Memoir....Musings of a Sales guy at heart!!
Everything from personal to professional. What life had mirrored and the learning from that....
For a start, I don't agree with the saying 'Salesmen are not born but are made'.
I would say salesmen are born and their skills are polished by constant learning and from inspirational bosses. I think many of us who others recognise as successful (highly subjective though), would have the traits of a street smart salesman in them...whether you are in sales, marketing, finance or general management. If you are not a salesman at heart, you cant be successful in anything. Even a story teller has to be good at selling his story to a prospective producer or director...
This is the 'prologue' of what I gonna share with you thru my blogs.
For someone from a very humble background and becoming the COO of Diageo India and to move as General Manager Gulf Operations, a post held for the first time by an Indian in Diageo in the Gulf region to Regional Director of Middle East, Africa and South Asia with Whyte & Mackay and floating Geoscope with Sudeep, Krithi and Vishal....its a journey, I thought, worth sharing. The incidents and the learnings....
It will not be confined to just the career but also some random stuff....
Also guys pl note that am a therapist by choice....run Heal n Hale spiritual healing center in Chennai...
Where do I start....the unconditional love!!!
Yes, the first time I experienced this utterly divine 'unconditional love'.
We are a four member siblings and mostly brought up by the maternal uncle and paternal grand ma.
This is about my grand mother...in Tamil its PATTI...Nani....What a gem of a soul...there was a phase in our life where we were engulfed with utter poverty...we were in our village and lived in a huge ancestral house but a bit dilapidated without electricity connections... My grand fathers time our family was highly respected and revered by the villagers but after he attained the lotus feet, something had gone wrong and the properties just disappeared.. With my fathers brothers moving out of the village to Chennai, Neyveli and Tata Nagar, my father, who was so attached to our village, decided to stay put there. Its not that he was unemployed but he could not stick to any job....he was with the defence accounts in Pune and later with REC-Trichy as librarian...but our village was his priority as he was also respected and revered by the fellow villagers-and that probably gave him all the high...We lost our mother when I was 4 and my younger sister was 2...I studied till 7th at Dalmiapuram where my maternal uncle was working with Dalmia cements and all four of us were under his care. Plus he had to take care of his mom, his wife and his first kid....My Mami really took care of us but with a salary of around 150 or 200 it was impossible for my uncle to manage all four of us....and he truly cared and loved only my elder brother and elder sister and was indifferent to me and to my younger sister. When I finished my 7th standard, self and my younger sister were shifted to my village to continue our studies and I completed till my school final there and my younger sister, after an year at school in the village, gone back to Dalmia.
Everything from personal to professional. What life had mirrored and the learning from that....
For a start, I don't agree with the saying 'Salesmen are not born but are made'.
I would say salesmen are born and their skills are polished by constant learning and from inspirational bosses. I think many of us who others recognise as successful (highly subjective though), would have the traits of a street smart salesman in them...whether you are in sales, marketing, finance or general management. If you are not a salesman at heart, you cant be successful in anything. Even a story teller has to be good at selling his story to a prospective producer or director...
This is the 'prologue' of what I gonna share with you thru my blogs.
For someone from a very humble background and becoming the COO of Diageo India and to move as General Manager Gulf Operations, a post held for the first time by an Indian in Diageo in the Gulf region to Regional Director of Middle East, Africa and South Asia with Whyte & Mackay and floating Geoscope with Sudeep, Krithi and Vishal....its a journey, I thought, worth sharing. The incidents and the learnings....
It will not be confined to just the career but also some random stuff....
Also guys pl note that am a therapist by choice....run Heal n Hale spiritual healing center in Chennai...
Where do I start....the unconditional love!!!
Yes, the first time I experienced this utterly divine 'unconditional love'.
We are a four member siblings and mostly brought up by the maternal uncle and paternal grand ma.
This is about my grand mother...in Tamil its PATTI...Nani....What a gem of a soul...there was a phase in our life where we were engulfed with utter poverty...we were in our village and lived in a huge ancestral house but a bit dilapidated without electricity connections... My grand fathers time our family was highly respected and revered by the villagers but after he attained the lotus feet, something had gone wrong and the properties just disappeared.. With my fathers brothers moving out of the village to Chennai, Neyveli and Tata Nagar, my father, who was so attached to our village, decided to stay put there. Its not that he was unemployed but he could not stick to any job....he was with the defence accounts in Pune and later with REC-Trichy as librarian...but our village was his priority as he was also respected and revered by the fellow villagers-and that probably gave him all the high...We lost our mother when I was 4 and my younger sister was 2...I studied till 7th at Dalmiapuram where my maternal uncle was working with Dalmia cements and all four of us were under his care. Plus he had to take care of his mom, his wife and his first kid....My Mami really took care of us but with a salary of around 150 or 200 it was impossible for my uncle to manage all four of us....and he truly cared and loved only my elder brother and elder sister and was indifferent to me and to my younger sister. When I finished my 7th standard, self and my younger sister were shifted to my village to continue our studies and I completed till my school final there and my younger sister, after an year at school in the village, gone back to Dalmia.
Few years later we all shifted back (3 of us and not my brother). Young and raw....My father was jobless and my brother was trying to get a job....My father's brother who was working in Tata Nagar used to send some amount to my grand ma for her expenses but it turned out that all of us have to manage with in that....and thats the time we experienced extreme poverty....It was such a horrific scene on few days we didnt know where the next meal would come from.
Our grand ma, somehow used to manage the kitchen fire going to feed us but as children we only bothered about filling our own tommy and never bothered to look at whether anything left over for grand ma. But as a kind hearted soul with unconditional love for her grand children - one look at us-she would realise, our tommies are not filled and without any hesitation she would empty the pots to feed us without keeping anything for her. Most of the days a glass of water is what would quell her hunger. She never ever complained. She used to cook in those old, dark kitchen using fire wood emitting thick smoke and thats how she lived her life. And she was a great cook and added to that is the mix of Pure unconditional love in it!!
Most of the time, our meal used to be Jack Fruit as that was one thing which was available to us from ours and neighbours gardens....she would cut it patiently and distribute to all of us equally. She would also keep one portion for her. But we would finish off our portions in a jiffy and she would, with a big smile and a gentle pat, take out whats kept for her and distribute to us....I dont remember her ever complaining of 'hunger' where as we always used to feel the ever burning appetite...may be as we didn't know where the next meal was going to come from.
When guests come home unannounced, she would go crazy as she has to feed them too....so, she would call us and tell us to wait till the guests finish their meal. Whatever is left over, would be served to us without keeping anything for her.
I had grown seeing this and when I reminisce now, I see how this great soul has lived her life. Selfless and for the grand children.
This is not a sob story but from my heart....Whatever we are today, it's her blessings and also the blessings of my maternal grand mother, my maternal uncle and his wife. Every one of them had contributed immensely in making us whatever we are today....a big THANKS GIVING....and my friends in my village. They used to bring food without the knowledge of their folks and feed me. Also the temple in our village and the priest there...They all had a great liking for us and most of the days the temple prasadam used to be our life saver.
Whats the learning....when you are filled with love in your heart, your stomach keeps quiet and your systems get satisfied with just water as it is busy digesting the omnipresent LOVE!!
Our grand ma, somehow used to manage the kitchen fire going to feed us but as children we only bothered about filling our own tommy and never bothered to look at whether anything left over for grand ma. But as a kind hearted soul with unconditional love for her grand children - one look at us-she would realise, our tommies are not filled and without any hesitation she would empty the pots to feed us without keeping anything for her. Most of the days a glass of water is what would quell her hunger. She never ever complained. She used to cook in those old, dark kitchen using fire wood emitting thick smoke and thats how she lived her life. And she was a great cook and added to that is the mix of Pure unconditional love in it!!
Most of the time, our meal used to be Jack Fruit as that was one thing which was available to us from ours and neighbours gardens....she would cut it patiently and distribute to all of us equally. She would also keep one portion for her. But we would finish off our portions in a jiffy and she would, with a big smile and a gentle pat, take out whats kept for her and distribute to us....I dont remember her ever complaining of 'hunger' where as we always used to feel the ever burning appetite...may be as we didn't know where the next meal was going to come from.
When guests come home unannounced, she would go crazy as she has to feed them too....so, she would call us and tell us to wait till the guests finish their meal. Whatever is left over, would be served to us without keeping anything for her.
I had grown seeing this and when I reminisce now, I see how this great soul has lived her life. Selfless and for the grand children.
This is not a sob story but from my heart....Whatever we are today, it's her blessings and also the blessings of my maternal grand mother, my maternal uncle and his wife. Every one of them had contributed immensely in making us whatever we are today....a big THANKS GIVING....and my friends in my village. They used to bring food without the knowledge of their folks and feed me. Also the temple in our village and the priest there...They all had a great liking for us and most of the days the temple prasadam used to be our life saver.
Whats the learning....when you are filled with love in your heart, your stomach keeps quiet and your systems get satisfied with just water as it is busy digesting the omnipresent LOVE!!
That phase of our life was something which probably had helped us to learn the art of 'never say die' attitude....
Fantastic sir. Now i know how you are successful in you life. God bless you sir
ReplyDeleteInspirational. Definitely, it is Grace that has been with you and family. Stay blessed.
ReplyDelete