Career Closure

 Bitter experience in functioning as a retainer!                                                                                                                 As mentioned,  in spite of Mr HR Meswani not meeting me before end February, I came to understand that there was a directive from Mr MDA that Ramu should continue. Since they had decided to retire me from RIL services, they had no alternative but to retain me as a retainer (not consultant) and issued an employment  letter with a different employment ID in a different private set up . To start with, to degrade me &to test my patience, that HR manager did not even bother to  present me my 30 year service award instituted by the management. After some days,his secretary discreetly came to my office to deliver it.              Coming to functional responsibility, as they have decided the entire department was wound up and merged with the project process engineering services department. The personnel were instructed that no one should interface with me on technical matters. My immediate ex- deputy Dr Atul Srivastava was asked to take the lead role on safety measures implementation in projects.                                                                                    In a new role. I was entrusted with the assessment of the probability of hazardous incidents/ accident occurrences in all Reliance manufacturing locations and arrive at the corporate insurance cover value/ annum  and possible claim lodging.  On that the National Insurance Authority had asked M/S General Insurance Company Ltd., a GOI undertaking to carry out the complete survey of all Reliance installations. Though Reliance falls under the private sector undertaking, this exercise was initiated by the government, in national interest, to assess & establish  the cover to be undertaken by the international reinsurer/s, as all plants of Reliance were highly hazardous in nature and mega in sizes. To achieve that objective, M/S GIC had engaged the services of one Bangalore based firm, having technology & software from their parent set-up @ Paris & Singapore. That company deployed Mr Sudhakar Kini, a mechanical engineer by qualification with some  practical field maintenance exposure. To furnish  the inputs  and to associate with him as Reliance representative, Reliance Insurance management  ( happened to be the same HR manager) asked me  to take up that responsibility. As I was conversant with the fire fighting system installation of all complexes as well as the statutory (PESO) liaison coordinator the job became easy. Moreover I was familiar with all installations as regards the technical aspect and personally knew the stakeholders. So the technical aspect of the assignment went smoothly. Mr Kini felt comfortable and confident in accumulating data for his analysis and developing the report. Rather, while reviewing the contents of the final submitted report, M/S GIC management  were fully satisfied, appreciated   and recorded our names ( Kini & Ramanathan) in the official record books.                                                                                                                                               Post that exercise, Reliance were toying with an idea  to carry out the comprehensive Risk assessment analysis engaging the services of Mr Jatin Shah of M/S Baker Risk, Mississippi, USA. But the deal could not get through since that party was not forthcoming to furnish a comprehensive offer for Jamnagar refineries & petrochemical complex but were ready to undertake only one plant on pilot basis. In that the technical handicap was, not analysing the knock-on impact assessment.                                                                                During that one year term of mine,  in the other side ( my earlier responsibilities in RIL) the J3 project safety requirements, identification  and indenting top up requirements, ordering etc. went into paralysis!   Rather things were going crazy as the end customers ( plant operation & maintenance teams) were looking for my services but I was completely restricted ! Two major technical issues cropped up !        1) Question of area classification certification  requirements for the already delivered  field devices                2) Specific issue of the misleading conversion by the electrochemical  sensors initiating CO alarms even in        C2/C3 vapour leaks. This problem cropped up  in both portable devices supplied by M/S MSA & fixed        devices supplied by M/S Honeywell ( that portion engineered and executed by the core instrumentation        group)                                                                                                                                                             Being an original instrument engineer by qualification and profession, I could not control myself  ( though prohibited by RPMG project director & famous HR manager) I interacted with the chief of instrumentation in projects ( Dr B R Mehta) and we took up the issue with the research group of both vendor establishments  to address that inherent issue and attempt to arrive at a resolution. Not sure whether that problem has been resolved yet or not.                                                                                                                                                As an involved professional I attempted to address that major challenge. But the RPMG project director & that HR manager  mistook it as if  I am attempting to cover my misdeeds. Under false motives they started suspecting my professional integrity ( that too after serving in the company for 30 years) and went to the extent of directing the vendor engineers not to talk with me and my office Wifi was cut off  ? At that stage  I approached the Chief procurement manager of Reliance  ( Mr B Narayan) who himself is a chemical engineering post graduate by qualification and worked in Reliance projects and sought his advice and help.   He laughed at them questioning " how can one suspect the integrity of a professional that too after serving the interests of the company for 30 long years" and directed them to restore services and give value to my dignity.

Height of my career closure  ( after 31 years of continuous service in Reliance)                                            Finally I came out of office on March 31,2018  Neither the RPMG project director nor that HR manager had any courtesy to see me off and no official send off party was organised by them. Only my personal friends and well wishers had arranged a private get together.  On records I still do not have any service relieving letter or experience certificate from Reliance. Since industry circles know my value and worth I am able to stand up.

Surprising Events (contd.)

 38.  Strange Meeting  In 2014 I happened to visit Delhi on an urgent  personal task and it was the rainy season. My secretary did a blunder while booking the ticket - I wanted to return back the next day afternoon itself but the ticket was for the same date but next month! As I had to return anyhow to be in the office for some urgent work, I asked my friend to get me another ticket on any flight.  His office got me the business class ticket in Vistara flight departing at 0700 hours and I reached the airport. In the business class I got the front row seat 1C and to my left was a woman in 1A. The airline crew served us breakfast & the flight was smooth. Neither of us even bothered to self introduce each other. As the flight was about to land in Mumbai I attempted to put back my shoes but struggled.Then that lady volunteered' shall I help you' ? She did help me then; thereafter only we got introduced ourselves. When she said- I am Nayanthara, a Tamil cinema actor, I felt that I wasted the two hours keeping silent. Then she added that "I do visit Mumbai often as a few relatives stay in Mumbai". By that time the flight landed and we bid goodbye to each other.                                                                                               Year 2014                             

39. Important with strange happenings   While executing Ph III Petrochemical complex at Jamnagar, since Reliance implemented the Coke Gasification complex that too the world's largest with 10 modules, it called for very sensitive portable gas sensors especially for CO detection . As per OSHA guidelines, any human being can inhale & withstand only 25 ppm of CO that too  for a maximum period of 8 continuous hours. So it became a challenge for me in vendor/product and system selection. The international reputed vendors were applying pressure during that process. Typical of Ramanathan I chose M/S MSA, a famous and reputed safety appliances manufacturer against M/S Honeywell, Dragor...... considering their sensitivity factors and spot calibration set-up etc. That company's Indian rep was Mr Ashutosh Agrawal of M/A ABN. The funniest thing is that Mr Ashutosh Agrawal is a lawyer by qualification ( functioned as assistant to the famous lawyer Ram Jethmalani) but came into this trade 21 years back, simply out of passion. But unfortunately MSA India did not have any worthy technical personnel! The salesperson who was nominated for this project could not even understand the difference between a picture and its component assembly. We struggled for 2 years to get the vendor drawings for review/ approval  and things were in a mess. Whereas the factory in the USA was following up with M/S ABN  for the customer inspection visit. Not knowing these limitations Reliance chief of procurement Mr B Narayan took the decision 'not to depute anybody since we have committed on the world's reputed company and no need for our inspection' Here it is important to mention- world famous scientist  Thomas Alva Edison, person who invented the electric bulb was an employee of M/S MSA. Myself and Mr Ashutosh Agrawal were in a fix ! On one side, none of the vendor drawings reached the approval stage but the factory insisted on a client inspection. When we were blinking about what to do and how to go about, something happened from the Reliance HR side. In late Nov. they gave a notice that all employees should avail their annual leave failing which the leave shall become null and void. I was one of them and did not know how to go about it. At that moment Ms Surekha, Amin my colleague Poddar's secretary jumped in and told- why not go to New Jersey to spend time with your sons &  families?           Taking her suggestion I discussed with Bhuvana, my wife.  She also felt that  as a good proposal and asked me to go alone as her parents (old age people) were staying with us. When I shared that with Mr Ashutosh Agrawal he came out with a brilliant idea.  He queried me- do you mind and find time to visit Pittsburgh , their HQ &factory to review the requisite documents in their factory itself and participate in final inspection of manufactured devices.  I had my reservations how to go ahead on this when I am on annual leave. but the project has to move forward? After a few days internal deliberations I decided that I shall go there and do all the tasks but will not sign any papers there; for those activities I shall contact my engineer at Mumbai and instruct/ guide him on daily basis to make the necessary clearance through system.  With that understanding I proceeded on leave to New Jersey. Mr Ashutosh Agrawal coordinated the tasks and he also joined there. From 7th Dec. to 14th December we functioned like machines and ensured all clearances were in place before I returned back to New Jersey to continue my annual leave. M/S MSA management was very happy with the  customer representative's involvement especially  technical query exchanges and understanding the design implications of those sensitive device components. Though those efforts brought fruit to the company, there were some elements  in the project/ procurement set-up who felt that their foreign trip assignment has been snatched by me. They raised some bogus complaints like that I have favoured the party by approving the products not meeting the requisite area classification etc. Then only the process experts looked into the matter in detail and certified saying what Mr Ramanathan has done is the correct selection. Lucky that the chief of the procurement himself being a process engineer (qualified post graduate in chemical engineering) understood the whole matter and supported my case. That only eased us for topping up quantity repeat order placement on the same party.                                                                 While in New Jersey only, courtesy my first daughter-in-law Kavita, my blog writing hobby got initiated          This ' aruwhy.blogspot.com' got started on 17th Dec. 2015                                                                                                                                                                              Year 2015-16.

40. Professional Recognition  with a conferred Doctorate Degree    The Professional society of Automation engineers & Safety Professionals  appreciated my valuable contribution  in mega projects safety measures implementation and mitigation provisions as well as Active/Passive fire protection systems for all Reliance manufacturing locations in India. As a step of recognition & honour, they organised to reward me with a conferred Doctorate degree from European Common University UK.                                                                                                                                                            Year 2016.

41. Retirement drama from RIL     As at that time project management and HR were not happy with my continued presence and getting importance, they planned to get me retired in December 2016. When that subject was orally shared with me, my  spontaneous reaction was- whether this has the concurrence of        Mr MDA ( the chairman ) and as per company's practice, the retiring executive has to be furnished with 3 months advance notice. It was  a shock to that HR manager; then he counterchecked and reverted stating-  your retirement need not require concurrence of the chairman but the 3 months notice is right. On that basis he arranged to issue the notice with the retiring date as at the end Feb 2017. After receiving that , to avail my last leave travel as well as to exhaust my earned leave etc.  I went to South to spend some time with my sister at Vellore. While in Vellore, sometime around 12th Feb. that person phoned and said - HRM ( Mr Hital Meswani- Executive Director, Projects ) would talk to you on your return from Vellore. So I was waiting for his call anytime.                                                                                                                                                         During those last days another drama took place.  When the Jt CCE Mr DK Gupta extended the invitation for his second daughter's marriage at Aligarh (28 th Feb) I explained and excused myself stating that , it was my last working day in my career  and I will not be able to attend the same.  As Gupta was my personal friend he understood and said OK. But he has also extended the official invitation to my assistant Dr Atul Srivastava and he was planning to go. When he moved his application for ticketing etc.the project management and HR asked him whether Ramanathan is not going for the marriage? As he has expressed his innocence then, they called me and asked to move my ticketing application.  I reacted stating, 28th is my last working day and how can I be absent from the office? Moreover, I had closed my operations and the system was locked  They came begging that you are one of the VIPs in that department and you should make the trip positive. After a bit of reluctance I accepted their request and HR department organized my ticketing to Delhi, car arrangements from Delhi-Aligarh and back, hotel room booking at Aligarh etc. all out of the system. When I queried about my relieving formalities they expressed that all those items shall be addressed after your return.  So literally I was on tour on my last working day in RIL. Thereafter another drama developed! As the employee daily entries are all SAP controlled, my punching on 2nd March was not functional! So from the main gate, I called one HR assistant and she organized a visitor entry pass !  As they have not issued the relieving letter by then the drama continued for a few days. I made up my mind that I shall not go to the office from 6th March onwards. It appeared that they got instructions from the top management that Ramanathan should continue in service on fixed terms. So on the 6th afternoon the project director and that HR manager  specially convened a meeting and explained the happenings. As I have served the company for 30 long years I did not feel like antagonizing them  and accepted that.                                       But their behaviour thereafter is history by itself.                           Year 2016-17                                                                                                                                  contd..

Surprising Events (contd..)

 35. Questioning CCE ( Mr M. Anbunathan) for his conclusion overlooking safety aspects!

Considering the Govt. of India mandate to establish the crude oil storage inventory, I moved an application for  a relook at that time existing Petroleum Rules with the CCE department sometime in 1999. As I was transferred to the Telecommunication in Reliance I could not follow it up with the statutory authorities then. My deputy Mr K Prabhakaran took over the tank farm project management services and he followed it up continuously. Mr Anbunathan became CCE in 2002 and he was looking into the case. That was the time Reliance management also planned to implement the second refinery-JERP SEZ, a ditto copy of the phI  DTA refinery. It necessitated additional crude storage tanks in the MTF area to receive the VLCC (very large capacity carriers) international ships but there was no land area available !                                                            Luckily, as we executed the phI crude tanks layout with a full 1 D interdistance but the Rules calling only 1/2 D interdistance, the project team thought that Reliance can approach the authorities for their review and approval by creating an intermediate barrier within the existing large dyke. It so happened, that was the time  the GOI was also serious in reviewing the inventory provisions of all Indian refineries post Kargil war. The petroleum ministry gave a directive to the statutory authorities to keep this in picture while reviewing any fresh application from any refinery in India. So Mr MA had a task in hand; added to it, the ministry asked him to ensure technical clearance to JERP projects as that was the first SEZ refinery coming up. In technical terms he had a challenge with respect to the dyke volume capacity Vs land area constraint! To overcome this impasse he formed a technical consultancy committee drawing personnel from various operating refineries ( all of them were from government established PSUs then) to review and clear the case. As most of the members were from the operations group only, they were very particular from the angle of dyke capacity and insisted on it. That made Reliance and CCE to opt for increasing the dyke wall height from the earlier 2M to 4M ( which included the original outer boundary and the intermedia partition wall). Mr MA was very happy that his responsibility to clear that proposal has been eased and he approved it then.                       Unfortunately nobody had viewed that from a safety  angle ! The original Rule makers  arrived at 2M elevation ,only from the angle of how a stranded person can climb and escape at any time of emergency?  A 1/2 M exceptional allowance rights to CCE (by position)were provisioned in the law. But here 2M deviations were recommended and approved without looking at' how a stranded person can climb 4M height that too at the time of emergency and escape? When Mr K Prabhakaran shared these with me I felt shocked. I called on Mr MA at his home  (as we were family friends) and questioned him about this final conclusion of arriving at 4M elevation overlooking the safety considerations. Then only he realized the implied folly and literally did "Thopikaranam" to me.  He expressed that he got carried away by the refinery experts' version and said 'sorry'.   Unfortunately that 4M dyke elevation exists at site!                                                                                                                                                                 Year 2005.

36 Third time drowning!  We were on a pilgrimage trip with M/S Divya Desh Darshan Tours& Travels,Mumbai,  On that trip they took us to important locations in UP state viz. Triveni Sangamam ( Prayag),  Varanashi ..... In Banaras, the arrangements were excellent and we were received by Tamil pandits to perform various rites for our ancestors. During one such occasion we were taken to a ghat in the river Ganga in Banaras. While getting down in steps itself, the river waves swept me and I started floating/flowing!. Luckily some stranger noticed that and he swam against the tide to rescue me and save. Then only I realised that water is my dearest friend - 3rd time incident.        Year 2011.

37. ISA awards & recognitions In June 2012, during the marriage of my second son, one evening my friend Dr Nagendran congratulated me for winning two ISA awards simultaneously and I felt happy to learn that. But the next day he did not turn up physically for the marriage function. I was wondering and thought he must have fallen sick. But that was not the actual reason. Later I learnt from him that after release of the first message congratulating me , in a few minutes they withdrew the release of my ISA Fellowship and retained only the Excellence in Society Service award. As that was bad he felt sorrow and did not attend the main function in the marriage hall. Hearing that I thought I should not proceed to USA for accepting that single award; but Dr Nagendran insisted that I should accept that recognition as that was the first award to an Indian in ISA So I made the trip with family  as my both sons reside in USA. My attending that function completely altered my recognition in ISA. During that evening function in Orlando, ISA past President Mr Bob Ives, the person who asked me to take over the D14 DVP position in 2005 met my family for conveying his pleasantries and then introduced me to Mr Gerald Willibanks, another past president & senior ISA Fellow. When the exchanges were going on, Mr Willibanks voluntarily came out that he shall completely guide me for drafting the revised Fellow application in the beginning of 2013, which he performed completely and helped Dr Nagendran, as my nominator  to submit my application in 2013. End result: I was selected and honoured with ISA Fellow in Dec 2013. Since I have completed many years as an ISA member, my position is ISA Life Fellow, the only Automation professional from India and Asia Pacific.         That developed my status to become as  a member in ISA Fellows Admission committee                                                                                                                                   Year 2012&13.                                                                                                               contd...

Surprising Events (Contd..)

 32. Nominated as ISA D14 DVP in Nov.2005 ( In those days ISA meant Instrument Society of America ). At that time  as there was an enquiry & investigation against that time the sitting DVP ( District Vice President), surprisingly on November 1st, a leader from HO at Raleigh USA called me over phone and queried  whether I can take over that position with immediate effect ? As that is the highest leadership level in the District, without any hesitation I accepted that offer with glee. In ISA history I am the only leader who held that position for 3 years and two months;in those days DVP position was for 2 year term  but since I inherited someone else's balance period also, mine became longest. Now ISA name has been changed to International Society of Automation and DVP term has been reduced to one year period only. Being a DVP of a district I was on the ISA Board in the year 2008.                                                                                        Here it is important to mention my personal secretary Ms Ragini Sawant 's name. As my Reliance official work pressure was high and camping most of the time at Bechtel London, she used to respond for major queries from the various sections in D14 as well as HQ. As a daily routine she used to keep me updated and seek clarifications when responding to ISA HQ.                               Year 2005-08  

33. Famous GRP piping for JERP sea water service  In spite of M/S Bechtel expressing reservations  considering their bitter experience in some earlier job, Reliance overruled them and opted to go in for GRP pipe material instead of CS pipe with internal coating. There was a party manufacturing GRP pipes at Goa and we committed a turn key contract on them. Considering the logistics difficulty and transportation cost, we decided to opt for different pipe diameters so that pipes can be sleeved and brought in Indian roads. But there was one basic lacuna- the trenching and ground bed preparation was in Reliance construction scope !  Added to misery, due to lack of awareness, the construction management -   M/S AG Dawda, GR Singh & Subhash Chandra  opened the front in several places simultaneously. Their main aim was fast expediting  the progress. As the contractor's supervision did not have any expertise they did not bother to inspect the ground bed preparation before taking over for the pipe laying. All these factors  resulted in non alignment and in spite of repeated repairs, the lines could not pass the designed hydrotest pressure ! When things became desperate, management took the decision , as long as there is no visible leak anywhere we should not continue attempting to complete the hydrotest and instructed us to  commission the services. This happened in 2007; luckily the lines are intact and systems are in operation.  The hydrotest of lines was never complete!                                Year 2007

34. Angiography & Angioplasty attempt ! In November end 2007, due to work stress I had a high fever while camping at Jamnagar. That night two of my colleagues ( M/S E James & YS Yanamandra ) took care of me, Next morning my Bechtel colleague Mr Michael Alaka physically lifted me and took me in his jeep  to the company's clinic in the township. There Dr Rajesh organised to conduct some blood tests and asked me to go to the city hospitals for 2D echo, ECG and Stress test etc. On seeing the failure in the stress test, he asked me to rush back to Mumbai and call on Dr Mashtu at Reliance  HN hospital. Dr Mashru is one of the famous cardiologists in Mumbai and Sh A G Dawda also asked me to rush. That was on 3rd Dec. The next  afternoon I called Dr Mashru and he asked me to get admitted . Not realizing the seriousness of involved issues I took permission to come the next morning. Surprisingly my first son Raja & his wife Kavita landed at my home to celebrate my 60th birthday which fell on  Dec. 5th 2007! As I was not realizing my condition, we went shopping and a visit to Mahalakshmi temple before going to HN Hospital. On reaching there the doctor scolded me  and I was taken to the operation theatre for an angiography test. It was found that I had one block in the right artery of my heart and it has to be removed by inserting a stent through angioplasty.      We had Yes/No deliberations among family members as my brother at Chennai was saying that the hospital  might convert it to bypass  surgery. Finally I took the call to say YES and I was taken inside. While entering I met Dr Mahalakshmi at the theatre entrance and queried her- how much time will it take? She responded saying half to three quarters of an hour. But in the theatre everything went odd- First they attempted for an hour or so and took an interruption. Then another doctor joined Dr Mashru and they both attempted. After a certain period I lost my patience and shouted at them to stop it. After some more trials they stopped the action  and I was shifted to ICU for overnight monitoring. The next morning  was  5th Dec. & my 60th birthday, my sister-in-law Ms Savitri came  with a bouquet of flowers  and wished me asking- am I here to wish the patient or the birthday boy? Surprisingly when Dr Mashru came for his morning rounds I asked- what went wrong yesterday and why it took so much time even when the task was incomplete? His response can never be forgotten. He answered point blank- you being an instrument engineer by qualification and profession, can the sum of the flow through many of the small orifices be equivalent to flow through a large orifice? When I responded to him saying NO, he said that is your heart condition.   Though we could not get rid of that block in the main artery, looking at God's gift of several veins growth helping your living, take care and live a normal life. Ensure taking the prescribed medicines for a lifetime  and carrying out walking exercise daily without fail. Do not take stress tests anytime and undergo only periodic 2D echo for monitoring. I am happy to share this experience since it is already  16 years since then.                                                                                       Year 2007                                                                                                                                                                                   Contd...

Surprising Events (contd,,)

 28.  Kailash Parbat & Mansarovar Pilgrimage. The initiation & introduction of this trip was a joke!  On one Sunday in April 2002, there was a whole day power shut down at Vashi. To get some fresh air , that evening I sat in the central  ground of Rohini apartments, where I resided then. Then , my namesake Mr CK Ramanathan joined me and we exchanged pleasantries. Then he asked me whether you are interested in coming to Kailash Parbat. I took that as a party invitation to the hotel at Churchgate and nodded OK. Then he said, let the power come back and we shall meet in his house.  Their house was just opposite to mine in the same society.  I shared that with my wife Bhuvana and asked her to accompany since his wife Dr Devaki is one of her best friends. Evening around 7.30 PM (after the power resumption) we went to their house with a wine bottle- courtesy visit and fix the date for the party. When the topic started, he began stating that the trip has been initiated by his co-brother Dr Rajagopal of NIA ( a Govt. of India police force ) and he had led Indian delegation to Mansarovar in Tibet 14 times but this trip he proposed exclusively for the family members and close friend & associates only. As per the norms followed, the team strength has to be around 15 personnel and they are looking forward to friends joining to make the strength. Though I was wrong in  understanding the evening message, we volunteered to join  and made the wonderful but tough pilgrimage. The route was- Mumbai- Delhi- Kathmandu by flight; after preliminary acclimatization  at Kathmandu, the arduous journey was undertaken by Toyota land rovers- 4 wheel drive. We all enjoyed the one week strenuous travel in the Tibetan hilly terrain and reached Mansarovar. After a day's stay there we undertook the 3 day parikrama of Mt Kailash and made it. That was a real challenge in one's life. After that taking the same route we came back to Kathmandu. In Nepal we visited several temples including Pasupatinath  and returned to Mumbai via Delhi. The trip was between 10th July to 27th July 2002.  Everyone in the group enjoyed the whole trip and thanked Dr Rajagopal  for organizing the memorable pilgrimage. The Nepalese tour operator  Mr Jyoti Adhikari of M/S Eco Trek who also accompanied us said- This is the luckiest team and well disciplined. When we queried him, he responded that invariably some one in any time  may die or not complete/ refuse to undertake the parikrama round whereas in our team all 16 have successfully completed ! We all felt very happy hearing that.                                   Year 2002

29. World award/ recognition & Formation of Reliance Digital World   Though initially in the year 2000 I was not sure what shall be my role in the telecommunication sector, my intuition and team work gave excellent results and our GIS group was well recognised both within the government  as well as abroad.         Dr.Jack Dangermond, president of ESRI personally called on  Mr MDA at his office to appreciate our GIS development.  Reflecting that Reliance was awarded with 2 world awards-one for developing Digital map of India using satellite imagery & the other for developing an application for the cable cut detection , to be presented in the San Diego international  annual GIS conference.  At that time a funny misunderstanding took place. Mr Sanjay Mashruwala, that time my boss said ' Ramu, let only some juniors go to this conference and receive these awards and you need not go'; after two days Sh MDA  phoned me to convey that I represent him also as he was also extended with a personal invitation to attend that award function. When I responded stating that I am not attending the award function, he queried me? When explained he directly phoned SM and instructed him saying Ramu should be personally present and let him lead the team.On return when I personally met him  to display the received awards, he questioned me- Do you recollect what you said when I dragged  you to the telecommunication? The same day to recognise and reward the entire team, he asked Mr VV Bhat to formulate a dedicated Pvt.Ltd set-up ( M/S Reliance Digital World) and made me  the Business Head. The recognition and responsibility came together. Of course my emoluments  were  enhanced 4 fold. It is a different story that the company became public Ltd later.        Year 2003

30. Once again briefcase robbery.  In Dec.2004, on suggestion from my first son Raja to make a family trip to Singapore  I took the passports of mine, wife and my second son Abhilash in my briefcase and went to ICICI bank in Vashi for some cash withdrawal for filing the visa application. While standing and attending some phone call outside the bank building but within its premises, some thief flicked my briefcase and ran away.  Immediately I rushed to Vashi police station and lodged the complaint.  The police sincerely turned out  and we were taking rounds in probable locations within Vashi.Then a call came in my mobile from the vegetable market  stating that a briefcase has been found laying near our shop; pl. come with the police and pick up! When we arrived there and collected the lost briefcase, surprisingly only the passports of mine and my second son were taken out leaving my wife's passport in tact. Then we three ( self, wife and son ) rushed to the passport office at Thane and called on the passport commissioner Mr Mishra. He was so courteous to entertain our case complaint and issued new passports in 3 days flat to ensure our planned trip to Singapore was not postponed/cancelled. That day was Dec 16th ( my son's birthday) the passport commissioner entertained us with birthday cake and handed over our new passports with his blessings.   Year 2004.

31.Distress release from Reliance Communication Unfortunately after the demise of Founder Chairman Dhirubhai Ambani, there was family dispute among brothers regarding the inheritance of RIL chairmanship. That ended as a case in the supreme court of India. Finally a settlement deed arrived and  the various business domains were split among the two brothers. In the bargain the telecommunications went to the younger brother Mr Anil Ambani. At that time Mr ADA  had put several conditions about the communication sector employees and my name fell under 'Must to continue' ! Somehow my mind was not comfortable working under him but at the same time I did not want to leave the service. So I contacted M/S MDA & VV Bhat discreetly- what to do &how to get out of the mess ? They advised, silently you leave the place , come&sit in North block, which was a temporary arrangement allocated to Mukesh's group. But my conscience was not permitting to leave without any notification. I was desperate. During the lunch break of a meeting day with ADA, I went to his secretary's office and asked for a paper. As he did not have any stationary I did scribble something in a paper napkin saying  that my age is nearing retirement and I wish that I retire from manufacturing industry for my satisfaction & may be relieved immediately. After handing it over to his secretary I started worrying - If he does not agree what am I to do and how to manage my family living etc. ! My second son Abhilash only convinced me saying "Do not worry; I have started my career & we can manage" Luckily after 2 days break, ADA gave me SMS instructing to hand over the charge to           Mr KM Jagdeesh who worked under me in GIS. That relieved me from tension.      Year 2005.                                                                                                                       Contd......

Surprising Events (Contd...)

  On resumption of duty in the new millennium I exchanged correspondence with Sh Raju Narayanan and understood the whole issue.  He explained in detail- that sea water being a good conductor, it forms electrolysis between the holiday gap in the steel pipe with that of Nobel metal in the valve stem and lead to cathodic corrosion in the steel pipe. He highlighted how the introduction of the sacrificial anode can prevent such occurrences. That was one lesson learnt.

25.  Standardisation of Crude oil floating roof tank storage. When Reliance initiated the engineering process for the mega refinery at Jamnagar, one Mr Subramaniam of ex L&T joined as general manager- construction. Without realizing the national statutory rule conditions, he took one earlier dwg of M/S Chicago Iron& Bridge- a reputed international tank building contractor and approached CCE department at Nagpur for the layout approval for 160000 Kl tank size. When he approached them, he was questioned what made you come here, when only Mr A Ramanathan is the only authority registered here for all Reliance approvals ? He got cheesed off and on return he threatened me and said 'I shall lodge a complaint against you with Sh MDA !' and he did that. Sh MDA reacted by asking him what made you go there when our walking encyclopedia is available in the company?; handover everything to him and he shall handle it. That made me to rush to Nagpur to find out the cause for not entertaining him. It so happened that by the time MSR visited Nagpur, Dr Mukherjee has retired and Mr Goshal took charge. When I called on him he explained the technical reasons and asked how a person moving an application for the layout approval does not even know the stipulated limits as per the law? Thereafter he told me- you have only 2 choices- either you stick with that size for which the National law had to be amended and parliament approval time; there also not sure whether it shall be cleared or rejected  ( OR)  newly design and revise the overall layout meeting the existing laws and the department shall approve in a day. He added that you were the secretary of the Rules Revision Committee constituted by the Government and how can you yourself seek these alterations? Silently I took back the submissions and returned back. To my luck, I contacted Mr Raghavan of M/S VTV and enquired him for help. He being a design engineer himself was glad to accept that request and furnished a fresh design within a week. Utilizing his design I took the services of M/S Bechtel and developed a revised layout and submitted it to the authorities. As promised the layout approval was done in one day  It should be noted that Mr Raghavan's design for the floating roof crude inventory storage- 92MX20M sizing has become international standard then on.                  Year 1996

26. Prioritization of inventory for  PolyPropylene start-up. It so happened that the J1 polypropylene plant was  mechanically ready well before the completion of the main refinery construction  and that plant in charge took up the matter  with the director- projects and suggested to hire out the newly constructed propane spheres by M/S VTV at Porbandar for propylene inventory build up. As a safety specialist and statutory liaison in charge I was asked to visit that and technically approve using that facility. Unfortunately the cryogenic temperature limit of propylene is lower than that of propane, the safety relief valves setting was not meeting our requirements and I rejected that suggestion. On hearing that the Director- projects went to the extent of questioning my technical expertise and threatened that he will throw me out from the plane, while flying. Reacting to him I responded if that is the management decision let it happen! While getting down from the plane, he asked me to come out with some working alternatives. That whole day I broke my head and came out  with a bright solution by evening.  Then I asked my assistant Sh SM Pathak to draft a detailed note- To build a temporary cryogenic propylene receipt manifold  in Ro-Ro/Lo-Lo jetty in marine area and utilise LGA supplied cryogenic heater for bringing that C3 to atmospheric temperature and pump it to the RTF area spheres through the executed LPG pipeline. The proposal was to utilize a cryogenic designed barge and tranship the material from an international carrier ship. On presentation to the management, it was approved across the table and appreciated. by the director- projects. The whole scheme was executed on top priority and completed within 6 weeks flat.            Year 1999

27. Unforeseen transfer to Telecommunication.  While working on the close out report of Ph1 refinery project- Utilities & Offsite, M/S MDA & SM ( Sanjay Mashruwala ) tracked me  and instructed to move to the newly launched communication set-up. Rather self argued with Sh MDA that I do not even know the spelling for the term communication  and how are you expecting me to function. His response was point blank- " Ramu, you are an instrument engineer & I am a chemical engineer by qualification. We both joined together and executed several manufacturing installations successfully. Come down and we shall try" That was in May 2000.  After afew days, he asked me to take the role of GIS implementation for the mobile phone service. I was blank and started looking for some idea on that subject. My colleague Sh Sharad Dhoke  joined me to search that in google.  With some indication we flew to Hyderabad and met Sh Mohan Reddy of M/S Infotech, which company was a pioneer in basic GIS engineering. From that baby step, I grew up implementing Digital Map of India  utilizing both imported and indigenous satellite imagery and developed several  terabyte capacity  geographical data databases. With the services and software of M/S ESRI & Network Engineer we developed several communication applications. Rather , our group became so popular in the country that even ISRO leaders started taking our services and universities asking us to guide them to draft syllabus and take classes for their Geomatics students. Within the company  the Business and Operational services were taken from our GIS system only. That lead to world recognition.  We were rewarded for developing the Digital Map of India and one specific application development for the cross country cable cut management. Those two world awards broadcast our presence for GIS services. Here I would like to add that M/S Google initially utilized our digital map only for GPS services to the public.          Year 2000-2002                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Contd....

Surprising Events (contd.)

 17. Maa bulawa ! While working in HPCL, there was an employee benefit of availing LTC anywhere in India once in 4 years.  Under that scheme I utilised my trip to Kashmir with my family ( wife and 2 sons). That was in Aug.1984, the time the Kashmir unrest was beginning to take place. On my second day stay in Srinagar , a curfew was imposed and all the outside visitors were asked to vacate Srinagar immediately. When we rushed to the airport to catch a flight to Delhi, the airline authorities could not accommodate our travel to Delhi but suggested to move to Jammu for safety. After landing at Jammu, since I did not have enough liquid cash in hand I did not know how to sustain then. Those days there was no credit or debit card system prevailed ; people managed safety only with the prepaid postal orders! When I approached the airport manager for enquiries, as if God's agent Mr Zutshi  helped us by issuing a wait listed dummy ticketing and cancel them for converting the PO to cash. Then he suggested us to go to Maa Vaishnavi Devi temple at Katara. There, an unknown stranger Mr Gupta took us to the top in the night climbing the hill and in the early hours of morning some other unknown Telugu army jawans helped in getting the Devi darshan ! That was a literal Maa bulawa only.    Year 1984

18.Positive Turn in Life.  Accidental meeting of Sh K Krishnamurthy, former HPCL chairman at Hyderabad airport has changed my life ! His enquiring about my welfare and suggesting career change etc. are still a dream for me. Added to that, Bhuvana  advising that "both KK and his wife Mrs Nagarathinam are our well wishers and we should follow their guidance "can never be forgotten ! That accidental meeting only made me come to Reliance ! Though I had several reservations at the back of my mind to start with, time flew just like that and I served Reliance for 32 long years and enjoyed my profession.   Year 1986

19. While serving Reliance for this long, I had several surprise shocks, most of them ending in benefits only. Rather I can proudly state I am also the one who contributed to its growth and benefited - courtesy Sh Mukesh D Ambani, chairman of RIL. Let us look into some of the happenings !

20.  Maternity warden  During my innings at Patalganga- carrying out instrumentation construction work for Paraxylene plant. one day Sh Dhirubhai Ambani  paid a visit to the site. He and Sh K K Malhotra, Chief executive were standing below a pipe rack and discussing something; when I happened to cross them avoiding the disturbance KKM called me by name to introduce me to that time chairman. Can somebody guess the chairman's reaction? 'Who does not know him; he is our maternity warden"! KKM was puzzled and could not understand the context for his uttering. Then the chairman explained that Ramanathan  shall be there wherever  any problem  exists to resolve any issue similar to the maternity warden's presence during a child delivery. We all laughed then to relish his comment.   Year 1988

21.Leave no stone unturned.  While executing the Ethylene terminal at Hazira site, we landed in mess due to improper heat treatment of fabricated elbows  done with M312 SS by M/S Rathnamani contracted by M/s L&T. While doing the completed lines for the cryogenic service hydrotesting, each and every joint cracked and could not hold the test pressure! Reliance & L&T on war footing carried out field welding of both lateral( longitude) and circumferential joints 100% and did complete X ray on war footing. Even then the inspection group insisted for the source of the raw billet stock ( from which the original pipe and the fittings were fabricated); but,since M/S Rangamani had wound up the business due to some tax raids, M/S L&T could not trace the original source of the material and its heat number. That was forcing us to resource the complete material and re-lay- meaning acost of Rs 6 crores (then in 1991) and waiting period for fresh material production  in factory and delay in the fresh field work. That option was not acceptable to all concerned. Then Mr AM Naik , L&T chairman took that challenge as his personal task and attempted to trace the heat number and its corresponding Test certificate with all steel mills in the country. Luckily, in a short time he could identify that . It was from M/S SAIL Salem and that company cooperated in tracing its history and shared the copy of the original test certificate. Everyone was relieved of the tension and commissioning took place in April 1991 smoothly.       Year 1991

22. Opinion Engineering .While executing the world largest petroleum refinery at Jamnagar (phI DTA) there were several involuntary propositions thinking that they are saving cost as well as ease the execution. Here I would like to cite 2 such cases : 1) Recommending to put 2X 84" diameter Cooling water piping in the pipe rack bottom tier instead of laying them underground ! The reasoning & justification was- in the Jamnagar site, the ground is of rocky soil and a lot of efforts are needed to dig the trench. The funny thing is that the suggested person himself was a qualified civil/structural engineer that too had a lot of field construction expertise. He completely overlooked the issue of the thrust load factor on the pipe rack. Similarly in another incident  at the marine terminal, some one questioned the need and necessity for the provision of cross over bridge/s on a 4 M wide rain water drain. They thought they are saving the cost to the company, forgetting the requisite safety. Unfortunately all of them were very seniors and boss level executives.  Over ruling and managing then itself was a big task to the project management function. Added to misery, M/S Bechtel being the engineering consultant was looking for my  interference in settling these and issue clearances. Though these are literal challenges I enjoyed settling them rightly.   Year 1997

23. Daylight robbery. For some narine related issue I was on an official visit to Hamburg, Germany. After completing that task I was supposed to fly to Zurich for the Cryogenic off gas compressor  inspection at the Sulzer factory in Zurich. To meet that objective I reached Hamburg airport and went to the check-in counter. I handed over my ticket and passport to the airline assistant and stood there waiting for my boarding pass. After finishing when I looked down to pick up my briefcase it was missing! It had a lot of  foreign exchange in cash as well as  traveller cheques and everything was lost. It forced me to lodge the complaint with the police and cancel my journey to Zurich. Luckily my travel agent at Mumbai acted fast and arranged the replacement of all lost money immediately  through their local branch but instead of going to Switzerland I returned to Mumbai direct- Airlines was considerate to reroute my ticket and arranged. Still I am not able to imagine how the robber would have managed to lift that briefcase placed near my legs!    Year 1998

24. Challenge of internal lining for sea water service. I thought that by following specially developed paint spray coating we can achieve efficient throughput instead of the conventional cement lining. The coating material was the same that was utilized in the underground tunnel in English Channel for the train service between London to Paris in France. But in Jamnagar we ended in a mess due to the holiday generated during the application and no thorough manual  inspection in 3X42" piping could arrest the leak whenever the lines were commissioned with the sea water to the refinery. Nobody was able to understand the issue.The only fear  for all was it is already 11th hour and how to overcome? Sh MDA thought over the issue and called his classmate  Sh Raju Narayanan,who specialized in corrosion technology and settled down in London. Raju landed at the site on 17th Dec 1999 at noon.  I received him and started taking him to the marine terminal where the sea water intake provision commence. Raju being an expert in metallurgy that too corrosion noticed the inherent issue 50M front itself and said ' what mistake M/S Bechtel has committed ?'  There itself explained the issue- it was a question of cathode of steel pipe in conjunction with the anode of nobel metal of isolation valve stem !  The sea water initiates perfect conduction  and that is the crux of the issue. Immediately  he came out with a solution of incorporating Zinc anodes at every manhole across the 16Kms X3 lines and resolved the issue. Unfortunately I could not be physically present at site during implementation since that was the day my mother died and I rushed to Madras; rather Raju was the person who consoled me after hearing that bad news and saw me off from the guest house. That implementation holds good and the installation is working fine all along.        Year 1999.

                                                                                       Contd.....

Surprising Events (contd.)

 12.  Immemorial LIC loop check after relieving at Alkan. In Jan.1971, after relieving and hand over of all tools to store keeper at Baroda site, Mr K Sethuraman that time Operations Manager of IPCL demanded with my boss Mr B Sankaranarayanan- how can you relieve Mr Ramanathan ? I want him now for carrying out one LIC loop check ! BS looked at me and I looked at him.  When I expressed that I am still to pack my clothes at Hotel Staywell, he responded- don't bother on that; I shall ask Mr Sardhana to carry it out and I shall get the tools in my name& you go to the field to help Mr Sethuraman. As even my technician Rajesh had gone by that time, Mr Sethuraman acted as my helper to conduct that loop test by 18.45 hours on that day. To acknowledge my professional commitment, he drove me direct to Baroda station and hosted the dinner on that day at the station canteen.  KS, BS & his family members as well as Sardhana saw me off boarding Dehradun express to Bombay (Mumbai now). This I can never forget  in my life. Year 1971

13.  Sh. SV Rajagopal suggested an ice cream party to the technicians.  While I was the Assistant Training Officer (Instrumentation) I used to give training exercise to my technicians- with the Manufacturer's catalogue & Parts assembly drawings,  calibrate first, then disassemble & reassemble the field instruments, calibrate them again. This exercise was to ensure that there was no nonlinearity introduced and experience the trade. SVR , the chief manager - Instrumentation appreciated this process of learning and jokingly told that SPIC is not poor but at the same time no technician should leave any washer or O ring as spare part while carrying out these exercises; if anybody by fault generate any part/s, he should pay a fine of Re1/- for a part to the ice cream kitty pool. But at a later date he hosted an ice cream party for all the technicians to appreciate their learning efforts. Year 1973

14. Trump motorcycle accident . As my ex-boss BS was leaving M/S Alkan and moving to M/S EIL,New Delhi from Tuticorin ( SPIC site) I wanted to see him off. Courtesy demanded that and I attempted to make that trip using my Trump motor cycle at about 19.15 hours from SPIC township. Unfortunately, on an en route flyover I lost the balance as there was a lorry with bright light crossing over. Luckily I fell on the right; had it been to my left, I would not be here ( live) now to pen this. Fortunately my friend Sh Pandian, an IOC petrol bunk owner who  arrived there in a few minutes rescued me and admitted me in Sacred Heart hospital and reported to Spic management next day. Later only I realised that it was a major accident  and my collar bone fractured. It took several months for cure  and my friends in SPIC mocked me as Coat hanger ! Year 1974

15. After serving in Spic for 5 1/2 years since there was no scope to get transferred to Instrument department, I looked for a change. Accidentally Alkan Chief Mr G A Ameer called & asked me to take over the management of Baroda region. Though I went back to Baroda only to look after the Instrumentation implementation of IPCL Naphtha cracker - GOP consisting of cracker & BBH, recognizing my company and my managerial capabilities, IPCL/EIL  gave us several piping and insulation contracts in Offsite, ACF, ACN etc. During execution of one cross country 6" naphtha feed line that too above ground on sleepers the question of hydrotest under hot Sun cropped up. As it was around 11 am that day, due to heat radiation the line test pressure was not holding . Myself and my supervisor Mr Sekhar told the EIL inspector that we shall postpone the test and take up in the evening when it becomes cool. But he was adamant and instructed us to switch on the booster pump ! The result was that we were left with a snake  as the pipe pressure crossed the upper limit of its design pressure. Typical public sector blame game raised- who will bear the cost of the material replacement? IPCL/EIL begged Alkan management  NOT to expose them and requested to bear some nominal cost to show in the accounts book.

16. Miserable first abroad assignment  After the cancellation of an earlier Qatar trip with M/S L&T in 1972 I was longing for a foreign assignment. In late '79 M/S Toyo Engineering Japan identified me specifically and asked M/S Alkan to deploy me first followed by a few engineers and 24 workmen. In those days, as people were not conversant with the international conditions as well as acute cold weather warm clothes requirements etc. Alkan management fixed a random salary + considering the local living allowance as fully convertible, sourced a cheap ticket with Polish Airlines and sent me only with a half sleeve sweater. At that time the administration manager  was thinking that he knew the entire world and committed these blunders.   At each step I faced misery. 

a) The flight had a refuelling halt at Beirut. So all the passengers were asked to alight from the plane and wait in a bunker. That city had the terrorist menace then itself and the army personnel were firing continuously with AK47 in front of the waiting passengers. One can imagine the plight of the waiting passengers 

 b) At Prague, as the flight has reached before the schedule, the airlines personnel asked to board the immediate plane to Schoenefeld  in East Germany. Being not aware of the local regulations then, I also thought I could reach earlier than scheduled and boarded that plane. That was the misery.  On reaching Schoenefeld airport, the immigration authorities refused to let me in since mine was visa on arrival. Imagine a person wearing only a half sleeved sweater in snow falling open air. That airport authorities were strict because of unauthorised Sri Lankan immigrants ramping up. So I was forced to stand in open for nearly two hours. 

  c) But the driver Sh John  turned up as per schedule carrying my visa. So the entry formalities ended fast and as it was already lunch time he took me to the airport canteen. We thought we might get some bread, fruits and egg omelette; but we could get only beef steak. As we had no alternative options we took that by force. 

 d)As that day was Friday I was advised to stay put inside house only until  Mr Kannan of Toyo could arrange my work permit pass on Monday morning. On seeing me in a half sleeve sweater, Toyo's administrative director Mr Nagamatsu scolded me and Alkan management and instructed Mr Kannan to arrange issuing one full set of warm clothes. Then he instructed me to convey the requirements to my management for the team members following.  But the typical administration set up in Alkan they ignored that call. So my responsibility was enhanced at the site. From the allowable local Mark currency available I sourced those warm dress requirements for all the team members. 

e) There only we learnt what the communist government meant. Each and every thing in stores was controlled and no one can purchase in excess. I happened to come across one vet sad case- A nine year old boy  unknowingly wrapped a fish pocket in a newspaper which had the photo of the then Secretary General of GDR. Somebody has reported that to police  stating that the boy had not given due respect to their leader. The boy was punished with death and he was shot dead in public.

f) As for my health concern I could not bear that biting cold and family separation played too much. Though my leadership quality was excellent and appreciated by Mr Nakamura, Chief Instrument engineer of Toyo at site, he only recommended that I should return back immediately and I came back handing over the charge to my trusted deputy Mr S Kannan         

                                                                Contd.

Surprising Events

 Memorable  Instances in my life

Somehow I have come across several freak happenings in life  which resulted in some positive outcomes & sometimes very dangerous in nature. They were all memorable  and kept me reminded often! Here I shall attempt to list them down in the order of their occurrence  and elaborate.

1. Hoodwinking an innocent boy -  As described I was taken for a ride by hoodwinking stating it is better to carry the cash in a wrapped paper cover instead  of carrying it loose; by that pack with stone pebbles and steal that amount. - My homecoming from Shanmukha laundry  picking up ironed clothes in 1955.

2.A funny utterance ignorantly-  Friend Ms Bharathi Naidu, while going to her school in the morning used to say " Poi Sastanu " instead of Poi Ostanu ! Though her mother tongue was Telugu, she was not able to understand the implied meaning in what she was uttering daily even after we ( Tamilian who could understand Telugu ) explain and attempt to correct her.  Ostanu mean Return whereas Sastanu mean Die.

3. While I was an 11 year child, my paternal uncle Mr Sethupathi  desired that  all children should learn swimming  and he instructed one of his office assistant Mr Dorai to teach us in the village well. That person used to tie  the dried pumpkin with each child and push us into the well. As I did not have an ABC idea of floating in water I sank ! Mr Dorai being an expert noticed my misery  and dragged me out. Then he complained to my uncle and recommended I should not participate anymore.  Year 1958

4. Famous NCC 'B' certificate examination. While studying  PUC in Loyola College, I was active and gave the NCC 'B' Certificate examination. Everything was going alright and we were relaxing in an open ground.That time also we had the given rifle in hand. When the officer called us for reassembling I raised my left hand asking my classmate Sh Ebaneiser to help me by lifting me. Accidentally as his grip became loose  I fell flat and fractured my left wrist. That was Feb.month and we had a fear of whether I can give my public examination in April ? Somehow I managed to attend the exams and scored only an II class in PUC- Year 1963.

5. MIT Admission- a case of unknowingly enquiring the admission data in a public corridor to the person who himself was responsible for that task ! The rest is history.  Year 1966.

6. Getting introduced to strangers who later became either as colleagues in employment  or associates- M/S Ravikumar, Babu Varghese and MR Shankar at the Woodlands Hotel, Kalamassery during my training at FACT,Alwaye, Year 1968

7. Being swept away in the flowing stream at Kolathur.  When few of our classmates visited our friend        R Narayanan's village Kolathur, he took us to the village  flowing water stream for swimming & bathing. As the water is my favorite friend, I was literally swept with the stream ! Narayanan only caught me and saved then. Unknowingly when I uttered that I have forgotten swimming they all laughed! Year 1968

8. Getting introduced to Mr Anbunathan at Railway canteen, Mettur dam. As bachelors, all working engineers be it Chemplast or Malco or Mettur Chemicals, everyone used the station railway canteen for their food requirements. As he also happened to start his career at Chemplast on the same day as I started my career at Malco, we got introduced there.  In the later part of life that came handy as he functioned as The Chief Controller of Explosives,Nagpur ,a statutory authority. During my entire Reliance job, I was solely responsible for CCE clearances for all Reliance manufacturing locations. Rather we became family friends.   The whole department used to respect me for my professional  clarity on the requirements & integrity. At one stage I became their ex-officio consultant for their technical queries. Year 1969

9. Off time On- call duty at Malco. As my two foremen were out of town< I was called to attend the problem on TIC (Temperature Indicating Controller) in Red Alumina Autoclave. While working on it due to lack of hands on professional experience I ended up with a handful of Hg ( Mercury). Only my fitter Sh Kathirvelu rescued me by bringing the spare instrument from the shop. But later we came to know that there was a  design fault in that instrument in manufacturing itself !       Year 1970

10. Joining M/s Taylor Instrument Co. This is one of the notable freak happening in my life. Sometime in August 1970 I was on short leave  and came to Madras. One day my classmate Sh Ragothamachar came home and said that he is on the way to M/S Taylor for his job interview. I also accompanied him as I had some tasks in British Council library, neighbourhood building at Mount Road. When I was sitting in the visitor sofa, Mr L C Venkatrangan, Sr sales engineer in Taylor and 16th batch DMIT said hullo and enquired about me. Even before completing my response, he went to Mr RD Sharma's cabin- Branch Manager and appraised him to interview me also. The result - I got selected and not Ragoth ! Though I felt personally bad, that was a raise for me.     Year 1970

11. Emergency short deputation to FACT,Cochin Ambalamedu site. As there was a jeep accident at the job site, Taylor Delhi (HQ) management requested RDS to depute me for 3 days of emergency responsibility as all the site supervisors were admitted in hospital. That 3 day became 8 months  as most of them had serious injuries. Mr CP Srinivasan  took care of all my requirements including sourcing dresses and put me in hotel Meera Mahal in Thirupanithura. I enjoyed the stay and took complete responsibility of the site; rather at the end the management of the client went to the extent of offering me a job for a permanent position; but I did not take it.  Year 1970-71.

                                                                     :-   Continued