Struck with Polio at the age of three, he encountered multiple challenges through his childhood days and teenage years but overcame the adversities with grit and determination displaying extraordinary confidence in discharging his duty and rose to the post of CFO and Company Secretary of Sundaram Finance
“SELECT HIM” wrote TS Santhanam on his job application form even without looking at him in 1971
Polio struck him when he was just three years old. He studied in a Tamizh Medium School in Madras int he late 1950s and early 60s. His disciplinarian father was hospitalized for two years incuding during the PUC Examination days. Into his 20s, his amma was not keen on him taking up a job outside of Madras and had to give up on outstation offers that came his way. Up against all odds, this man showcased to the world that with commitment and determination, one could overcome any challenge and succeed in life. The man from Mannargudi went on to become one of the trusted members of India’s Auto Legend. Here’s the story.
A Chequered Childhood -Missing the Sports Activities
S Venkatesan hailed from the historical town of Mannargudi, home to the beautiful Rajagopalaswamy temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/05/mannargudi-rajagopalaswamy-temple.html). His father D Srinivasan lost his father (G Duraiswamy) early when he was just 7 years old. Seeking greener pastures in the city, he moved to Madras with his family in the 1950s.
Given the physical challenges, Venkatesan was completely disconnected from any sport and hardly played a game during his schooling days. Wesley school boasted one of the biggest grounds in the city but throughout that decade, he could only watch his mates from the ‘sidelines’. Not to let negativity to set into his mind, his amma, Jayalakshmi, who lovingly called him ‘Durai’, initiated him into Sanskrit and Hindi (he passed Visharath) classes so as to keep her young son’s mind occupied. Alongside, he also completed higher in typewriting and short hand. He also learnt to play Chess at home.
During that phase, his appa, a Sanskrit and Tamizh scholar who worked at LR Swamy would take him on the weekends to Divya Desams and explain the legend of each of the temples singing the verse of the Azhvaars and inculcated in him the Dharmic way of life as detailed in the scriptures. Those trips created an early devotion in Venkatesan that has continued well into his 70s.
Throughout his formative years, his amma continuously initiated him with the values of life and told him never to waver from the Dharmic Path. That was ingrained into him all through his childhood. She was a strong willed and positive woman and believed that physical handicaps could not halt the progress of a human being.
First Day at College
After having spent over a decade in Tamizh medium school, Venkatesan joined PUC at the Vivekananda College. His first day at the college left him a bit down. The tiny Venkatesan found his fellow students conversing in fluent English. His amma, now aged 92 and residing with Venkatesan’s sister in Nanganallur, was and has remained his greatest strength and inspiration in life. In times when he has been down, it was she who instilled the confidence in him that he could match up to anyone in academics and that there was nothing to fear in life. It was the same message that TS Santhanam was to give in his first meeting at Sundaram Motors.
PUC preparation at the Hospital
Just over a decade after Polio struck him, Venkatesan faced his next big challenge in life. His appa met with a serious accident and was hospitalized for a long period during his SSLC and PUC. 16 year old Venkatesan prepared for the entire PUC examinations studying under the lights at the hospital sitting beside his appa. With the financial challenges at home, he sought permission from his appa to discontinue his education to find a job that would provide some financial impetus to the family. But his appa was keen that Venkatesan pursue his academics and fought his way back from the hospital and into his job at LR Swamy. Venkatesan recalls those days from the 1960s “My father was a strict disciplinarian and always wanted me to give my best in academics. He was keen to do everything to help me further my studies. It was his motivation that helped me focus on academics. ”
After having passed Class X with distinction, Venkatesan secured the highest grades in Physics and Chemistry in PUC that led the Principal to offer him B.Sc instead of the ‘Premium’ and ‘In demand’ B.Com. But he was keen on doing B.Com. He was probably destined to be a trusted lieutenant of a legendary automan. Impressed with the confidence level of the boy, the principal told him that he was likely to do well in life and handed him the B.Com seat.
Despite all the setbacks in life, a differentiating feature of Venkatesan's life was his confidence he exhibited in everything he did. If it were not for the self confidence, his life may have turned out very differently given the challenges he faced early on in his life.
Rank Holder in B.Com and CA
Once his appa was discharged from hospital, the family shifted to Alwarpet Street from Royapettah to facilitate his appa’s travel to LR Swamy. For Venkatesan, there were no sporting activities at college too and he spent a large part of his free time reading books. Professor PA Hariharan, a gigantic personality and one with a MA in 18 disciplines, provided the literary inspiration with his presentations in English.
Three years on, Venkatesan graduated among the top five rank holders of the college in B. Com. Soon after graduating, he once again asked his father if he could get into a job but his appa despite his ill health pushed Venkatesan to pursue a professional course. CA was at a premium in those years and one had to pay a fee to be taken in as an apprentice in a reputed audit firm. Being a rank holder, CS Hariharan, CA, offered him a ‘free’ apprenticeship. Continuing his outstanding performance in academics, he cleared CA in three straight years, securing a top rank in both Inter and Final.
Offers poured in from several companies including from those in Bombay. However his amma, with whom he has been closely attached all his life, was insistent that he not leave Madras and thus he rejected all the outstation offers that came his way. It was then that he heard about an opening in the TVS Group. One who had come back home in tears after day one of his college now drafted a letter in English that was to prove transformational (he came to know about this only at the end of the first year).
The Best Moment of his Life - 'SELECT HIM' says TS Santhanam
Following a job application letter to the ‘TVS & Sons’ that he sent by post, he was called in for an interview at Sundaram Motors. He went through five grueling rounds. He had almost lost hope when he was called a sixth time. A Rangaswamy, who passed away recently, welcomed him with a smile and led him into the room of someone with whom he was to have a close association for over 25 years. Legendary TS Santhanam handed him the appointment letter in November 1971 with the remark that Venkatesan vividly remembers almost 50 years later “This is not recruitment for the army. Always Do your duty. Do your job without fear or favour.”He thus joined Sundaram Motors as an accounts assistant in the first week of December 1971 at a salary of Rs. 600.
It was at the end of the first year at Sundaram Motors when his appointment came for confirmation that he found a revealing truth that he considers as the Best Moment of his life. When the Union Leader Chelliah held up his hand written application form (of the previous year) that he had to clear for Venkatesan’s confirmation of job at Sundaram Motors, Venkatesan found on the back of the application a signed remark from Santhanam that pre dated all his interviews “SELECT HIM”. Based on the content of the application letter and the confident tone of the letter, Santhanam had spotted the potential in the man even without meeting him. The subsequent interviews were probably a test to see if this youngster would withstand the pressure of a corporate environment.
An Unfulfilled Dream - working in a manufacturing firm
During his 6 ½ year stint at Sundaram Motors (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/r-chandrasekaran-sbi-globe-trotter.html), he also completed ICWA, a course that included a difficult paper on Engineering Maths. It was a favourite of his. It was a long felt dream of Venkatesan to work in a manufacturing arm of the TVS (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/tvs-ram-s-cricketer.html) for a period so he could put the learning of the Costing Degree to full use but that dream remained unfulfilled till the end.
The move to Sundaram Finance
When Sundaram Finance was looking for a person to take care of Internal Audit, Venkatesan’s name was shortlisted. His mentor and the chief at Sundaram Motors, M Krishnamurthy was a bit reluctant to let go of Venkatesan for he had served the company well in the 6 1/2 years of his service. Just like the Principal at Vivekananda College, Krishnamurthy too had developed a special liking for Venkatesan in the disciplined and methodical way he worked and was of the view that this man would go far in life.
He joined Sundaram Finance in 1977 and worked closely with TN Padmanabhan, a former IRS officer and a renowned expert on Taxation. By 1981, Venkatesan had also completed ACS, the third of his professional qualifications. Those initial years were intellectually stimulating, for Padmanabhan always looked up to Venkatesan for insightful answers to challenging and complex points in Tax and Company Law. He enjoyed working under Padmanabhan just as he had under Krishnamurthy.
Working with ‘The Super Computer’
In the years that he worked with Padmanabhan, Venkatesan was always referred to as the 'Walking Encyclopedia'. And then one day Padmanabhan took him to Santhanam. In the 6 ½ years at Sundaram Motors, Venkatesan had not met with Santhanam after receiving the appointment letter from him in 1971. From the early 1980s, he became part of everyday interactions with Santhanam. Considering that he woke up a bit late, Santhanam, the fine gentleman that he was, made his first call of the day to Venkatesan much after 6am after he had finished with three others!!
Venkatesan recalls the early years of his morning calls and meetings with Santhanam “He spoke without paper, had a great memory and would remember every aspect of all the earlier conversations that the two had had. One had to be 100% accurate. He was a Super Computer.”
One of the most challenging tasks and enjoyable engagements in the early phase of his career was the presentation of a comparative analysis of Balance Sheets of industry players. Over time, when industry pundits tried to find out the secret sauce of the company from Venkatesan, he gave them an explanation relating to the temples “This story is like that of the Tirupathi Laddu or the Thiruvallikeni Parthasarathy’s Chakkarai Pongal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/07/thiruvallikeni-prabhandham-ghosti.html). Even if you give all the ingredients, the output was likely to be below par.”
Handling the ever changing regulations were among the things that he liked the most. While regulations were tightened over the decades, new ones never surprised him for he felt that the company was always ahead of time “It was like a terrific student anticipating the toughest of questions in the examination.”
Rama Rajya - A Divine Personality
Very early into their professional engagement at Sundaram Finance, Santhanam began placing the Financial Times, the renowned international business daily on Venkatesan’s desk. Venkatesan made specific allocation of time in the day to read this paper, for Santhanam, a voracious reader, would pick up points from the paper for discussion the next day. While that was on the business front, Santhanam also handed out various dharmic books to Venkatesan that instilled in him the Dharmic way of running a finance business. One morning, he handed the Adyathma Ramayana book which Venkatesan treasures to this day. During the period of the lockdown, decades after receiving the book, another reading opened his eyes to a lot on how Santhanam worked in office based on the principles of Rama Rajya“He was a Divine Personality.”
While Venkatesan excelled in academics right through with distinction in Class X, D+ in PUC and ranks in B.Com and CA, he says that the real learning was under Santhanam “It was here that I received my P. hd. Every single day, I would be put to a new test and I had to come through each one of them with 100% accuracy. I learnt my real accounting and finance lessons under his mentorship,”
Appa dies early, additional responsibilities at Home
When Venkatesan’s appa, who worked for 22 years after his major accident, died in the mid 1980s at the age of 59, it was a big personal loss. Family responsibilities increased manifold. In the years that followed, it was Venkatesan who took care of the family responsibilities and supported his sisters and performed the wedding of his brother and sister.
Allround Knowledge - What is the Price of Idly?
One day, Santhanam came to the desk of Venkatesan and took him by surprise by asking the price of an idly at Udupi Hotel. When he expressed ignorance of the pricing at restaurants, Santhanam shot back 'you have to be aware of all things around you’. Only later did Venkatesan realize that Santhanam was planning to introduce food subsidy in the company and hence the query.
Santhanam gives him a ‘new lease of life’
Venkatesan was also touched by Santhanam's personal care“He treated me as his own family member. He always gave the feeling that he ‘cared for you and your well being”. Into his 90s and when he was not in the best of health, Santhanam heard that Venkatesan had been hospitalized. Venkatesan had to undergo a bypass surgery at the turn of the century. After he was discharged, the doctor at the hospital told Venkatesan that he had been directed to give two health bulletins each day to Santhanam and that he had wanted personalized care and attention to be handed to him at the hospital. When he regained consciousness for the first time after the bypass surgery, he saw GK Raman and TT Srinivasaraghavan (MD and Dy. MD at that time) in front of him – TTS greeting him with a ‘re-bored engine’ and GKR cheering him up in his typically towering tone. Venkatesan says that Santhanam gave him a ‘new lease of life’.
Venkatesan say that Santhanam accepted him ‘as I am’ and brought out the best in him “I had not had such a strong bonding even with my appa. He showered fatherly love on me and creating a bonded for me with the firm for forever. And for all this, he had sowed the seed without even seeing me way back in 1971.”
Venkatesan retired in 2011 from Sundaram Finance after almost 35 years with the firm having served as the CFO and Company Secretary.
Retired Life listening to Velukkudi Krishnan
As the 72 year old Venkatesan sits in his second floor flat on Dhandapani Street in T Nagar reading and listening to the stories on ancient temples and to the Upanyasams of Velukkudi Krishnan, his mind goes back to the school days when his appa instilled that early devotion in him. Venkatesan’s amma is hard of hearing these days but every day of the year, she calls her adorable ‘Durai’ and gives out dharmic messages on how he should live the rest of this live.
For Venkatesan, life has been full of challenges right from the age of three. From physical handicap to overcoming an inferiority complex, from missing the games during his childhood to spending very little time with his family during his corporate life, from losing his father and brother early to getting used to the English language in the city, he has had to encounter tough times in different phases of his life that could so easily have shattered him and pulled him down the barrel. But devotion to God, the unflinching support from his amma and the extraordinary confidence and self belief with which he discharged his duty were reasons for him to grow to the top of the chart in Sundaram Finance where he rose from the position of an internal auditor to don the twin role of the CFO and Company Secretary.
But to him, earning the confidence of the legendary TS Santhanam who reposed the trust in him for 25years is the single achievement that he cherishes most to this day.