Watching an interview on TV by Shobha de` over the weekend (Sahara One Channel – Slug: Power Trip) was an interesting experience. She was interviewing Anu Aga, the Chairperson of Thermax India, an energy solutions company. Her husband late Rohinton Aga had founded the company and Anu took over the reins after his demise. And later she lost her son also in an accident. Today she and her daughter Mehr Padamji are at the helm.
What astounded me throughout the interview were Anu’s complete composure and the sense of accepting reality. Talking about the loss of her husband and son, she says though it did shake her initially, the loss also made her realize the reality.
Some quotes:
“I wouldn’t call death, a tragedy. In fact death is the only reality in life. It is like sun set. You don’t call sunset a tragedy, right? To me, it would be tragedy if I don’t get along well with the living when I have the opportunity. To me it would be tragedy if I don’t invest my resources and potentials, when I have the energy and opportunity…. I love my solitude. I have learnt so much from my disadvantages. Sometimes good things can come out of bad things happening to you… ”
Amazing person. And so was the daughter who sounded absolutely practical and clear in her views.
On the contrary, much as I admire Shobha De`, I found her a bit self-conscious throughout the interview. Her measured words delivered in soft hesitant tone, made me doubt if she was in awe of her subjects. Watching through the 30 minutes show, it did come across so.
I liked Anu’s daughter Mehr Padamji’s comparison of Siberian Cranes to the management of corporate world was interesting. She was comparing the system, the discipline, the teamwork, etc.
In fact almost a decade ago, some other corporate personality, Hari Gunasingam of Singapore based control systems and automation company, Eutech Cybernetics, shared similar views about birds in one of my corporate interviews. “Cybernetics is the science of control. There is automation in living and non-living things. If you observe a flock of geese flying on the sky, you would notice that they form certain patterns. When the pattern changes, it is done automatically in tandem. By nature geese are guided by their own inherent rules, about their individual positions in relation to others and how to align with each other.” He was trying to explain the control systems.
Another person, who shared similar comparison and was inspired by birds, is President Abdul Kalaam. When I interviewed him in New Delhi for The Economic Times, soon after he was awarded the Bharat Ratna Award in 1997, he was narrating to me about his early days, his child hood in Rameshwaram and so on.
“ The seeds were sown way back in Rameshwaram, a town in southern India, where I was born and went to school.” He reminisced. “ Situated on the eastern sea coast, the town has sprawling beaches. My house was near seashore. The ocean birds flying in neat flocks and diving into the sea were some of the breath taking scenes that had a lasting effect on me – I used to visualize flying and as I grew, my dreams took concrete shape, ultimately motivating me in my space missions.” He recalled at that time.
What astounded me throughout the interview were Anu’s complete composure and the sense of accepting reality. Talking about the loss of her husband and son, she says though it did shake her initially, the loss also made her realize the reality.
Some quotes:
“I wouldn’t call death, a tragedy. In fact death is the only reality in life. It is like sun set. You don’t call sunset a tragedy, right? To me, it would be tragedy if I don’t get along well with the living when I have the opportunity. To me it would be tragedy if I don’t invest my resources and potentials, when I have the energy and opportunity…. I love my solitude. I have learnt so much from my disadvantages. Sometimes good things can come out of bad things happening to you… ”
Amazing person. And so was the daughter who sounded absolutely practical and clear in her views.
On the contrary, much as I admire Shobha De`, I found her a bit self-conscious throughout the interview. Her measured words delivered in soft hesitant tone, made me doubt if she was in awe of her subjects. Watching through the 30 minutes show, it did come across so.
I liked Anu’s daughter Mehr Padamji’s comparison of Siberian Cranes to the management of corporate world was interesting. She was comparing the system, the discipline, the teamwork, etc.
In fact almost a decade ago, some other corporate personality, Hari Gunasingam of Singapore based control systems and automation company, Eutech Cybernetics, shared similar views about birds in one of my corporate interviews. “Cybernetics is the science of control. There is automation in living and non-living things. If you observe a flock of geese flying on the sky, you would notice that they form certain patterns. When the pattern changes, it is done automatically in tandem. By nature geese are guided by their own inherent rules, about their individual positions in relation to others and how to align with each other.” He was trying to explain the control systems.
Another person, who shared similar comparison and was inspired by birds, is President Abdul Kalaam. When I interviewed him in New Delhi for The Economic Times, soon after he was awarded the Bharat Ratna Award in 1997, he was narrating to me about his early days, his child hood in Rameshwaram and so on.
“ The seeds were sown way back in Rameshwaram, a town in southern India, where I was born and went to school.” He reminisced. “ Situated on the eastern sea coast, the town has sprawling beaches. My house was near seashore. The ocean birds flying in neat flocks and diving into the sea were some of the breath taking scenes that had a lasting effect on me – I used to visualize flying and as I grew, my dreams took concrete shape, ultimately motivating me in my space missions.” He recalled at that time.
2 Comments:
On the contrary, much as I admire Shobha De`, I found her a bit self-conscious throughout the interview. Her measured words delivered in soft hesitant tone, made me doubt if she was in awe of her subjects. Watching through the 30 minutes show, it did come across so.
I have not seen this show as yet, but I thought this show will be one of those page 3 kind of shows. Hopefully, will try to watch the upcoming ones.
With regard to the "soft hesitant tone", hope she is not trying to outdo the Simi show - which is mostly full of cliches.
Sanchapanzo,
page 3 show? I don't think so. actually this was the first one that I saw also in this series and the title gives an impression that it is about corporate world. But it was not like Simi's all white, gooyey, sugar dripping, ivory tower shows :-)
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