Ramucchettan (Ram Menon) remembered

On the 17^th of July (2019) I was in a car heading for Kolhapur when the message reached me that Ramucchettan passed away peacefully at 10.56AM in the Aster Aadhar Hospital where he was admitted a few days earlier with breathing problems. The next 3 hours or so were the most miserable time in my life for many years. Who am I to grieve for this man? As far as family ties go, he was the son of my grandmother’s first cousin. If that is not far enough he was one of the doyens of Kolhapur industry, a very rich businessman. Figuratively speaking if I am a piece of ice, Ram Menon was the North Pole! The closest I came to him in ‘status’ was being on the Board of an export company of which he too was a director. That was in 1984.

My family was closer to his thanks to my Grandmother Parukutty Amma’s special relationship with her cousin Kunjukutty Amma. In fact we were not in the habit of visiting other relatives living in the ancestral Thottappillil house (tharavaadu) less than hundred meters away, I remember. Thereby hangs a tale, which presently I am not going into. When I was a high school student I used to go to fetch excess milk they had for us. I remember Ramucchettan’s uncles Karunakaramama and Parameswaramama, and their late mother’s sister, Narayanivalliamma; Parameswaramama I remember lived with them in his last years in the house. The house we called “Ullisseryil” for reasons I didn’t bother to verify, belonged to Chandrancchettan, Ramucchettan, their sister Vishaluchechi and her two daughters –Vijaya and Vasanthi. They had an Ashoka tree, in front (east) of the house - not too tall - but with dense foliage and full of orange-yellow and red flowers. I remember Ramucchettan’s “marriage party” coming to that house wading through water on the submerged ‘varambu’ (bund between paddy fields on either side). Edathiyamma’s father A P Menon was incidentally my Class Teacher; he wrote the details in my SSLC book in his own hand-writing. Since I scored high marks in his subject – English- he had a special liking for me which I thought must have increased with his daughter getting married into our family! Years later, it was from his obituary that I learned the before joining Panangad High School, Sri. A P Menon had retired from Jaffna College, in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) as a professor.

Chandrancheettan who used to be called Chandran by elders in my family, particularly Valliamman, my mother’s eldest brother, and Ramucchettan who used to be referred to as Ramakrishnan were later known to me as big industrialists in Kolhapur, making diesel pumps for the purpose of irrigation. One such diesel pumpset was gifted to my grand uncle, Kunhunnimootthammaman (T.Kunhunni Menon) when I was staying with him for my college education. That is when I realised that Chandranchettan and Ramucchettan also used to stay with him for higher studies (Chandranchettan for His Mechanical Engineering Diploma) when he was employed in Peirce Leslie Company Ltd, Kozhikode, just as I did, because he had no children. Several generations of youngsters from our family used to stay with Mootthammaman. Chandranchettan and Ramuccettan had high regards for him. I remember the letters Mootthammaman dicated to me to be sent to Chandranchettan used to be addressed to “T C K Menon” – that was before the brothers shortened their names to Chandran Menon and Ram Menon, I suppose

Once Chandranchettan on vacation came to see Moothammaman, and found his eyesight was poor. He immediately took him to a doctor in Ernakulam and got medicines and spectacles. Mootthammaman who couldn’t tell a decent lie all his life, or even exaggerate anything reasonably, was so impressed by Chandranchettan’s magnificent, winged Plymouth car that he went on telling people about how “Chandran’s car could carry twenty-five people” to my great embarrassment when children of his in-laws poked my ribs asking whether it wasn’t a mini-bus!

I had no interaction with the “Menons of Kolhapur” (as a business magazine described putting them on the cover page) for years till one day Ramucchettan came to my office in Nariman Point accompanied by Raghavachettan (P.Raghavamenon) husband of one of my first cousins. (I realised later that whenever he found time, Ramucchettan liked seeking out relatives and getting connected!) I was sales manager in a small private company then. He saw me sneezing and I told him about my allergic cold. He told me he had the problem too and found relief in a medicine he got from Bangalore, and promised to send it to me. It came soon with a messenger. I suspected there could be some steroid in the powder because I had done extensive reading about common cold, allergic cold and associated respiratory issues since I lost IPS selection due to inadequate chest expansion during the crucial medical examination on account of these. I didn’t dare use the medicine though its efficacy was endorsed by Ramucchettan. Later when we met he told me it was indeed a mistake: it had some steroid in it and the guy treating with it was in trouble with the law.

I went to Kolhapur and met him in person in 1983 after our wing of Thottappillil family established a trading company called ‘Menon Impex Limited’ and had an export order worth over Rs.2crores from a Soviet Government firm and found no money to execute it. My cousin Dr.Raji Menon who did his medical studies in Moscow was behind the venture. We set up an industrial unit in Kandla Free Trade Zone (KAFTZ) in Gandhidam, Gujarat where we could import components for sewing machine motors from japan, assemble and export to the Soviet Union. Roughly seventy per cent of the order’s worth was import bill. I went around meeting known and unknown managers of various banks and it struck me for the first time that the banks do not lend exactly by the rule books I had studied in the management course in the Mumbai’s (then Bombay) prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies! Export order from a foreign government and a Letter of Credit to boot was of no attraction to Public Sector bankers. They wanted you to prove to them you were rich enough not to need their help!

After a week of hunting for bank finance, we thought of our rich cousins in Kolhapur. Rajan wouldn’t go to them because over a commercial dispute with ‘Hong Kong Gopicchettan’ (Ramucchettan’s daughter’s father-in law) it was an order given to Gopitex earlier taken back by him to our new company! I spoke with Ramucchettan over the phone and was invited to Kolhapur for discussions. I went, and met Chandranchettan and Ramucchettan in their house ‘Kairali’. Obviously the brothers had discussed the matter. Chandranchettan’s words were clear and emphatic: “I am a manufacturer by profession. Trading is not my line of business. Ramu seems to have a different view. Let him decide!” I go with Ramucchettan to his “workshop” (till the last he used to call his huge factory employing some 500 people “workshop”, because that was how they started out in Kolhapur! In his well-appointed room in ‘Menon Pistons Limited’ we hold talks. His uneasiness was about how Gopicchettan would take it. I volunteered to draft an appropriate message for him to telex to Gopicchettan in Nigeria the latter would find difficult to reject! Gopicchettan must have been right there to read it and pat came his reply, quoting words from the message he received: “you have my permission and blessings. Please go ahead!” Ramucchetten becomes a Director in MIL, and finances the venture through his Janata Cooperative Bank, and City Union Bank, if I remember right.

I remember dealing with him was very easy; he knew all aspects of business, contingencies and all. RD Dixit was introduced to me. He was Technical Director of MPL. He was a soft-spoken man, meticulous and systematic to perfection. Vijayapalanchettan (now no more) was Director Administration. He was a cousin of Edathiyamma and had also married from Thottappillil. He could be adamant about cash transactions anybody in his place would be. But Ramucchettan would call him over and persuade to part with lakhs of rupees in cash legally. Ramucchettan would tell me in private in appreciation of the calibre and loyalty of the two deputies “these guys catch on to a given responsibility like our Udumbu (monitor lizard); will never let go off it till the job is accomplished! After successful completion of the first business Ramucchettan gave me a gift parcel. I declined to accept it. He said he had given similar gifts to all the key persons involved in the business. I maintained that as a director of MIL I cannot take a gift for my work. But a couple of months later he came to my Borivli residence, and persuaded me to accept it, saying “Ramucchettan is giving you this; it is a mark of my affection for you!” It was gold ornaments for my wife. An elderly lady who was like a sister and lived above our flat in Mathews Mansion told her it weighed easily 10 sovereigns.
An interesting facet of Ramucchettan was his style of functioning. He believed in complete delegation of responsibilities as well as power. Astonished by his month-long vacations, enjoying relaxed travels abroad, Rajan (Raji Menon) asked his how could he go away for so long leaving so much responsibilities behind? His answer was that he had put the right people on all the jobs. If there was some course-correction required in policies, he was  available on the phone for consultation! At the factory in the morning, after half-an-hour or so in his room, he will take a walk in the factory. So many times I had accompanied him on these rounds. He will stand next to every machines, and talk to the technicians on their duties, and ask them about the work, machine and his personal problems if any. He told me how some of them are simply brilliant. He told me about one such, one Kulkarni, if I remember right, who could design a lathe which was superior to the best from HMT. He he was eventually promoted to the position of a DGM. 

In 1986 I shifted to Chennai where we set up operations to the newly established Madras Export Processing Zone. MIL operations were independent of Racucchettan’s financial help and he resigned from our Board. But he had a bigger association with us as Dr.Raji Menon was able to procure huge orders for pistons and piston rings from the Soviet Union for Menon Pistons. I remember, after making arrangements for execution of the first order of piston rings for a couple of crores of rupees, Ramucchettan telling Rajan: “look here,Raji, don’t come after this with orders worth ten and fifteen crores! I simply cannot handle such large orders with my existing facility!” Rajan tried to be persuasive: “Ramucchetta, make this a complete export-oriented unit. Forget local business. You don’t have to worry about marketing, dealerships, etc. There is no need for inventories, no waiting for payments; not even taxes! Execute large orders, bank your profits!” Ramucchettan said firmly and still smiling, I recall: “What would happen if one day exports dry up? I can’t go back to the Indian market because there are very capable competitors in the line of business like India Pistons, Mahle, several others. What would I do with this factory, and my employees? I will never be able to do that. I can have maximum two production lines for export. The rest will have to cater to the OE market and spares which are our bread and butter. He was farsighted indeed. Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 completely without a trace. Exports to the country literally dried up!

It was in 1995 that I called him for a personal help. We were in Chennai and my son Dileep had passed out of Plus-2 and wanted to do engineering studies. We went for group ‘counselling’ in Chennai, gave the Demand Draft for admission; and I suddenly snatched it back. The Counselling Officer asked me “what happened?” and I replied simply that I had changed my mind. It was my fear of “ragging” that made me reject the admission. The previous year, Madras University Vice-Chancellor’s son was ragged leading to his death when he resisted thinking, “what the hell, my dad is the VC and these chaps are trying to do this to me!” but someone gave a karate chop on his neck in the melee, and the boy died instantly. What happened next was weird: they chopped his body into pieces and threw it in an irrigation canal. The culprits were eventually caught... My worry was about Dileep being a big and strong boy, and “quick to draw”. I thought of the mob lynching he might invite in the college hostel if he resisted ragging. I called Ramucchettan and asked him whether he could get him a seat in Kolhapur Institute of Technology of which he was Chairman. His reply was music to my ears: “If our boy can’t be given a seat, who else would get it?”

Dileep becomes a student in KIT and a regular visitor to Ramuvalliacchan’s house where he befriended both toddlers and the elderly as was his uniqueness. A couple of times Sachin dropped him in college which sent Dileep’s stocks sky-high. In KIT also there was ragging since it was not legally banned then. But the ‘Menon boy’ was unaffected. My worry later was about my boy being a leader of the ragging gang next year onwards! However, he passed B.Tech with Distinction.  

Ramucchettan’s business acumen was exemplary. He established separate factory for piston rings and bearings. After the death of his elder brother, he became the leader of his family group which is one of the largest in Kolhapur. Like Vijay Menon took charge of his father Chandran Menon’s industries, Sachin Menon took charge of Menon Pistons and Nitin Menon, of Menon Bearings while Ramucchettan remained as Chairman. My contacts with him were few and far between. But we kept in touch. After my retirement when I settled down in Thiruvanchikkuam, he came to see me driving himself along with Narayanankuttychettan (now no more) who was my grandfather’s nephew, and his companion in Kerala. He called us next day for lunch in Thottappillil House just one kilometre from where I lived. His niece Vijaya lived there with her husband Dr.Rajagopal who was Ramucchettan’s brother-in-law.

While in KIT Dileep fell in love with a Maharashtrian Jain girl. The girl, Arathi was born in the same year and on the same day he was born. For a girl in any Indian community, it was the age to get married. Her parents pressed me for an immediate marriage when Dileep completed his engineering degree course and returned to Kerala. We had an engagement ceremony done first. Ramucchettan with family, Chandranchettan’s family all joined me because I couldn’t bring my people from Kerala. Ravicchettan and edathiyamma from Pune represented them. Within six moths I had to get Dileep married breaking the record in our family which was (late) Ajit’s which was at 25! Racuccettan stood by me throughout, wearing the traditional turban as my elder brother with the entire Menon family of Kolhapur, including some other cousins of mine attending! After couple of years working in Pune Dileep wanted to go to the US to do MBA. Ramucchettan instructed Sachin to do all the help to make a student Visa available without any difficulty. But for that help, which involved in a Corporate Sponsorship letter, Dileep couldn’t have got the US Visa in the first attempt.

After 5 years Dileep came back from the US to help his father-in-law’s business. That was how Neelu also went to do her MBA in KIT, staying with him to do the course. When Neelu got first rank in three semesters, I was happy that my children were doing Ramuvalliacchan proud! Neelu passed MBA with the highest marks in the University. When my daughter was getting married to my old Mumbai friend Madhavan’s son, I talked to Ramucchettan. The marriage was in Guruvayoor Temple and the “reception” in Mumbai. Ramucchettan told me who were all to be invited from the Kolhapur families, and even gave me phone numbers to call. I remember Mini and Chandru in particular. He had himself called them and they all came for the Mumbai event to bless Neelu and her groom.

When I shifted to Pune, he came once to stay at his daughter’s Balaji Park residence in Aundh, and called me. We met him in Savita’s house. Months later once when he came, Edathiyamma called to say they were in Savita’s place, and I said I would come over, because I had heard he had by then the onset of Parkinson’s. I was told he insisted on coming to my place, I went down to receive him, thinking that he might need help to get out of the car, but, no, He sprang to his feet and came with me. Later I realised it was his speech that was getting affected. He came in person because he wanted give Neelu’s little daughter Trisha a gift! 

It could be said that Ramucchettan lived a full life. He travelled extensively in India and abroad. He attended all the ceremonies and events he was invited to. He took me one day to a power glider fest in Kolhapur. Once I went to an exhibition of printing machines with him. Another time it was a painting exhibition of a Gabriel Marketing manager whose name I don’t remember. He had drawn pencil sketches and paintings of rocks of various shapes and sizes. Both of us were flabbergasted because the exhibition varied completely from our concept of art. At the end he was supposed to write his comment as a guest. I wrote something from my training in literary/art criticism which made it easy to read meanings into quite meaningless things; and Ramucchettan signed! In Mumbai once he dragged me to watch a movie in the New Excelsior theatre. He was a movie buff and I was not. He told me he found relaxation in movies and drama - particularly Marathi plays. This particular movie was a Russian one dubbed in English. It was a horribly un-interesting movie and when I turned to Ramucchettan, he was seen fast asleep. I didn’t wake him up. After the movie Ramucchettan said with a chuckle: “Russians can’t make crime thrillers and action movies! Maybe, because their system doesn’t allow such things. They should learn from the Americans how to make thrillers!”

He was a foodie, he once told me. The occasion was when we went to a restaurant. When he asked me to order food, I requested him to do it with the explanation that if I did, I always ended up asking for familiar menu. Astonished, he commented “Ayye, what’s the fun then?”He explained in detail that part of the fun in travel was enjoying new and different food. “I I go to a new restaurant whether in India or abroad, I ask the chef what was their speciality, what was new; and taste it.” Then he described to me a hilarious situation in a Hon Kong restaurant after ordering an unfamiliar dish of fish. “After 20 minutes of waiting I saw large trolley coming towards me with something huge. I thought it can’t be for me. It was very large in size. But it stopped at my table and as the waiter was transferring the large fish onto it, I lost my cool. I asked him, why is this so large, didn’t you know I was alone, and possibly can’t eat even a quarter of it... and a lot more almost in one breath; and the boy politely went on repeating “but sir, you ordered it” even as my voice rose in anger. I called for the manager, and he came. He was an Indian who only could find a solution to my problem by sharing my meal!”

When I was only a few weeks in Chennai (1986) Ramucchettan came for some business meeting. In the evening he called and went to Taj Coromandal where he stayed. He suggested “let us go for a south Indian meal; I want to have sambar and rice!” I said for that we didn’t need to go to a restaurant; Though Sulu and children were in Kerala, I had a reasonably good cook who had made sambar because it was one curry I had every day. “No, let us go somewhere.” So we went looking for a south Indian restaurant on the Mount Road (now Anna Salai). I was not yet come across the innumerable Hotels like Palm Grove, Savera, DasaPrakash, Woodlands.. I remembered having read that a Keralite, Purushotthaman had a Hotel on the Mount Road – Madras International. We went there. Ramucchettan said, “I want sambar and rice!” The waiter said there was no sambar and rice available in the evening. “Then what do you have, perhaps Dosa and sambar?” “No sir, no Dosa either. We have chappathi, poori, bhaji...” Ramucchettan was shaken. The first response was in pure Malayalam, turning towards me: “Ithippo poannedom poannu pullukanhi ennuparanhapolay aayallo!”(Translation: it appears the millet porridge has followed me here too!) “I am running away from chappatthi and poori, do you know, I come from Kolhapur!” The waiter was a bit more helpful at this stage offering to get us dosa, but instead of chutney and sambar, we had to make do with tomato-sauce! We rushed out and went home to have rice and sambar.

The saddest were our last meetings. He had completely lost his memory. You love and respect a person for most of your lifetime and he just can’t remember you. This change has happened to several other people in our family. What makes people who lived an active, disciplined and healthy life to lose their memory? It had happened to my Valliacchan, Bhaskaran Uncle (poet), VB Chettan, Vijayapalan Chettan. At the national level George Fernandes, AB Vajpayee, Nani Palkiwala, Nissim Ezekiel – brilliant and active people in different walks of life- all were somehow affected by loss of memory. Fate took away Thottappillil patriarch Ram Menon’s memory too. But he did leave behind a lot of good memories! Tears well up in my eyes as memories of Ramucchettan flood my mind. I fervently hope I don’t lose my memory, because the most beautiful things in life are memories and moments!