two instances of how internal publics can jeopardise the

image of an organization. Six months after I joined HMT, I invited a

group of Media persons to visit our Tumkur Factory, which has state –

of – the – art machinery to manufacture Quartz watches. We went in a

hired car while some followed in our company van. The visit was a

great success as our guests found the Unit fascinating (we got rave

reportage subsequently) and hospitality extended by the GM and his

staff, very cordial. The next day, the admin officer called me. It seems

the driver of the van was upset as he was not taken care of and did not

get even a small piece of chicken at lunchtime. Since that driver was an

aggressive union member, he felt I should have been more careful of his

feelings. I was new to the organization and not exposed to the delicate

handling of union staff and did not understand the driver‟s behaviour. I

sent for him and explained that he was as much a host as I was to the

Press and did not merit any special treatment. On the other hand, it was

as much his duty to extend hospitality and forgo chicken pieces so the

guests could have more. He said he did not make a fuss as I was new or

else he would have deflated the tyres so we would be stuck! I was

amazed how a person paid by an organization, could think of harming

it. I was to learn more of such people by and by. I later ensured using

only hired vehicles when escorting guests and not being at the mercy of

self serving drivers. On the other hand, there was a driver called

Ramchandra who was very loyal and dependable and always asked for

him when receiving VIPs.

Unionised staff tends to behave like customers demanding attention.

They forget that they are also employees and have a commitment to

fulfill business objectives. Mr Thungon – Minister of State for Heavy

Industry, was to inaugurate our Management Development Institute,

which was nothing but an old building given a fresh coat of paint. This

was during the Tuglaq Raj of the COM and the function was to be at 8

am. I was directed to ensure the presence of the Press. So early in the

morning , at an out of the way location, to report cutting a ribbon of an

old building will not exactly send reporters on a clap and dance mood.

But my friends were gracious enough to cover the event. I promised

them an exclusive interview with the Minister as a bonus. The function

was an endless stream of boring speeches in atrocious accents and

pathetic diction. I looked apologetically at my media friends and hoped

to make it up with the promised interview. But the Union members

monopolised the Minister. The reporters were getting restless while all

my notes to the union president to free the minister were ignored.

Finally, I had to send in a note to the Minister himself and this annoyed

the Union guys who came out raving and ranting. My Press friends felt

sorry for me, as they understood the situation. They too have to deal

with their unions! I with special workshops a

re held for unionised staff to understand this concept. Whatever their

grouse with the management, they should present a united front before

outsiders.

Humour Hangama

The prime objective of external communication is image building. It

could be Corporate or Product image. It becomes necessary if the

organization is announcing a Public issue, inviting Deposits or under

flak for environmental or societal controversies. When we launched

PACE, we were competing with Titan‟s Acura, for the same youth

segment. Though HMT‟s watches are quality - wise better and less

expensive than its competitors, it has a fuddy duddy image. Walk into

any HMT showroom and you see the difference in presentation and

attitude of sales staff. To create an upbeat image of HMT and attract

young people to take a look at PACE, I suggested we have an image

building road show. Once I explained the concept, PCN supported the

idea immediately. The Director of watch marketing formed a panel to

help PR in carrying out the event. It was to be called Humour Hangam

(HH) - a humour elocution contest for college students. I had

conducted a similar one earlier during Dr Naidu‟s regime and it was a

success. It was of course only for colleges in Bangalore but HH was to

be held in Madras, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Cochin and

Bangalore.

V T Narendra from watch Marketing, and Narahari, were part of the

team. VT was the brain behind HMT‟s Festival of Time contest held

the previous year. He was another misfit in a straightjacket set – up as

he was full of ideas but had to rein them in to fall in line with boss‟s

instructions. He is also out of it now and making better use of his

talents. When a Martian visits India – That was the topic. Colourful

posters were printed to announce this in colleges. An Ad in the local

paper on the day of the contest, invited public to walk into our

showrooms listed, to pick up an audience pass which also had a

discount coupon. At the venue, we had a display of watches.

The judges were well known people from Media and the prize was a

PACE watch with „Humour Hangama printed on the dial. It is a

signature model that only the winners possess! It was VT‟s idea. All

participants would get a PACE T – shirt and a packet of HMT bulbs.

The whole show was to be a co ordinated effort of PR, Watch

Marketing and senior executive of each local HMT office. It was a

success in Bangalore, Madras, Hyderabad and Cochin, a disaster at

Mumbai and Calcutta (where local support was dismal) and a part

success in Delhi. We got tremendous Press coverage everywhere

though. Business World hailed it as an innovative Marketing exercise

on a shoe string budget. I had become an expert at it!

A major goof up

I have to stop awhile to share some anecdotes

about HH. R K Swamy was the Ad agency chosen to handle Press ads.

The Press Ad would be the same in all seven cities so there was a

common artwork, with a flap for each city, giving date, and time,

names of local venue and addresses of showrooms to collect the pass.

The agency was to handle that from production of artwork to release in

the paper. Our first event was at Hyderabad. The Unit PRO K M K

Rao and his team had lined up everything and the GMs of the two

Units, extended wholehearted support. The evening before the contest,

Rao suggested we invite the Minister of Education to inaugurate it.

We went across and he readily accepted. I thought it would be good to

put this in our ad so we went to the Deccan Chronicle office. They

were willing to add the line and called for the artwork. To my horror, I

found it was the Madras artwork! The agency had goofed up and sent

the wrong one. If the Minister had not agreed, I would not have gone

to the newspaper office and the next day‟s issue would have carried the

Madras Ad. Luckily, the situation was saved. Thereafter, in every

center, I made it a point to go to the newspaper office and check the

artwork. This is an example of total lack of coordination between

Branches of an Advertising agency. I refused to pass the production

bills of the agency for payment.

Crisis

Our experience at Delhi would have been disastrous if I had not found

an alternative. The hall was full with the audience waiting to be tickled,

the Judges had arrived but there were no contestants. I threw it open

to the audience to participate and it was fun. A similar thing happened

in Calcutta too. But by that time I was a pro in crisis management.

Death of a good idea

As an image building road show, HH was a winner. Its effects could

have been felt only if we had continued it for a few years. But it„s too

much to expect PSU bosses to have such vision. It died a natural death.

It is a pity that the watch marketing chief failed to make use of PR

support to boost sales. He perceived me as a threat and tried to keep me

away. When I expressed my anxiety about this attitude, PCN agreed

but advised me to keep off from treading toes.

During the milestone event of HMT selling its 750 millionth watch, I

had suggested to PCN to make it a vintage watch rally inviting owners

of HMT watches to provide proof of its vintage and gift the milestone

watch to the one with the oldest piece. It would have given us a

database of our customers for future business promotion and kept the

excitement of the milestone event on for some time. PCN thought it

was a great idea but the Marketing chief vetoed it. He preferred

releasing an Ad in the papers, with a message from the President of

India congratulating the company! Typically bureaucratic stuff for an

organization which had to compete with a titanic opponent known for

its marketing savvy. As PCN would often tell me, propriety is more

important than performance in a PSU.

Any organization interested in its reputation will have to have its ears

close to the ground for any adverse report in the press on its products or

activities. When we introduced ZAP, the children‟s watch, the price

was printed on the carton. Subsequently the price increased due to a

sudden change in excise rates or whatever. The carton continued to

display the old price. A newspaper reporter, who had bought a watch

and found the discrepancy in prices, immediately called me for

clarification. I tried my best to convince the Marketing chief to release

a clarification to the Editor, informing readers about the price change.

But they dillydallied and sure enough, there was an adverse report in

the paper a few days later. Something that could have been avoided by

heeding PR advice.

Hospitality

PR duties are said to be about khana, peena, and tikhana. Visitors

to the organization have to be treated with courtesy so that they carry a

positive image of the place. This goes beyond wining and dining them.

It took me a while to understand the intricacies of this aspect and Vijaya

was very helpful. She had been working in the department for many

years and seen off two of my predecessors. She had a checklist for

different categories of visitors, which we went through to get it right.

Yet, we had some hiccups.

Pampering Politicians

The visit we dreaded most were those of committees comprising of

MPs to ensure implementation of govt. directives like Hindi as official

language or welfare of SC ST. These are basically junkets for their

pleasure. They represent different political parties and PSU Chiefs are

under great tension when they come. Any discordant note can oust

them from their seat. This tension is passed onto the PROs. Generally,

these committees visit two or three PSU s and we share the headache

and expense. We have our own committees within the organization, to

handle various chores and there is great excitement, debating on the size

of the garland, nature of gifts and items to be on the lunch/ dinner

menu. Cars have to be arranged , hotel accommodation to be booked,

direct telephone lines to be connected to each of their rooms, personnel

delegated for escort duties if they go shopping . By the time they

depart, all of us would have lost a couple of kilos while they would

have gained, what with all the gourmet food and expensive gifts. Who

says we are a democratic country? We had to treat these elected

representatives of the people, as modern day monarchs. If not…

Right from receiving them at the airport to seeing them off, PROs were

under great stress. We had to get special passes to enter the tarmac area

to garland them as they got off the plane. Chiefs vie with each other to

get there first and the poor PROs are expected to have cordial

relationships with the Security staff and airport authorities to bend

rules. Talking of garlanding. I remember the time when one such

committee was to be hosted jointly by HMT, BEL and ITI. After

detailed discussions at our PRO committee meet, we had decided to

garland them only as they arrive at the Hotel and not at the conference

venue which was in one of the Halls. Once we decide the minute to

minute programme, a copy of it is given to each CMD who follows it to

the letter. In this case, HMT‟s meeting was to be after ITI. My

colleague and I hung around till the ITI meet was over and our bosses

went in. We then went to the coffee shop for a bite. A few minutes

later, I got a SOS from PCN‟s executive assistant who was in a flap.

There was a garland short in the room and the MP who did not get it,

was very livid at the insult. I was cool because there was to be no

garlanding as far as we were concerned and PCN had no business to

pick up the ones lying on a chair left behind by ITI! The ITI PRO had

jumped the lights and arranged for his bosses to garland the MP‟s

despite our combined decision not to. I explained later to PCN what

had happened and requested him to stick to the programme given by the

PR dept. He had the grace to accept it was his fault.

Another such bloomer relates to a political visit of Mr. Thungon to

Bangalore. Since he was our Minister, it was courtesy to receive him

and arrange for his going to the Hotel from the airport. It coincided

with PCN being away at our Cochin Unit for a board meeting. Since he

had assumed office only a week ago, he was a bit jittery and suggested

that the three executive directors, Guru Raj, Vigilance and International

Marketing, go to the airport. They went ahead while my colleague and

I followed in another car, which broke down on the way to the airport.

Anyway, we arrived well in time but the Vigilance director had jumped

protocol. Using his official clout, he took the two other Directors to the

tarmac, whisked off the Minister via the VIP exit, to the Hotel. The

garlands were with us! That is what happens when a Policeman wants

to do a PR act. We arrived at the hotel to face a furious Vigilance chief

who pulled me up for slackness. The best defense is offence. I quietly

went up to Mr. Thungon‟s room and told him about the car mishap. He

graciously accepted the garland and showed it off to his party

colleagues saying, See, that‟s HMT hospitality! I had interacted with

the Minister on several occasions and knew he would understand. When

PCN returned, he was given a bleak picture of my efficiency but he

heard me out and appreciated my subsequent action. He was unbiased

enough to judge the circumstances and give me the benefit of doubt.

That is why his behaviour later, as time passed, came to me as a shock

and totally destroyed my faith in boss – to – subordinate loyalty. I still

do not understand what contributed to his volte – face. More about it

later.

VIP visits

I enjoyed handling visits of Heads of other countries, because it was

very professional. We had to interact with State protocol to finalise all

security arrangements which included selection of route to reach HMT;

delegation of reception duties; security clearance for places to be

visited; Photography and Press coverage; supervising catering and

selection of menu to suit the visitor‟s requirements and other details to

make the visit successful. Though it gave me heebie – jeebies, it was

less stressful than the MPs visit. Outsiders are more gracious and

sophisticated; they know how to handle attention. Our MPs who visit,

demand pampering and treat even the CMD with disdain.

The visit of a Bosnian Minister with his wife Maya was one I enjoyed.

She was fascinated by the lunch we served on the lawns of HMT

House, catered by Hotel Ashok. She wanted to know how to make

biryani and papads. I took her to a local supermarket to get her some

masalas and a packet of papads. She wanted kurta pajama for her

brother, which I helped her to buy from Commercial Street. She was

very thankful to me for persuading her to visit the factory, which she

had earlier decided not to and was happy she had a new experience of

our food and culture.

I remember the visit of Mr. V Krishnamurthy, the former Chairman of

SAIL. Though his visit had nothing to do with us, HMT was his host.

We put him up at a Suite in Windsor Manor and PCN had designated

me to help him if he needed any assistance. It was Sunday and he had to

get photocopies of a faxed speech. I am not going into the details of

how I did it but Mr. Krishnamurthy was very thankful. When I saw him

off at the airport the next day, he was very courteous and invited me to

visit him at his home in New Delhi. Sometime later, I was sorry to read

negative reports of him in the Media.

Parasite visitors

There were some unofficial visitors whom we had to take care of

because they had connections. I hated it. PCN wanted me to extend

hospitality to a friend of his from Nepal. This included putting him up

at a hotel, giving him a company / hired car for his local use and paying

the bills. The man had come with his son to admit him in a local college

and invited his nephew staying in a hostel in Bangalore to share the

room. After he left, I was furious to see the hotel bills. We had to pay

for the extra bed and it looked like they had chicken for breakfast,

chicken for lunch and chicken for dinner. Then there was the relative

or friend of the Secretary of our Ministry , who had to be received

at the airport , given a car for use and ensconced in a guesthouse. She

had come on a private visit to shoot some footage for a TV programme

she was producing. Such requests are very common and most PROs

take it in their stride. In fact they love it because it endears them to the

bosses. It wasn‟t my style. The Finance Director had stopped

subscriptions to all publications to the PR department due to fiscal crisis

but we could pay for chicken diets of personal friends and their

families.

Community service The 24th

report of the Committee on Public

Undertakings (COPU) on social responsibilities and public

accountability of public undertakings has spelt out the social

responsibility of PSU‟s as the moral obligations, which an enterprise

being an agency of a welfare of the society at large and the people in

and around its area of operations

The last wing of PR is Community service. Every organization must

give back to society something. It is community goodwill which also

makes sound business sense. As a writer put it, profit making and the

common good. Here again, it depends on the CEO and his interests,

corporate policy or a PRO‟s initiative. Since we did not have the first

two, I took it up as a PR activity. The only activity in this area was

through release of goodwill ads for Souvenirs. This depended not so

much on the cause as on who was asking whom for what. Alva loved

giving ads in response to appeal letters from his community; our PRO‟s

wanted to give watches to 5 Star hotels for their New Year Eve bash,

PCN wanted to fulfill requests from Delhi Govt officials. There was no

codified policy on this giving when I had put up a suggestion to Dr

Naidu to formulate one standard policy, he had evaded it.

This reminds me of the TV programme we sponsored. It was the swan

song of Dr Naidu before he left. He had signed a sponsorship sanction

for a programme called spirit of Unity Concerts, produced by a highly

influential production house. If you had noticed, it was always

sponsored by PUSs and Banks. As sponsors, we have 90 minutes of

Free Commercial Time (FCT). We were to sponsor the show in two

weeks time and had no corporate commercial. I had to supervise

production of a 90 – minute corporate commercial in the next ten days.

It meant calling for three agency presentations, briefing them and

finally selecting the right format. It was an opportunity any creative PR

professional will jump at and so did I. KL Ramdas and I were to head

the team. We came up with the theme of a teacher telling her students

the story of HMT and its various products. R K Swamy was chosen

after screening two other presentations and Rajagopal of Sound and

Sight, Madras, produced it. It was a challenge for any professional and

he lived up to it. I persuaded actress Farida Jalal to act as teacher and

she graciously did it for a very nominal fee. The commercial is a superb

audiovisual presentation of the Company and worth the long hours we

put in for a whole week, to get it telecast on time. From concept to

telecast, it took us just ten days! It was marvelous teamwork between

the agency, producer and the client. Any one slipping could have

delayed the process.

I thought of Road safety as a cause we could support. After

being witness to the ghastly accident, I had been interacting on a

personal level with the then Deputy Commissioner of Police for Traffic,

A R Infant. I met Shyamala Shah a lady who had lost her husband in a

road accident some years ago and was still moving the courts to get her

compensation. After many in – depth discussions, Shyamala and I

launched the Road Accident Victims‟ Families Welfare Foundation

(RAVFWF) a registered Trust, with the guidance of Mr. Infant.

Dr Naidu was still in harness and I got his official permission to

be involved with road safety activities. He sanctioned four traffic safety

signs and an ambulance, before he resigned.

A little about this gift of ambulance to the traffic police. I had

organized a formal handing over function at the Commissioner‟s office

and requested Alva to do the honours. I had to send a requisition to the

Purchase dept to paint gifted by HMT on the van before handing over.

They slept over it till the morning of the D – Day when I requested the

GM in charge of administration to speed it up. But to no avail. We

handed over the van without the sign painted. This is the result of the

laid back attitude of depts. with which you are forced to interact to get

your work done. It happens when there is no management commitment

to the work in question. The CMD who had sanctioned the van had left

and since none of the other Directors felt committed to it, those down

the line had no interest. Sad isn‟t it? But the priest, who was to break

the traditional coconut and perform pooja to the van, was dressed in his

best brocade for the event!

Shyamala and I, with the help of Mr. Infant the Police officer,

did a lot of work to help families of road accident victims. A letter to

the Editor of a daily , seeking a five rupee donation from readers got us

Rs 12,000 which we handed over to the father of a 19 year old boy ,

who was a victim of a hit and run mishap and had to undergo

extensive surgery . We got jobs for women who lost their breadwinners

in an accident, helped some with legal aid, and extended moral support

to those who needed it. We printed a book with exhaustive information

on what families of a road accident victim should do to get legal help

and compensation. We did this by getting organizations to sponsor road

safety messages. I persuaded Director Watch Marketing to take the

cover page of the book for sponsoring a message. The then Chief

Justice of Karnataka wrote a foreword and called it a „laudable

venture‟. We got a Kannada version of the book and it was given away

free at various outlets. Later, one of the charges leveled against me was

that I had started the Foundation as a business for personal gain!

Blood donation camp

Dr Lata Jaganath of the TTK Blood bank called me once,

desperately seeking donors. I sought PCN‟s permission to organize a

camp at the Tumkur Factory, as there were young employees in that

relatively new unit. The GM, Raju, was very supportive and so was the

PRO Krishnamurthy. PCN‟s wife Bonoful Neogy inaugurated it and

we collected 300 bottles. The unit wore a festive look with the wives

also participating by serving refreshments to donors. HMT bagged the

Rotary award that year for its corporate social responsibility. All this

while, my own career was slowly bleeding to death!

Corporate terrorism begins

I have to move to the main story! The PR Department, which

was so far only a garland – buying – dinner – arranging wing, had

suddenly shot to limelight. Many could not swallow this. Sensing the

hostility, I applied for a job in Bharat Electronics with an NOC from

PCN to attend the interview. He had expressed his anger about my

„shopping‟ for a job. I was not selected.

The axe falls

The time bomb was ticking and I was blissfully deaf to its sound. The

letter from the vigilance officer calling for the WIPS files should have

warned me of things to come. I wrote an official letter to PCN,

requesting him to educate me on why there was to be an „investigation‟.

He did not reply the letter. He had started acting strangely aloof. He had

sanctioned my trip to Hyderabad to present a paper at the

UGC/Osmania University seminar on PR Education and Research and

subsequently withdrew the permission. Since I had committed to the

organizers based on his earlier consent, I decided to take earned leave

and go. PCN refused to sanction my earned leave. I went anyway as it

was a professional conference and even the conduct and discipline rules

of the company allow for such participation. My salary for those days

was cut for having taken leave without sanction. When I came back

from the seminar, I found an office order stripping me of my duties as

Chief of PR with my Deputy assigned the running of the Department.I

was to be Officer on special duty(OSD) reporting to the Director

personnel, Gururaj. The guillotine had fallen. In a nutshell, I was to

report for work every day with nothing to do. I was a persona non grata.

Whoever was working towards my downfall had made a brilliant move

of turning PCN against me and I added fuel to the fire by „disobeying‟

him and attending the seminar! It must have been something diabolic to

change PCN so much. From what I knew of him, he is a good man with

no vindictive tendencies. We had a healthy professional rapport and

easy working relationship. I can only feel sorry for a man who heads an

organization and does not have the courage to do the just thing by a

subordinate who was loyal to the organization. He did not have the

courtesy to tell me what distanced him from me. His wife, whom I had

helped so much when she moved to Bangalore and was friendly enough

to visit me at my house, did not call to express sympathy when things

went sour. The couple’s betrayal hurt me more than the official stings.

Commenting on the work culture in a Public Sector undertaking, former

Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh, Smt Liela Seth says in her

autobiography On balance-Hard work and excessive interest are not

appreciated, indeed misunderstood. You can‟t be out spoken and push

your staff to perform to get results fast. You cannot be in a hurry to get

things done. There is no punishment for not doing work-problems only

arise if you do

Grave charge

I replied to an Ad from Air India for the post of Chief PR Manager. I

confided in Gururaj who was my boss now since I became OSD. I must

say a little more about this Jekyll and Hyde. He was the one who signed

all the sanction letters for my WIPS activities and later the charge sheet

questioning them. I could not understand his behaviour- helpful at one

time and just the opposite later! He thought it was best for me to quit

HMT, as there were many that were planning my ouster and encouraged

my applying for the AI job in confidence. He said it might jeopardise

my chances if others came to know about it. I was called for the first

interview at Madras and later for the final one at Bombay for which I

was to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from HMT. Gururaj spoke

to Air Indian‟s Personnel Director who allowed me to attend the

interview without an NOC.

I was selected and the appointment letter was routed through CMDs

office. PCN wrote she may be released on the letter and I was to go for

my medical tests prior to appointment, at Madras. But evil forces were

at play again. Anonymous letters accusing me of lying in my bio-data

were sent to Air India. The chief of Vigilance of AI wrote to Gururaj for

clarification and he showed me the letter. At this point, I had to make a

choice-between flight and fight. I chose to stay back and fight. Flight

would have meant I was guilty and my tormentors would have

succeeded in achieving their goal. The same day, I shot off a letter to

AI, thanking them for the offer and expressing my regret. I was not

interested in moving to another company, which takes cognizance of

anonymous letters. I believe anyone who has concrete proof, will not

hesitate to sign a letter. Anonymous letters are by liars who want to

cause trouble. It is the most despicable and cowardly action, which any

right thinking organization must ignore.

Secret enemy?

Some fiends were not only plotting my downfall within the organization

but also trying to sabotage my professional growth outside. Whoever it

was, was a deadly enemy and I did not know why he was so vindictive.

I had harmed no one. I might have trampled on toes in the course of my

work, irritated some with my assertive behaviour and even angered

some with my observations to PCN about irregularities I came across at

work. But that did not justify the venom poured on me. I was not one to

give in. The cold war had turned to open confirmation. Gururaj served

me a 20- page charge sheet! One of the charges being, I had applied for

a job in AI without going through proper channel. Now you know why I

call him Jekyll/Hyde.

Irregularities

Since I have alluded to irregularities I brought to PCNs attention, here

are some:

Male employees were given uniform material while

women employees were asked to buy a specified shade of green

material from Garden silks and produce the bill for

reimbursement. When I went to buy the material, I found to my

horror that this was not available at all but the showrooms were

willing to give a bill for the same shade even if I bought any

other colour. They even assured me that all women employees

of HMT were doing this and the company had no objection.PCN

was livid when I brought this to his attention and the Admin GM

became my enemy.

As member of the policy holders‟ council of LIC, I

received a letter from them saying that the HMT factory had

deducted the premium from the employees‟ salary but not

remitted to LIC. When I wrote to the Finance Director about this

he became enemy number X (I had many and did not know in

which order he features!). That prompted him to write a letter to

CMD against me, forming one of the documents for preliminary

inquiry.

When we hosted parties for board meetings in 5 star

hotels, our liquor bills (imported) far-exceeded food bills. I

brought this to PCNs attention as I processed the bills for

payment and reminded him of the Government directive against

serving foreign liquor unless foreigners were present. He

immediately asked me to instruct hotels to serve only Indian

liquor. The Directors hated me for this (besides many other

reasons)

The Secretary Industry, Surinder Singh, was retiring and he

came to Bangalore on his farewell visit. Alva had organized a

dinner for him at Country Club where he was a member. This

posed many logistics problem for me especially when Alva

wanted me to organize imported liquor from the grey market. I

called up the Director, International Division and asked him if

he had the imported liquor. He said he could not part with any. I

told PCN about this and asked him to change the venue to a 5

star hotel in the city. He was very angry with the International

Div Director and blew him up on the phone! That was one more

enemy in the kitty for me.

Solitary confinement

For nearly eight months, I went to work with nothing to do. As

OSD, I was given no special duty. It was only a euphemism for „we

have no use for you‟. Whoever thought of this move counted on my

quitting out of sheer boredom. Imagine going through eight hours every

day, doing nothing! My telephone did not ring; my cabin door did not

open. It was like solitary confinement in prison. Only, I had a choice; I

could resign. But I had no intention of taking the easy way out. I

reconciled to my situation and turned it into a self-development

exercise. Our library had the best management books and those kept me

busy. I had three papers to repeat in the Law course I was doing when

Srivatsa was posted in Bangalore, in 1976. I appeared for those papers

and acquired a degree in Law, on company time! It was the best time to

start learning Carnatic music and recording my classes, would practice

in my cabin. There was the Bible, the Gita, Ramayana and Bhagavatam

for solace. For inspiration, read Lee lacoca‟s story of his own downfall

in Ford Motors. If it could happen to a man like him! The eight hours

were not long enough. If I was being paid a handsome salary to improve

myself, I had nothing to complain. It was HMT that was misusing

public money, paying a senior executive who was not given any duties.

This is accountability in PSUs. In a Private Company, they give you a

pink slip and ask you to go. They do not jeopardize your career. Live

and let live is their policy. They do not waste company time and money

witch hunting and putting the employee through a Spanish inquisition.

The charges

Since I was hanging in there, the mischief-makers were getting restless.

It was time for the next move. Gururaj called me to his cabin and served

me a charge sheet. I had only heard of a paper like that given to

criminals. It ran into 20 pages and I went to my table to read is slowly.

As I went through the charges, I was amazed at the vindictive attitude

of the management. Whoever had conceptualized it must have had a

real criminal mind because he had given all the good work I had done, a

perverse twist. They were really out to get me. They had cooked up

eight charges so that they could have that many options!

Gururaj gave me a week to reply the charge sheet. It coincided with my

son Anil‟s wedding so I requested him to postpone the date till my

son‟s return to US after the wedding. I had to put together all the

documents to defend myself against the eight charges. Gururaj refused.

I had no choice but to approach the Karnataka High Court, which

ordered the management to grant me the time. After Anil left, I put my

mind to replying and enclosed all the documents (52 of them) which

clearly disproved all their allegations. But they were not going to read

all that. I was going to be done with anyway and the domestic inquiry

was only eyewash to fulfill the legal requirements to regularise the

ouster.

For a quick recap, the charges were:

Lying in my bio data(that I projected my part time job as a lecturer

as full time)

* Applying to Air India without going through proper channel

* Starting Mentors Association as private business for personal gain

Paying Rs 1500 a month for 6 months to a fictitious company for

Aaj ki Khabar(sanctioned by CMD)

Holding a workshop for women and collecting money for

advertisements for the book without permission (HMT also

releasing an Ad and nominating participants!)

Keeping the proceeds of the sale of image builders tape for a week

in FD

Starting the Road accident Foundation for personal gain

Printing of the book for WIPS and making payments for the same to

the printer I had indentified(she was an empanelled printer for

HMT)

Interestingly, none of the charges accused me of

embezzling money. Nor was there any charge alleging that the work for

which the money was paid was not done. In short, none of the charges

accused me of amassing wealth or cheating the company. They only

questioned my authority to carry out activities that they had

themselves sanctioned!

The trial

An inquiry officer was nominated. He was the same DGM-HRD who

had attended the release function of the WIPS book! The Presenting

Officer was to question me on behalf of the management and a typist

was to record all proceedings. I was given the option of hiring an

attorney but declined. The Spanish inquisition went on for more than a

week, grilling me with questions, answers to which were not accepted.

They had decided to hang me anyway and this was only a formality. It

was terrible; not the inquiry but the meanness which prompted it. It

angered me at first but soon, I got used to it and started enjoying the

spar. If an entire organizational machinery should be activated to

hound me, somebody was real keen to get me out and that somebody

was powerful enough to make PCN and Gururaj (both positively

inclined towards me) dance to his tune. Obviously, my presence

bothered somebody and I wonder why. Who was that Corporate

Duryodhana who could manipulate the elders in the court and allow

them to torture me thus? Obviously it was someone who could call the

shots at gunpoint for some strange reason. Interesting!

I am tempted to quote Vikram Seth‟s letter to his father-

When there is an enquiry hanging over one‟s head-one might be pure

as snow but others will harbour suspicions. When honour is gone,

there is nothing to live for. But honour is based on truth. So long as

you know that you have done nothing dishonourable, let the world say

what it likes. As Dr Johnson said – A fly may sting a stately horse and

make it wince but one is but an insect and the other is a horse still.

Lull before the storm

The inquiry concluded and nothing happened. Meanwhile, the

corporate office moved to another building. I was made to sit in a

small place under the air-condition duct. My junior colleague, who

used to be my sycophant when I was in charge, ignored me as he sat in

the cabin that would have been mine. I had nothing to do. The

corporate Ferris wheel is very cruel. When you are up there, you have

admirers (and enemies too). When you are down, you do not even have

friends! But I managed well as I am a voracious reader and very

positive. I am my own best friend.

But how long would I sit idle? Gururaj told me to just accept the

situation and go on. He would not take any action on the inquiry report

as it found me guilty of six out of eight charges. Naturally – since the

purpose of the whole thing was to fix me anyway. I pressurised

Gururaj to take action. If I was found guilty, I should be punished. He

was in a fix himself. He knew he had been a jerk, being party to the

attack on me. He felt guilty and he thought he could atone for it by

letting me be. Just languish till retirement. That did not suit me. I

preferred the punishment, whatever they awarded, to sitting idle day in

day out for another decade till I retired.

The dismissal

On 2 August 1994, Gururaj called me to his office and served the

dismissal letter. He looked very apologetic and I pitied him. As

Director of Personnel, if he did not have the courage to prevent

injustice to an employee, his whole career must have been just a farce.

As I walked out of HMT Bhavan, I felt sorry for all those so called

senior executives, including the CMD, trapped in a system that whips

innocent employees and seals their mouth against protesting, for fear it

may happen to them. They were no better than the hapless „elders‟ in

the Court of Duryodana as he insulted Draupadi. But with my mind

without fear and head held high, I stepped out, with only my colleague

Sadanand (he has also left to join a more appreciative employer) to see

me off. I had been receiving and seeing off so many visitors in the

same organization! The admin officer hurried up to me to take back the

watch I had been given and was wearing for the last four years. It was

then that I vowed to wear a watch next only after getting back to the

company. I guess now I have no choice but to ask people what‟s the

time please?! Suddenly, I felt free. The world beckoned me to try out

its wonderful variety of opportunities. A voice from above whispered,

there are many other doors. Go check it out. Thought of what the poet

Dryden wrote…

I am a little wounded, but I am not slain;

I will lay me down to bleed a while‟

Then I‟ll rise and fight with you again”

The worst attack….

On 4 August 1994, my world fell apart, or so I thought. The Indian

Express carried a front-page news item in three columns about my

being sacked for fraud. Millions of readers, who did not even know me,

were sitting in judgment of me. What happened between my employer

and me was thrown open to the public to view as a sight-seeing

extravaganza. When my friend called me at 6.30 am and read out the

vicious indictment, I broke down crying for the second time. The first

time was when Gururaj had once told me to resign from the company,

as 20,000 people in HMT hated me. I had put my head on my table in

my cabin and sobbed. Lata, my secretary, who walked in, shut the door

and chided me for crying. She said everyone in the company was

secretly admiring my courage for braving the injustice meted out to me

and I was a heroine of sorts and the last thing I should be doing is

letting them down. After that, I had never succumbed to desolation.

This was different. I put my head in Srivatsa‟s lap and sobbed from my

toes upward, clinging to him for courage to face all those people out

there. I cried for the students who I address in schools and colleges and

who look up to me for guidance. Their faith would be shattered. I cried

for my parents who have to live with the ignominy of their daughter‟s

alleged misdemeanor; cried for my sons who have to answer curious

questions from their friends…. I cried and cried …till I felt there were

no more tears. Srivatsa held me, rocking me like a child. He did not

even know why I was crying because only I had heard what was in the

paper. My son Arjun‟s wife Chetana was with us. My granddaughter

Nikita was just three months old. Chetana kept pacifying me with her

soothing voice. I told them what happened. The telephone rang. It was

for me. „Madam, I am Srinivas‟, said the person, „you are a good

woman. Don‟t be upset. Everything will be all right‟. I felt it was the

Lord Himself who called to tell me He was with me. The phone rang

and rang with my friends, people I had not heard from, expressing their

support. An old family friend called to advise me to go to the best

lawyer in town and promised to pay his fees!

The aftermath

The next couple of days were bad. I would cry at every word of

kindness or gesture of support. The tough woman, who had faced all

that harrowing treatment for nearly a year, was vulnerable after all. As

Chetana pointed out, it was a test of my tenacity and I had to come out

of it stronger and not devastated. Son Arjun who was studying for his

DNB in Madras called to say chin up. My younger son Anil and his

wife Deepali called from USA to say take it easy. Chetana and

Deepali‟s parents said we are with you. My parents said, we can

survive, you take care. My father-in-law, who calls me Taslima (the

rebel writer from Bangla Desh ) said, you are a brave girl. The brave

always have to face difficulties.

Friends all…

My friend Madhura Chatrapathi invited me to her Rotary Club to speak.

A Public figure, it was her statement of support. Anita Kuruvilla, (as I

write this, she is no more) another dear friend who was a PR Manager

at the Oberoi, invited me to lunch with her at the coffee shop. She had

no problem being seen with me. Ashok Kariappa, Srivatsa‟s Golf

partner, insisted on my continuing on the Entertainment subcommittee

of the Golf Club. Capt Mohan Ram, our close friend from the Navy

made frequent „pep up‟ calls. My old friend Thumbi from Mysore wrote

a touching letter expressing his faith in my integrity. Mukta and

Shivanand invited me to handle training sessions for them. Kavita

Ghatge and Ramesh Kawra of SIEMENS wanted me to emcee the

opening of their prestigious office building.

(Subsequently, my services were retained by the company to emcee

the opening of all their facilities in Bangalore.)

Srivatsa‟s cousins, Sridhar, (he is no more) Vijaya and Kittanna,

dropped in, to say don‟t worry. It was very heart warming. Slowly, the

wound hurt less and less. I had realised the truth of that adage about a

friend in need. Someone who hated me had opened a Pandora‟s Box of

love and concern, which I did not know, existed! Many thanks to that

Good Samaritan, whatever his intentions were!

It is when you are down that every word of encouragement or gesture

of solidarity gives you the will to rise from the ashes. There may have

been many who hesitated to call, wondering how to broach the subject.

Well, here‟s my advice to all those who are afraid to say the word. If

you feel empathy, express it. When

Mr. Vasudevan, a senior IAS Officer, was sentenced to jail for

something he was not responsible for, I called his wife, though I did

not know her and wished her all strength to handle the situation. A

Corporation Official, who lives in my neighborhood, was suspended,

according to newspaper reports, for alleged corruption. I called him to

express my support. We are good friends now as we meet on our

morning walk. I felt particularly bad for one of my colleagues who was

also dismissed and the report on him in the Media was so damaging

that I pitied his unmarried daughter, college going son and aged

mother, who had to face the backlash. Politicians, Film Stars and

sportsmen are public figures and can thrive on publicity, both good and

bad. It can be very damaging to private people to be hauled before the

public on matters, which are between them, and their employer. It does

not become either the Organization or the Media to wash dirty linen

openly out of personal spite. I did not expect this of PCN or the

Resident Editor of Indian Express who did not publish my rejoinder

the following day!

The bounce back

In school, we put together large jigsaw puzzles. It was a challenge to

find the pieces and make a picture. That was what I did after the deluge.

I had to put together my professional life which was shattered. My

family had backed me all along so there was nothing to repair there.

They had expressed solidarity and relatives who cared, forgot the

episode. How would the Industry react? It was time to find out. Like a

pilot who has an accident is made to fly immediately, I had to take

charge of my emotions and rebuild my career. Sobbing was too much of

a luxury to indulge in. It was good to vent my feelings. A cathartic

release from pent up emotions. But it would also be a self-destruct

process. I had to up and go and that is what I did.

A new enterprise

For some time, I was working on a script to produce a video on

managing the students of the 90s.It was to be a 25-minute training tape

for teachers. I had approached Mrs. Renuka Vishwanathan IAS who

was the Managing Director of Karnataka State Financial Corporation to

sponsor the video. She had sanctioned it. She was a great supporter of

women entrepreneurs. I was planning a telecast on Teachers‟ day, on 5

Sept. With just a month to go and no money, other than the sponsorship

letter; I met the Manager of State Bank of India of Kumara Park

Branch, where we had our account. I had never met him before so

introduced myself as the dismissed DGM from HMT. He recalled

reading about me. I told him about the video I wanted to produce and

showed him the sponsorship letter along with a project proposal for a

loan to produce the Video. After a week, it was sanctioned. An

encouraging example of innovative banking as there was no precedence

of such a loan being entertained earlier. The bank helped me rebuild my

life.

The late award winning Director, VRK Prasad agreed to help me with

Direction and Editing. My friends Vimla Venkatraman and Jagath,

offered to „act‟ the role of teachers; the management of HKES College

was gracious enough to let me shoot on their premises. Professor

Basvraj Jamkandi, my neighbour, had organized for necessary

permission from the Management as he teaches in the college (He is no

more). In a week‟s time, we had completed the shoot and Editing. Since

I wanted an impressive looking on-screen presenter, persuaded Srivatsa

to face the camera, for the first time in his life! On 5 September, as I

had planned, it was telecast on Bangalore Doordarshan. Within the next

six months, I paid back my loan by marketing the videotape to schools

and colleges. A special thanks to the then Principal secretary to the

Govt for college education, J P Sharma IAS who gave me an

assignment to train Principals on Motivation. They viewed the video

and bought the tape for their respective colleges. I was so busy that I

had no time to brood over what happened. How true that activity is the

best antidote to depression.

Refurbishing my tarnished image

It was the best opportunity to test my professional prowess by

refurbishing my own tarnished image. I had to strategise and chalk out a

plan. Whether it is a person or product or corporate image, an adverse

press report, can cause a lot of harm. This can be overridden in two

ways. Either you release your version or ignore it and launch some

activities aimed at focused targets, over a period of time. I decided on

the latter and planned my first step. The All India Conference of the

Public Relations Society was to be held at Mumbai in December 94. I

had been pretty active in the previous years‟ Conferences and due to my

dismissal, my absence would be conspicuous. I had to be there and

make an impact in a subtle way. It had to be through an internal

communication channel, of interest to my PR colleagues in a general

way. I had the perfect solution. Etiquette for PR! It was a collection of

my articles published in Mirror magazine some years ago. I approached

my friends to advertise in the booklet which I intended distributing free

to the delegates at the Conference. Those who responded were Baljee of

Harsha Convention Centre, Col C K Ramesh of UNITECH, Desmond

Rice of Tycoons, M B Jayram of KPCL, Sanjeeb Chauduri of Citibank

Cards and Jayant Kumar of BPL. I was at the Conference, a copy of my

book in every delegate‟s kit and on the dais, for the Chief guests. By

being present at a professional gathering, just a few months after a

debacle, I had communicated to my peers that I had nothing to shy

away from. My slate was clean. The book had other positive spin-offs.

Some of the PROs wrote back for copies to be introduced as a training

material in their organization. Many bought it as corporate conduct kit

for their new recruits. The book is in its fourth edition now! It opened

up a whole new business opportunity. I had found the other door. I

walked through it to look the world in the eye.

My friend in SAVY, a popular women‟s magazine I used to write for,

contributed to my image by featuring me in their festival fashion page,

along with a few celebrities. Padmaja Kirloskar, who owns an Ad

agency, invited me on board as a freelance copywriter; other friends in

the audio/visual business, gave out script writing assignments;

Rotarians had me speak in their clubs. Training managers in many

organizations like NTPC, Godrej and Boyce, HPCL, BPL, KSBPE,

SIEMENS etc gave me assignments to train their employees in Image

building. I am especially grateful to B K Rajkumar of Godrej & Boyce,

Gita Kumar (formerly of SICOM) for keeping me professionally active

in training. Mr. Vijay Gore, IAS facilitated my heading the first

women‟s wing of the Bangalore Management Association. Here I

would like to mention that every time I approached an organization for

an assignment, I made it a point to tell the authorities concerned that I

was a dismissed employee of HMT. This increased their confidence in

me.

Exciting assignments

Flipping through a copy of Business World, in the Bangalore Club

library, I came across an interesting Ad. Want to be another Peter

Drucker? It challenged. I sent my resume and was called for an

interview by the Executive Director of First Computers, an end-user

Computer training Institute (part of the legendary Brilliant Tutorials).

Though I did not qualify for what they were looking for, they retained

me as a consultant Editor of a Youth magazine they wanted to launch,

as part of their PR strategy. I enjoyed putting the publication together

but unfortunately, after three issues, it had to be shelved for a while as

other business priorities claimed precedence.

Responding to another newspaper Ad, I joined a

footwear export house as PR Consultant till they also put it on second

track, to conserve cash flow. Engineering Company retained my

services to bring out a House journal. I was getting more and more

convinced of the fact that PR was not one of the top concerns of an

organization. They do not have the patience to let it work for them. It is

not like advertising where you expect customers to respond

immediately after reading about a product/ service. PR is a slow, sure

method of gaining long-term credibility, which translates into profits in

the distant future. It is like a fixed deposit. I decided to promote PR

through HRD by training employees on Image building and its value,

No support from women

While I got professionally busy, somewhere deep within, was an urge to

reach out to other women who probably had their own setbacks to deal

with and were clueless as to how to go about it. In my informal talks

with homemakers, students and career women, I had detected a feeling

of week acceptance of the negative baggage they were carrying. When I

was going through the trauma at HMT, I often turned to successful

women who only advised me to surrender to the system and solicit my

boss‟s help to bail me out. It did not appeal to me. I met women

Politicians like Mrs. Margaret Alva and Mrs. Basavarajeswri to contain

the terrorism unleashed on me but they took no action though the

former was Minister for Personnel and public grievance at that time.

Mrs. Ala was quoted in TOI(AUG 20 1997) saying that women at

decision making levels cannot really do much for those at lower

level.30-40 women in Parliament cannot change the destiny of cores of

those lagging behind. Neither did WIPS take it up as a violation of a

woman employee‟s right to survive in an organization. I called a well

known writer on women‟s issues, to debate in her column on what was

happening to me. She refused to consider it saying there were many

women executives who had similar battles and it was a personal matter.

I met a senior Police official who had made a statement in the Media

that he would help women in distress. I asked him for help and he very

apologetically said that distress as far as Police is concerned, refers only

to physical.

And HMT came under the governance of a woman Minister!

I wrote a letter to the National Commission for women in Delhi,

attaching the Court order of the Single Judge and appealed for their

intervention to advise HMT to stop the harassment and respect the

order. Spent a lot of money on speed post-no reply. I wish they had at

least acknowledged the appeal even if they could not do anything about

it. Their total apathy was very disheartening.

All this convinced me that women activists raise slogans and fight for

rights of a group but there is no one to champion the cause of

individuals who are undergoing hardships, unless they are related to

domestic violence. Women with workplace harassment have to fend for

themselves. How many of us are equipped with the courage, family

support and economic back up, to face injustice head-on? How many

women are empowered to fight their own battles? I thought of these

questions in the context of my own experience. If my husband and

children had urged me to resign rather than face the wrath of the

management, I probably would have done so.

But they left the choice to me with their assurance of support, whatever

my decision. How many women have this support? So, women have to

learn to take care of themselves and stick by each other. I was advised

by some to project my situation in HMT as a gender-based issue and

raise mayhem. But I thought that would be cowardly. It would be like

taking cover under mama‟s apron. I wished there was an organization

which would give me the moral support to go ahead with my decision,

whatever it be. Since I could not find one, I decided to start one myself!

It started as an informal discussion with Rear Admiral B R Vasant, at

the Retired Naval Officer‟s Foundation lunch in 1995. He asked me

what I intended doing with myself and I told him about the organization

I had in mind. What are you waiting for? He asked. Some money to

print letterheads and visiting cards atleast! I joked. A few weeks late, I

got a cheque from his office. I had no excuse now. It was time to

seriously draw out a charter of intent.

Mentors at work

Jija Hari Singh a senior Police officer and my good friend, helped me

focus my objectives. She and I had interacted on several occasions, on

the issue of women finding support within their group. We had attended

the WIPS Conference at Delhi when she was Vigilance Chief at NTC.

Dr Kiran Bedi had spoken about her LARC (large roof concept) at a

Rotary Conference and that appealed to me. It blended with my

philosophy of networking. Madhura Chatrapathi and I had deliberated

oftentimes on the idea of hand holding as an empowerment requisite.

Slowly, the picture became clear. The organization would be based on

the principle of women being friends of each other. It would not offer

props for support but prepare women to be strong enough to bear their

cross with a smile. It would make women feel good about themselves

by showing them how to maximize their potential. It would reveal to

them the secret formula of getting positive results out of negative

situations, by merely switching attitudes. It would make women, not

adversaries of men but allies, to work shoulder to shoulder, so that they

double their resources. It would not have an activist angle but a self-

development slant; the beneficiaries being individuals rather than a

group with certain characteristics. In short, it would work at the level of

mind-set turnaround and attitude shift. It would be a global network of

women so they can access each other‟s services/expertise/products.

Checking out the idea

Having spelt out the mission statement, I put together a training

module, Joy of working, for women employees. Organizations

responded favourably and it was a runway success with participants. It

was the right mix and ready to be served. Different versions of it for

students and homemakers worked wonderfully. Women were ready to

accept the message- stop passing the buck and take responsibility for

your actions. They enjoyed the challenge of taking charge of their lives,

which was hitherto being directed by others. They were happy it was as

simple as developing a healthy self-esteem and not going on a collision

path with their family.

Birth of Guild of Women Achievers (GOWA)

Having tried out the concept on the target audience, the next step was to

find a suitable name. It had to be self-explanatory so it symbolises the

ethos. Guild of Women Achievers (GOWA) sounded fine. It has a

positive ring and does not offer any sops. It presupposes that all women

are achievers, which is true. It is just that most women are not aware of

their strengths and succumb to leading a life of buried/wasted talents.

The membership was to be open to all women above 18. No fee was

stipulated as it means chasing renewals every year and creating an

infrastructure for it. But some financial commitment would bring in

seriousness on the part of the members. A onetime registration fee of

Rs 250(now 500) seemed a satisfactory deal.

After observing the fate of many associations that are ridden with

internal factions and power politics, I decided to register GOWA as a

Trust with an executive committee and Board of advisors nominated by

the Trustees, every year. This is to ensure that the vision is intact and

does not crumble under cross fires. It is basically a family Trust with a

Public purpose. I felt the organization would be healthier without

divisive forces fighting for controls at a later stage. The Deed makes

provision for members of my family to succeed me. All documents of

the Trust will be transparent and available for scrutiny by concerned

departments. A Chartered Accountant handles its financial affairs.

GOWA takes off

Having finalised all aspects, the inauguration was to coincide with the

International Women‟s Day, 8 March 1996. When I requested

Mrs. Sayeda Khurshid, wife of the Governor, to flag off GOWA, she

wondered why she was chosen as she is a homemaker and not a

professional. I explained the concept of GOWA. As first lady of the

state (she was the wife of the Governor of Karnataka) she was the right

choice. The audience, comprising of women from all walks of life, gave

her a standing ovation for her spontaneous talk on the role of women in

preserving peace at home and in society. GOWA had proved on its day

of inception, that there are many flowers with their beauty hidden

behind four walls!

Dream comes true

I had a dream and it became a reality exactly twenty months after what

I thought was the end of my world. It happened because I did not waste

my life wallowing in self-pity. On the other hand, I used my experience

to gauge the need of women like me and tell them you can do it. I

converted my individual battle against injustice, to a collective

movement. It is called narcissistic altruism I believe! One swallow

however, does not make summer. Just by my telling women to have

faith in themselves, I cannot convince them. They need more role

models that can show them the way out of diverse situations. That was

the rationale behind compiling a book From Destiny to determination,

you can do it. A press release calling for first person accounts of

overcoming obstacles in life brought in many interesting stories. Amrita

Chak, one of GOWA‟s advisors and former journalist with Hindustan

Times, offered to edit the narration. Ashok, Nitin and Jagdeesh of NJ

Publishers friends of GOWA, offered to publish the collection. They

went the extra mile and put together the whole package of stationery,

membership forms, lapel pins and sponsored the Press Conference!

GOWA started off on the right foot with the wholehearted support of

men who believed in its concept. What made the book possible was

corporate involvement, which came in the form of message

sponsorship. The inspirational book with a foreword by Kiran Bedi was

released by T P Issar who was the Chief Secretary of the Govt. of

Karnataka, himself a writer of repute.

Media helps

The most encouraging response came from the Media. The Press

Conference was represented by all major publications which hailed the

birth of GOWA as an innovative stride towards women development. I

have always believed in seeking Media support to back a venture. It is

the best way of communicating your vision to a wide audience. But the

project should be thoroughly explained and a periodic report given to

the reporters as to what is happening. What made me happy was the

enthusiasm of young women journalists who gave GOWA extensive

coverage

During my training sessions with women working in organizations, I

found out how little management does to make the environment

congenial for working women by way of infrastructure. While equality

is fine, certain gender specific requirements have to be generated.

GOWA held a one-day conference on the role of organizations in

empowering their women employees. HRD and Personnel executives of

different companies attended it. We formulated a series of

recommendations and have been mailing it to corporate houses for

implementation. What pains me is the attitude of women working in

HRD functions. Very few of them have the commitment to make

conditions better for women employees.

I also find women in higher rungs of the corporate ladder shy away

from associating themselves with developmental programmes for

women for fear of being branded „feminists‟ by their male colleagues.

Surprisingly, men are more forthcoming in this activity, provided you

project it the right way. Most men are wary of women‟s organizations,

as they perceive them to be militant and anti-men. I guess they are right

to some extent!

Waking up women

Economic independence, to some extent, can give a woman self worth.

Many homemakers are trapped in what they feel is a thankless job and

are frustrated. They have free time, which they would like to utilise

towards economically productive activities but do not know how to go

about it. To give them some direction, GOWA organized an enterprise

awareness programme, which resulted in over 200 women signing up

for more information and training to set up income generating activity.

But here again, I find many women do not have sincerity of purpose. At

the first sight of an obstacle, they run back to their cozy cocoons. They

need a lot of self motivation to go out into the world to find a place in

the Sun instead of taking shelter under the family tree. They need to

have a more aggressive, go-get-it attitude, which they lack.

Raising funds for a good cause

I have used my experience in Sales (my first job after college was as a

sales girl in an up market sari showroom) Marketing , Advertising ,

Market Research (moderated over 500 qualitative research focus group

in Mumbai for Ad agencies)Journalism, Public Relations, Teaching and

Training , to run a not-for-profit centre like GOWA. All the above

skills are necessary to promote the objectives of a Voluntary

organization (VO). Fund raising is the bane of all VOs. Since there are

many good causes and the givers are few, one has to know exactly

where and governmental levels no doubt help. But I have never

depended only on them. I knock on strange doors and have found

willing listeners. The key to successful fund raising is timing and

tapping the right source. It is no use going with an appeal to business

houses during the tail end of their financial year. One has to identify the

companies that have something in common with the objectives of the

VO so they too get some commercial mileage out of it. It makes sense

to find out what projects are backed by whom and go to them instead of

Sten gun shooting. As PR chief in HMT, I had to deal with umpteen

appeals for Souvenir Ads from VOs while I had a limited budget

allotted for them. Naturally, the ones closest to our business interests

and the bosses got the preference. One must never go back to the same

donor over and over again. Which means, having an exhaustive list and

tapping them by turn. Donors also look for mileage, so a creative way

of doing it will be an advantage. VOs must be lean and mean

organizations to keep the overheads low so more of the money coming

in reaches beneficiaries than used for pay cheques, potted plants and

pink drapes. It is a good idea to keep Donor/sponsors informed of all

activities of the VO through newsletters or fliers, so they know where

their money is being spent. A little publicity about the donors‟

generosity will be helpful for future dole outs!

Happy ending

Out of adversity comes an inner strength and sensitivity to your

surroundings. If I had been a run of the mill PR Chief in HMT, I would

have probably scaled executive heights, enjoyed perks like company car

and paid holidays and retired with a fat sum of pension benefits. But I

chose to be a change agent, got kicked out and here I am, still a change

agent, but with a larger canvas to paint on and the freedom to choose

the colours I want. I believe that God does something to you so he can

do something through you. I lost a molehill to gain a mountain.

The battle begins

While I went on with my life and took the shoddy treatment meted out

to me by HMT, in my stride, I was getting my act ready to challenge the

dismissal. I knew it would be difficult to fight against an organization

single-handed. I would have to commandeer all my resources, patience

and tenacity myself that I was not one to take injustice, mutely.

Legal recourse

Speaking at a meeting of the Karnataka State unit of the All India

Lawyer‟s Federation, its Vice President said the legal system is riddled

with corruption. Not aware of this, I decided to seek justice from the

High Court of Karnataka. As a senior executive of a PSU, I could not

approach the Labour court or CAT. It had to be through a Writ in the

High Court. A well wisher lawyer friend suggested Subramnya Jois, a

leading advocate known for his prowess in service matters. He listened

to my story and said, you have a hundred percent winnable case. I will

get you back in the company before the court closes for summer. This

was in 1994. He filed the writ petition and it was admitted. It came up

for hearing a couple of times but Jois got it pushed as he wanted it to

come up before a Judge who would view it positively! That is when I

learnt that certain Judges have a pro/anti view and Advocates prefer to

pick their judges! And I thought there was something called justice for

all. At this point, I would like to mention that when we approach a

lawyer to take up our case, we put our faith in the person‟s knowledge,

skill and commitment. We believe, he/she will have our interest at heart

and go the extra mile to get us reprieve. Nothing is more devastating

than being let down by such a person.

My case was once heard in the court of justice M F Saldanha. He gave

a date for the following week. As luck would have it, an advocate died

that day and all the advocates including Jois went for the funeral. Little

did I know that it was to be the death of my case too! This is a clear

case of justice delayed and denied.

The long wait

Nothing happened. The courts closed for summer and I was still a

dismissed employee. Each time I called Jois, he pacified me saying he

would move the court. Since I was busy running GOWA, I left it to him

to take care of my interest. This went on till October 1998. I was tired

of waiting. One day, I went to his house and requested him to return my

file (running into two volumes of over 500 pages!) I went home, tot ally

confused about my next plan of action. I consulted my Advocate friend

N K Venkateshwar who went through the charges and my supporting

documents to prove my innocence. He was flabbergasted that an inquiry

officer can be so prejudiced as to give such a perverse report. A few

days later, I spoke to one of the members of GOWA, who got me an

appointment with her husband, Justice Rama Jois. He heard me out in

his chamber at home. At the end of it, he said you will win this hands

down. The inquiry report is full of perverse findings. Go ahead and

argue your own case.

Appearing in court

Imagine standing before a Judge in the High court with only a degree in

law and no experience at all in the courtroom! I did not know how to

begin my argument. Justice Gopala Gowda was looking at me. I

recalled our last stormy meeting two years ago when he was

interviewing the candidates for enrolment to the Bar. I was one of them.

Since I was out of a job, I thought I would enroll and become a lawyer.

He had asked me to produce the charge sheet issued by HMT and I

challenged it saying it had no relevance to the enrolment. He was livid

at my audacity and said I was very argumentative. I told him I was

entering a profession, which called for that skill! Hearing the exchange,

the Chairman of the Bar Council joined in and chided me for making a

scene. I told him I did not start it! I could not care less. When you are

badgered from many sides for no fault of yours, you just say forget it

and become daring. I was not allowed to enroll. It was secondary

victimization!

One more avenue for reemployment was shut in my face. Would Justice

Gopala Gowda remember that altercation and punish me for it again? I

took a deep breath and started speaking. His lordship heard me out

without interrupting. I produced the documents that proved I was

innocent and highlighted the gross injustice done to me by the inquiry

officer who was bent on nailing me. I spoke for twenty minutes and sat

down, drained of all energy. I had relieved every moment and suffered

the pain and ignominy all over again. For the next ten days, the counsel

for HMT, Mrs. Kasturi, went on and on about what was said in the

charge sheet. Heart of heart, she knew the inquiry officer had been

unfair but she was their counsel and had to do justice to them, even if

they were unjust! If I were the company‟s lawyer, I would have advised

them to do the right thing. I would have told them it did not augur well

for a PSU of its stature to stoop so low as to hound an employee just

because some powerful people there did not like her guts. No doubt it is

the duty of a lawyer to defend the client but it is also a moral obligation

to society to uphold truth. Personal prosperity should not be at the cost

of another person‟s pain. How can lawyers who win a case, fully aware

the errant person is getting off the hook, be able to sleep at night? Does

conscience take a back seat?

The verdict

My heart was thumping double time as the judge settled down in his

chair to pronounce the Order. I could hear his words as if he were

speaking from miles away. Then the sounds became louder….as if he

were screaming into my ears…reinstate with full benefits and back

wages….tears rolled down my eyes…tears of pain released from its

confines for four years…tears of an unleashed shame so far trapped

under my willpower…tears of gratitude to the judge who put aside his

bias and upheld his duty of being fair. It poured and poured as my body

wracked with pent up emotions. I could feel Mrs. Kasturi‟s hand on my

shoulder. After all she is human, was my first thought, Srivatsa held me

while escorting me to the car as I kept sobbing. Did you lose? Asked a

lawyer friend when she saw me…through my tears, I managed to tell

her I had won!

Back to court!

I wrote to the CMD seeking permission to report for duty. An

impersonal letter from the admin officer said they were aggrieved by

the Order and would appeal against it. This was harassment with a

vengeance! The gracious thing for the CMD to do would have been to

respect the verdict and I would have resigned after joining. All I wanted

was to sit in the chair for a day and come out with dignity. They could

keep the job. To what levels your own colleagues whom you had

interacted with can get! The CMD, K Ramanuja (who was under

scrutiny for corruption later) happened to be my husband‟s relative

and a very close friend of my late father-in-law. He had been very co

operative when he was in the watch directorate as he knew PCN

thought highly of me! All he had to do was let me join. He forgot the

friendship, the relationship and above all the camaraderie he had shown

earlier. So it was back to the court. This time, it was before a Division

bench of two judges. The company wanted senior counsel Mr. Kasturi

(MK) himself to appear! I had heard a lot about him. He is a leading

counsel representing major companies. It was an honour to stand beside

him and argue my case. By now, I was more confident and got used to

the surroundings which did not intimidate me anymore. I always

dressed in black and white to court. The senior Judge, Justice Ashok

Bhan asked me if I were a practicing lawyer. I told him I was yet to

enroll but wore black and white to blend with the environment. He was

amused and said why don‟t you enroll? We need people like you in the

bar.

His Lordship asked me to begin but warned me that the appeal raised a

legal point and I did not have the necessary expertise to deal with it. I

told him that the Learned Single judge had elaborated in his Order and

it was obvious the Appellant, HMT had no case really. You see that fan

up there? His Lordship said, I know it is. But you have to convince me

with evidence. If you cannot afford a lawyer, the court will appoint one

for you. I told him I would go back to Subramania Jois who had filed

the initial petition. This time Jois assured me he would do the needful.

He was very appreciative of my having argued so well before the Single

Judge and said this phase of appeal would be a cakewalk. I trusted him

and left for US for four months, as my son Anil wanted Srivatsa and me

to come and relax a while after all that I had been through.

Delayed again

Each time I called Jois, he kept telling me he would file a memo to get

the case posted. When I came back, I asked him what happened and it

was the same old answer… he would file a memo. I would like to talk

about consumer rights Vis a Vis lawyer and client contract. The client

trusts the lawyer to take care of his/her interest and believes all steps are

taken towards this. When the lawyer does not do so, it is breach of trust.

With other manufacturers or service providers, it is easy to go to the

Consumer court for redressal of any grievance. What does one do when

a lawyer does not give satisfactory service? I had full faith in Jois and

he failed me miserably. He made no attempt to vacate the stay that

HMT had got. He kept me in the dark by assuring me he was doing

something. Since I was busy with GOWA, I left it entirely to him. This

went on for another three years. I had a court order in my favour and

still waiting for something to happen!

Switching lawyers

Tired of waiting, I went to Jois and got back my file. If he was not

interested in my case, he should not have accepted it. Sitting on it for

three years and then returning the file is so unprofessional. This is

perhaps one of the manifestations of „corruption‟. Then came another

advocate into my life. She was Madhumita Bagchi, who joined GOWA.

I was very impressed by her knowledge of Law and her swanky office

and her credentials as standing counsel for the Income Tax Department.

She was representing employees of many corporations and her

communication skill matched her acumen in legal matters. She was

keen on taking up my case. We had many sessions at her office with her

two junior colleagues, Veena Rao and Rakesh Prabhu making notes.

Rakesh particularly was very keen and he was the one who drafted the

IA for vacation of stay. Confident that Madhumita would handle it well,

I left for US to Anil‟s house as my daughter-in-law had taken up a job

and wanted Srivatsa and me to help her take care of our grandchildren.

Since I wanted to be present at the hearing, I emailed Madhumita to ask

for a later date by explaining to the Judge my compulsion for going to

US. She promised to do so.

Let down again

When Madhumita signed up as member of GOWA, she availed an

interest free loan from GOWA goodwill fund. She said she was creating

legal software for service matters with case laws and citations. It

sounded a very innovative project and I gave her a short-term loan for

three months. Even recommended her to friends who gave her soft

loans. On my return from US, my accountant told me that the cheque

Madhumita gave bounced and all calls to her went unanswered. The

friend who had lent her money called me and said their cheques had

bounced too! Imagine an advocate who has to uphold law, doing

something illegal herself. I realised I would have no hold on her and

gave her a curt notice to return the money to GOWA or I would expose

her to the Press. This threat worked and she returned the loan. A few

months after this, Madhumita absconded, leaving behind a trail of

debtors. She has not been traced till date.

Before the division Bench

Once more, I was left holding the case file. I approached the Registrar

and got my case posted. I would appear myself. Rakesh and Veena who

were with Madhumita, had become my friends and were willing to help.

Rakesh was to be amicus curiae. The senior of the two judges was

Justice Kumar Rajarathnam. I told him I was party in person and he

looked a little annoyed. He gave a date for the next hearing and said I

hope you are not flying off somewhere. I wondered what that was for

and later Rakesh told me that Madhumita projected my US trip as a

jaunt, without disclosing the purpose of my visit. Obviously, he thought

I was a kind of flibberty gibbet, giving the file to a lawyer, taking it

away from her and globetrotting! I requested the case to be referred to

Lok Adalat, as I wanted arbitration for an out of court settlement.

At the Lok Adalat, Mrs. Kasturi appeared on behalf of HMT and said

the company was not interested in arbitration and wanted it to be settled

in the HC. So back it went to the Division bench. Powers that be at

HMT were bent on harassing me to the hilt. I was prepared to go

through the trauma.

I felt a little intimidated by Justice Kumar Rajarathnam. MK asked for

an adjournment. His Lordship (HL) told him to argue the case and not

make a party in person wait. MK said he did not have his files. HL told

him to send for them through his juniors. Meanwhile HL asked me to

read the first order. He asked me if I wanted someone to read it for me.

I steeled myself and started reading. He looked disinterested but I kept

on, interspersing it with my arguments. I saw him changing his posture

and his body language showed attention. When I finished, he said you

have substance in your case. I must say you have done well, even with

the Single judge. He then addressed MK saying senior counsel, get off

your ego and tell your client to get off their ego too. Settle something

with this lady. He gave another date of hearing before which MK was to

speak to the management of HMT and arrive at some settlement. I

called the CMD (a new man) and met him at his office. He confessed he

did not know anything about the case so I briefed him. He promised to

do his best after speaking to Personnel department.

The Group GM-Personnel called me for a meeting the next day and

politely told me they were in no mood to settle and would like to argue

it out in court. This was vengeance as its peak! An entire organization

gets into the act of hounding out an employee and gets together again to

close all doors. How petty can a management get? And this, a wholly

owned Government subsidiary with Committees to monitor the welfare

of women in Public Sector!

I am tempted to comment on the policy of the government to encourage

and empower women to participate at decision-making levels in

corporations and governance. Yet, a government organization harasses

a senior woman executive for running women‟s development

programmes within the company. The WIPS body too did not intervene

and advise the management to stop its vindictive attitude.

On the date of hearing, I sat in the courtroom waiting for the Judges

and MK. That day, the Advocates were on strike and the courtroom was

empty except for the court clerk. The Honourable judges came and were

about to start when some of the advocates came into the courtroom and

requested the Judges not to hear any matter. Justice Kumar Rajarathnam

told them that I was a party in person and court etiquette warranted his

hearing my case. The advocates were very adamant so His Lordship had

no choice but to leave.

I approached the Registrar again and he got my case posted for the next

day. The daily cause list carried my name but not MKs so he did not

appear! Now I realised why cases drag on for years. The court clerk

blamed the stenographer.

I don‟t know what happened between these quirks of the court but at the

next hearing, Justice Kumar Rajarathnam gave me a shock when he said

rather curtly you have a bad case. The last time, he had said there was

substance in my case. Now he says I have a bad case. I was prepared for

anything. Veena, Rakesh and Srivatsa, who were always with me in the

court hall, were equally confused. How can a case have substance on

one day and be bad on another day? It is not a perishable commodity!

Another Judge

The senior Judge changed by the next hearing. Justice S R Nayak was

to hear the case. I had to say it all over again. I had said it so often that

the facts were at the tip of my tongue. For nearly four hours I spoke

with His lordship clarifying some matters in between. I turned back

once to see the court hall full of advocates. There I was-a five-foot

nothing with just a Degree in Law and the audacity of arguing against

none other than the tall, experienced wizard in corporate law. The

feeling was awesome. When I was back after lunch, the court peon who

was behind me said madam, you argued very well. Another lady

advocate who was listening all along in the courtroom, told me I would

walk through the case as I had very legally relevant points to make.

Even MK told me grudgingly that I was well prepared.

His Lordship reserved the matter for orders.

The long wait

The court closed for Diwali and Christmas and summer but the orders

were not ready! How can a Judge remember for so long what he heard

in the court four months ago? Their memory must be elephantine to be

able to write a judgment by recalling something they heard along with

so many matters.

The judgment

All my hopes were shattered in two minutes as Justice S R Nayak read

the operative part of his orders. In short, he set aside the order of the

Learned Single Judge and dismissed the petition. Surprisingly, I felt no

emotion. Having seen the swings of justice in this very court I believed

anything could happen. I looked back to see Srivatsa‟s face. He was

stunned and so were Veena and Rakesh. Young budding lawyers, with a

lot of faith in the right and wrong of law and its nuances, they could not

understand the logic behind the verdict.

The review petition

Both Rakesh and Veena strongly felt that I should seek a review of the

order. It could be that the honourable Judges had overlooked key points

due to the long gap. They set about researching SC cases and collecting

citations. They were furious. This could not happen. The appeal by

HMT was based on their contention that the learned single Judge had no

authority to reappreciate evidence according to article 226. Rakesh

went in detail to prove that the learned single judge was very much

within his limits and cited many SC decisions. Veena, Rakesh and I put

together the review petition, which even MK appreciated as a well-

drafted one, in the court. We were sure it would reverse the order in my

favour. But we had another shock in store.

Amazing!

The petition was admitted and once again I stood before their

Lordships. Will you take back the officer? His Lordship asked MK. MK

was flustered. No your Lordship, the company has no money. Even the

existing employees are not getting their salary. Here, he is a personnel

officer from the company. He has not got his salary for three months.

Though the petition is well drafted, the company cannot take her back.

Rakesh, Veena and I were speechless. I asked His Lordship what can I

do if the company has no money. Surely I cannot be penalised for that?

Go to the higher court, said His Lordship, refusing to give me a Special

Leave certificate to appeal before the SC. So much for justice! It was

most amazing-this kind of dispensing justice. Like in a film-

unbelievable.

Supreme Court chalo!

While organizing a workshop on legal awareness for employees of the

Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, through GOWA, I met Mr.

Arali Nagraj, the member secretary of the Karnataka State Legal

service Authority. (KSLSA). I shared with him my concern about

moving the SC. He told me that the KSLSA offered free legal aid to

women and I could approach their office. I gave his office an

application and copies of the HC orders. They sent it to the Supreme

Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC) in Delhi. Soon, I got a letter

from them saying my case was assigned to their advocate C N

Sreekumar and I could correspond with him. They also gave the paper

book to another Supreme Court Advocate for his legal opinion on

whether it deserved Special leave Petition.

I went to Delhi to meet up with Mr. Sreekumar. He turned out to be a

very committed professional who spent a whole day discussing with me

all the points and going through each charge in detail and the supporting

documents. He was thoroughly convinced that the inquiry report was

perverse and the dismissal was against many legal precedents. Relieved

that I had someone competent to deal with the case, I came back and

soon received another mail from the SCLSC giving me my Diary

Number.

The Legal services Authority

I must make a mention of this wonderful facility that the Government

has set up for women. (The economically weak and the disabled) The

Legal Services Authority is set up in every State and at District levels

too. A woman can walk into any of these and seek free legal aid and

services-right from the lower courts to the Apex. When I availed the

services of this establishment, there were many that were skeptical

about its efficacy. I must vouch for their sincerity and diligence. The

Karnataka state branch sent my papers to the Supreme Court Legal

Services Committee (SCLSC) in Delhi and they in turn acknowledged

receipt. Thereafter they sent me the name and contact details of the

Advocate assigned to deal with my case. When the papers were filed,

the SCLSC mailed me a card with my diary number. My papers were

also given to another Supreme Court Advocate in Delhi for his legal

opinion before filing the SLP. The advocate dealing with my case, C N

Sreekumar, spent many hours going through all documents and

understanding the case.

If had to move the court myself, I would have to pay hefty sums to the

Advocates just to read the papers and then to file SLP, not to mention

the photocopying and postal charges. All this was waived because I am

a woman! Big mercies.

Strange eh!

HMT, wholly owned subsidiary of the Government of India, threw me

out of the job. The division Bench of the High Court and the Apex

Court-another arm of the Government, also supported the dismissal.

Then there is another wing of the same Government-SCLSC-that

extends free help to fight the same system! This is the dichotomy of

India. I Love India.

Curious to see how things work in the Apex court, I went to Delhi the

day my case came up. Sreekumar spent another day with me, going

over every point. I followed him to the Supreme Court of India- a

building I had seen only in the newsreels. This was the ultimate for

anyone seeking justice. It was now or never-here or nowhere. It had a

look of finality about it. A lady took me to a small room and frisked me.

Satisfied I had no lethal weapons, she let me go with a smile. A security

guard saw my pass and let me into court room 10. I sat in the chair

against the wall and looked around. Air conditioned and smaller than a

high court hall, it had a cozy atmosphere. Their Lordships

K G Balakrishnan and B N Srikrishna were going to decide my fate. A

neat electronic panel like you see in banks displays the case serial

number. Mine was 12 and I saw the changing figures with my heart

beating double time. At last it flashed and Sreekumar got up to speak.

In twenty seconds, I knew I had lost it. Their Lordship were quoting the

inquiry report! She is found guilty of 6 charges. Sreekumar pointed out

legal lacunae in those findings and their Lordships talked of my having

too many activities and asked why I did not resign and join Air India!

Saying the single judge cannot act as an appellate authority, they

dropped my file on the desk and the number changed to 13.The Apex

court decided in 5 minutes flat that I was wrong and HMT was right!!

The gist of it

Management can nominate one of its officers as an inquiry

officer and have a domestic inquiry and give a report full of

perverse findings to please the vindictive management and

dismiss an employee for frivolous, fudged and false charges.

The employee, being a senior officer, has no access to Labour

court nor can appear before CAT, but is indicated by an in-

house inquiry panel, which does not even have quasi-judicial

status. She has no alternative but to approach the High court

through a Writ.

The Judge, while hearing the petitioner, finds many flaws in the

inquiry so goes into the facts to separate wheat from chaff.

Convinced that the employee has not erred as projected by the

report, the Judge orders her reinstatement.

His order is set aside on the grounds that he has no authority to

go into facts

The division Bench hears me out and goes through all facts, sets

aside the first order and later admits a review petition of the

same

Hearing the review petition, Division bench asks the

respondent‟s counsel if they can take me back

The Counsel says they cannot, due to money crunch

The review petition is dismissed

The Supreme Court again sets aside the first order saying it is

beyond the purview of the single judge and uploads the findings

of the inquiry officer in his report

Questions that are unanswered

So what does an employee do in this situation?

If the single Judge has no authority, why is the case admitted in

the first place?

Once admitted, is it not the duty of the Judge to go into the facts

of the case?

Once the Judge finds injustice done to the employee, he

naturally passes orders in her favour

Why did the Division bench ask the counsel if the company

could take me back?

Is judgment based on legal evidence or on the whims of the

Judges and counsel?

How come the Apex court took into consideration only the

inquiry report and not my written statement that had more legal

evidence than the inquiry report had?

When a Supreme Court Advocate had given his legal opinion

and the single Judge had gone into the whole matter with a fine

toothed comb; when a senior judge of the Division bench had

found substance in my case, how come the Apex court preferred

to take the findings of the inquiry report as a base for their

judgment?

Action replay

If I could put back the time machine, how would I have

handled my situation in HMT?

Where did I go wrong?

Would it have been wiser to have quit and moved on with

my life instead of going through the torture?

Should I have hired an advocate for the domestic inquiry?

Should I have taken the services of a high fly Advocate in

Delhi as many suggested?

Should I have appealed to the CMD to „save‟ me as a senior

WIPS member from Delhi advised me?

Should I have been more diplomatic in my dealings with my

colleagues?

Should I have just minded my business and tread the beaten

path?

Should I have accepted the Air India job offer instead of

refusing it?

Should I have been a typical PRO and pampered the bosses

instead of speaking my mind?

Should I have……….

As I come to the end of my tale, many questions bother me.

I do not know who can answer them. But as a well wisher put it,

It is better to have fought and lost than never to have put

up a fight at all!

Acknowledgment

Besides God‟s grace, my family has been my greatest

strength while coping with the professional trauma I went

through. I am thankful to;

My husband Srivatsa and sons Dr Arjun and Anil for

empowering me with their encouragement at every

step of my battle.

My daughters-in-law Dr Chetana and Deepali for

their friendship which boosted my guts

My grandchildren Nikita, Karan, Kavya and Soorya

for enriching my life with their affection

My parents Dr Bhagavan and Geeta for their

blessings

Guild of Women Achievers A women‟s movement with a difference

Who we are:

A unique network of women from all walks of life

with the primary objective to bring them together and

access each other‟s

products/services/expertise/talents/ideas for personal

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Core principle: Taking responsibility for one‟s

own life

Core policy: Being a friend to another woman

and cheering women achievers

Greatest strength: Empowering women by

helping them tap their potential

To motivate is our motto!

What we do:

Conduct Workshops in stress and time

management , Assertiveness skills,

gender harmony at work and

implications of sexual harassment at

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Run a Women Achievers Radio

channel(W.A.R) with relevant

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know because Knowledge is power