Ramucchettan (Ram Menon) remembered
On the 17th
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!
