My Dad -My First Manger of my life ! We miss you Dad !

My dad was my first Manager in life ! He taught us so many things in life. He taught us values and commitment.

He was 87 year old and breathed his last on 30 June 2017 and I thought instead of grieving, I prefer to share the positives of a great dad, great Manager and a great Human being. He is not a celebrity and the World may not heard of him, but, for me and some 1000 people , he is a Hero.

Few things, that set him apart!

In 1960-70's bureaucracy was ruling India. Every Electricity consumer had tremendous respect and fear of Electric Utility. If the family of the chief of Electric Utility wants to visit a movie theatre, a row would be reserved . But, my dad, who was incharge of this Electric Utility in a place would send his 4 kids ( aged between 12-7) to a movie with an assistant, who would buy the tickets and send them in without revealing that they are the kids of the head of Electric Utility! It taught us to be simple and never exploit power.

Once a cyclone affected an entire District called Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India and entire district plunged into darkness. He took initiative on war footing. He had loyalists in many places he worked in other districts. He sent a word to them for volunteering - no money would be paid for their leaves. And a hundred people turned up Nellore. He made them into batches and assigned each team to a different locality. He told the residents of the area to help these brave teams with food etc. The residents took care of them and the teams worked hard. He sent an Engineer to a cement Manufacturing unit and forced them to divert entire production to manufacture Electric Poles. Jokingly he told the owners that, if they don't make electric poles, the Electric power will be cut. And all these efforts resulted in bringing back the entire district back with power in the shortest possible time. His achievement was appreciated by all politicians of the district and passed a resolution in the Zilla parishad with a special mention about him. It taught us to have a great commitment for the good of the people and there will be 100 more people who will support you.

Once, he realised that vast land was identified as Sports ground in Ibrahimpatnam, Vijayawada Thermal Power Project, Andhra, India. And there was no infrastructure and no activity. As a great sport lover, he called the infrastructure contractors of Ash handling, Coal handling and Water treatment division, where he was heading all the three. He told them -"You are aware that I do not take even a Rupee as bribe, But, I want you to help the people by sponsoring and adopting one sport each" . The response was overwhelming. And soon Cricket ground was ready, Shuttle badminton court was ready, Tennis court was ready. And it taught us, some unconventional means are good if the objective is for the good of the people/company.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1990 and conquered Cancer for over 27 years! He used to counsel many people who were diagnosed with cancer and making them aware that cancer is not end of like. A website even covered him - A Tale of Courage . This taught us that if you are brave nothing can bully you.

And there are more like this. I can write a book on my hero, but, no one would buy it as he is not a known name. I am writing this as today (1 July 2017), he was cremated and I thought sharing some incidents of my hero as a tribute to him.

PS: Sorry, if you think it is not suitable for Linkedin posts, you may please excuse me and ignore the article!