The Dec 2023 Reunion

This blog is a story and a reminiscence of a group of people, whose career journey overlapped for about half a decade, in the city of Nawabs, which is Hyderabad, India. An elite mix of the young and not so young, rookies and experienced ones, the common passion being Engineering and building solutions around Engineering. What exactly did they do?

Let me go back in time, about three decades, when we as a team worked as part of fascinating turnkey solutions, for clients across the country, driven by either the Central Government or State Government. Work spanned core sectors as in Indian Railways, Electricity boards, Coal, and Lignite Mines, Building automation, Shipping Industry and more. The project scope was mostly end to end, turnkey solutions that often took multiple years to complete; hardware and software was developed by CMC, and all aspects of field testing was also done in house. The part that was usually outsourced was manufacturing since CMC did not have a manufacturing facility. Strict quality control was enforced, and we were part of the team that interfaced with core R@D and the vendor, and also spent plenty of time working with the customer during deployment. The experience was amazing, for we got to see the real impact of our work, and a happy customer experience after the rigor of the whole process was simply exhilarating!

My work took me across the country, Mumbai, and Delhi to work with vendors, Neyveli and Kanpur for deployment, Gujarat to work closely with a Power Supply vendor, and a few local vendors who were Hyderabad based. I often had to write software to diagnose the systems, struggle with oscilloscopes to understand any field anomalies, and design test boards, to test the system itself.

As a young mind, with a few years of experience, this was truly the opportunity of a lifetime. And I was not alone, for most members of the team had similar profiles like mine, and the quality of work was similar.

The brilliant leadership team was seriously empathetic, they never pushed but soft nudged, it was a young company, average age being 27, and despite the unlimited leave, no questions asked policy, the average leave taken per year was about 7. We loved to work, way beyond designated hours, which included Saturdays and sometimes Sundays, CMC took care of our transport and food for such extended hours, the environment was simply superb.

To quote a fellow colleague “Putcha and BVR were great engineering leaders. Lipi was top of line technology for languages unparalleled in industry. Automex: store and forward network of Teleprinters and Telex machines, statistical multiplexers, array processors, Remote Terminal Units, all of these were original design created by CMC Limited.”

What then happened that needed all of us to scatter and migrate and seek opportunities elsewhere?

Well, the Indian Economy opened in the early 1990s to multi nationals and the government also opened up its policies in terms of open competition. This meant that the captive customer base CMC had, it now faced still competition. Global solutions were far more evolved and mature, and possibly cheaper as an entry point. Over the next few years, CMC lost its plot, could not turn around that quickly, and lost all major contracts. Some survived and scaled, the Railway Reservation system is a classic example. And so did a few others.

Before I forget, the then chairperson, PP Gupta, was a visionary. He decided, amidst lots of protests, to build a campus in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, when was then a barren piece of land. He teamed up with the best architects and created an entirely different campus, which had lots of free space, greenery, single storied buildings, and also the small pods connected wirelessly, from where people could work amidst nature. The campus was self-contained, with a canteen, decent sports facilities, and transport was arranged. Well, we youngsters hated it since we loved the city ambience. Looking back, no one dared to think like him, for we all know what Gachibowli is today, the heart of the IT Boom, and real estate that is possibly a thousand times more expensive than then! Eventually, numerous companies followed.

By the late 90s, almost all the team members had left CMC and joined other companies. Some stayed in India and took up opportunities with growing companies. Some migrated to the US during the boom time of contract staffing there. Some decided to make the new country their home and became adopted citizens there. But they continued their camaraderie since that period of bonding was so rich that they could never forget each other.

Work and family commitments, and the fact that they were spread across the Globe meant that meeting as a group in person did not happen for about 2 decades. Occasionally, they bumped into each other, either in Bengaluru (Bengaluru) or Hyderabad or in the US and relived the golden days.

WhatsApp gave the opportunity to virtually bond and bring ideas together. And catch up with the family front. The group grew virtually and has 15+ members now. Crazy ideas are discussed and debated, and that spans all aspects of life. But then, it is a group that has immense respect for each other, and the best group I am part of.

The first physical reunion happened in the mid-2000s, in December. They met in Bengaluru (Bengaluru), in a farmhouse, and amidst brilliant nature, spirits, and excellent food, they recollected their journey, and spoke about the future By then, half of them had also become first time Entrepreneurs, and that journey was something they had possibly not anticipated and signed up for.

After multiple attempts, the group met again this December 2023, in Hyderabad. 10 of them in person, and the others virtually, over a Google Meet. This time, almost all of them were free birds, children having completed their academics and employed, some retired from their formal profession, but the spirit of youth still in existence, in their thinking. Some had rediscovered their passion as serious hobbies, in the field of writing, music and other forms of art, some were exploring deep spiritual paths.

So, what happened, as a visual in this reunion? Did the bonding become stronger? Did the topic of conversation lead to something meaningful? Did they redefine the measure of happiness and meaning of life?

This reunion was in some sense, a journey through a time machine, where dreams and discoveries, and conversations around team members, and partners, were spoken with great vigor. It was heartening to hear about the children who did well academically, have started working, and a few who have taken the Entrepreneurial route! Old classic songs followed the tingling of glasses, and became a lot more spirited, as the spirits started sinking in.

Over the nearly 24-hour conversations, Nation Building and leaving a legacy became a topic of discussion, intertwined by the definition of life, and its relevance, and why humans are possibly different from others. Spirits flowed, in thoughts and in liquid form, sweets and savories were galore, and the advent of Food Techs ensured that most food was delivered to the apartment.

Sitting in the terrace of the apartment, looking at the clear sky, moonlit and stars twinkling, mind tingling, spirits flowing, they spoke with each other with zero inhibition, and opened up as never before. It was almost as if they were transported back to those dreamy school days, when your innocent mind would wander and dream, and once in a while, seek the purpose of life, and what one can do with the gift called life.

The conversations became deep and powerful as the night sank in, and into an area that was still buried deep in their heart; Nation Building, as the next two decades of effort, now that they are all free birds, children fairly well settled, and their personal financial needs mostly taken care of.

Did Nation Building as a theme emerge and did, they converge?

Well partially, they realized that there is plenty that can be done via the collective experience of 400+ years, the grind, the challenges, and the lessons learnt via the roles they have played as leaders, and the network that has been built. Will they want to still do that now that that are nearly retired and do not need to work for a living? Well, dreams rarely have anything to do with money, if money becomes an outcome and not the core. The dreams still seemed alive in all of them, as passionate as in their youth.

India as a country is now at the cusp of a new phase of Nature’s cycle of life. The rich history we have, the leadership lessons of our saints and scriptures and holy books, are immensely rich and do not look at human beings in isolation. There Is great respect for Nature, the Universe, and all of its living beings. There is enormous respect to conserve and preserve and not destroy Mother Earth. Empathy for others is a given, and hence love, unconditional often, is a natural extension.

The world needs that, as we go forward. A sustainable way of living, which can preserve all aspects of life and living beings, while humans as a species are happy and gainfully engaged. The team that met inadvertently got those lessons from the projects they were involved with, early in their career. The career they built would have enriched those rich lessons. It is time to give back, in some sense. And what better time to do so than now!

These are people, at the beginning of their Golden 60s, free, unencumbered, wings still strong, and long flights still an aspiration. Let the birds unite, fly, and help discover a new World. And in that journey, also inspire millions of young birds, that can flap their wings and love to fly, but may not know the direction they should take to meet the sun, cross over tall mountains, flow over the clean river waters and streams, and transport themselves across the oceans, discovering new terrains!

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