A SATIRE ON L&T MLDP CHENNAI, A SMALL AND WONDERFUL FAMILY! (VOL 12 )DOWN MEMORY LANE!
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| Our Marriage Reception from L-R JER,PMS,DRS,SAR, Shanthi,Ram, JAT and wife, MVG, ESN RS, LS |
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| Performance RB,SRB and my family Shanthi mother,periamma,Nirmala manni,chithi,Lakshmi,my mom |
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| RS,RB mother, RB,SRB, and my family Shanthi mother, Rear sister Rajamma ,SSMani |
In 1983 I was working in a small instrumentation company Digicon located in a house at Adyar Chennai. Joining L&T R&D then was a turning point of my professional career. I was viewed till then in low esteem by the family and friends as a flop engineer. But for this change I would have ended my career as a bachelor like Abdul Kalam (not his brilliance!). 😁
After joining L&T suddenly my market value went up and everybody was suddenly taking interest in me as L&T was then like what Google is today! This flop engineer flipped to be a potential future success like stock market future earnings and started getting marriage proposals, from the same people who ignored me till then! Over the period only company names have changed. A L&T Engineer will be held in low esteem today, but Google or Facebook Engineers held in high esteem! People mindset is same from that generation to this, and unfortunately money or status of children determines the success of parent role in upbringing! 😔If people expected from girls then sovereign today gold is replaced by dollar currency! 😊
The L&T R&D was at 7th floor of new
building Venkatramana Center in Anna Salai near Gemini flyover. The department
was newly formed by L&T for PLC and Instrumentation R&D. We were only
15 occupying a big floor with 75% empty space for next 5 years while 8th
floor Sales office was over-crowded. This empty space was meant for future
expansion that never came through which only L&T can afford. My bosses VS
and JAT forego cabins also which they were entitled for like their counterparts
in 8th Floor as they believed in open communication. There was a beautiful
R&D lab inside a glass door for Development which was then show piece for
big bosses from L&T Powai.
Most of us joined new in this R&D department. While most
of us worked for Modicon PLC (which became Yaskawa later) R&D
under JAT, VS was leading indigenous IMCS development. To be frank the name
R&D was a misnomer as what we were doing then was supporting manufacturing
of PLCs in Powai and indigenization of the PLC hardware. The government was very
strict then in giving import license and companies had to indigenize in a
phased manner.
This office at Chennai was like working in Nariman point in
Bombay. You can see panaromic view of Chennai from the 7th floor. The
new branch of Canara bank was located in the 1st floor. Every week there will
be a political rally downstairs and Anna Salai will be blocked. If we don’t
like our Thalaivar we can join these rallies by coming to the street and
join another Thalaivar. 😀The VIP marriage hall Abbotsbury (now Hyatt’s
Regency) was opposite and if you forget to bring your lunch to office you have
the option to become a VIP there with your new thalaivar.😋 Next to our
office was Hi Fi Restaurant Chit Chat. The chat option then was gossiping live eating
alu chats and lime soda! 😂I don’t know how many times me and my
classmate RK has spent there!! If you want to know how efficient government
offices then, straight opposite was DMS and AGS offices where you get
everything from paan to beach sundal throughout the day!😀
Regarding our department there were more draftsmen than
engineers as most of our work is creating tool assembly and component drawings
for PLC manufacturing at Powai. ESN, PMS
and LS were the three draftsmen. There was no AutoCAD then and so every
component has to be measured from the original piece and created for making
tools. LS was happy go lucky man with typical Malayali accent always smiling
while PMS was serious about the work. ESN the people’s man took the additional
responsibility of Carrom administrator placed in the free open space. We used
to have daily carrom tournament between 12 and 1pm every day. In a closed
building the echo from the carrom striker will be audible upto atleast one
floor above and our bosses were tested for their tolerance!😄
We were planning to add Table Tennis there as there was no
sign of R&D expansion as planned! Maybe Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google
might have been inspired from MLDP to create a fun atmosphere in Silicon Valley
California much later!!😏
We were in the primitive stages of computers. VS and his shishya DRS were the
software geek and in PLC it was SAR who was the software expert within the
department. If SAR can establish simple communication with PLC MODBUS protocol
that would be a big” wow “.
L&T SRO then went for buying land for society members
which ended in a fiasco. We members bought land from L&T society. When
plenty of open land in Chennai is available, the society bought land in a
remote underdeveloped place Ramavaram. Dreaming of being neighbor of CM MGR in
Ramavaram garden many of us invested there! 😔That land was disputed one and it
took around 10 years for development and registration and most of us lost hope
and sold for a paultry amount. There was only one winner from MLDP who waited
patiently for 25 years and became a millionaire! Can you guess who Smu….!!
SMu had infinite patience to test all I/O modules in burn in
chamber in the lab with indigenous components for about 7 days. The connection
is quite complex with lot of I/O wiring to the module. Invariably the test will
fail on the 6th day and the next trial will start. SMu used to come in
the weekends to see the status as those days there was no remote monitoring
like now. When he is not testing, he will be dreaming to invest big in stock
market!
VKS who was in charge of lab was the biggest entertainer as
he used to tell stories of his past ISRO job. He was from Orissa and he used to
tell funny episodes of his wife’s struggle in Chennai being a Oriyan amongst the traditional Tamils.
TKP who came from Best and Crompton was a ideal family man and being only son amongst sisters he used to remind
us of A Bhimsingh Paasa malar
stories of 60s. MVG was Makkal Thilagam (People’s Star)most popular for
his wit who will be in R&D or Sales wherever growth is.😊
JER was the baby of the family and was fast in learning
software. My boss JAT was a perfect gentleman who was in the front always
supporting all these crazy team. He had only one Gujju Bhai SG to give company
There was nothing personal and each one of us knows the
other families. There will be solutions provided by team for common mil and fil
issues.
SRBs spouse RB was a famous classical and film singer and
through her we will know the uptodate-
information of the music and film industry and latest happenings. RSs spouse SR was a famous surgeon and passionate about treating the poor with modest fees in
their clinic in Porur. These ladies who had chosen their partner through love marriage at that
time did not inspire the rest of the menfolk and all followed the traditional
route.😞
To disturb the peace of this department the warrior VAR from
Powai will come once a month and fight with soft spoken JAT while VS will be
watching the fun! While JAT will be
cautious in approving Tool Drawings VAR was the man in haste. Director
Manirathinam must have been inspired to take the movie Agni Nakshitiram
seeing this fight between them!✊
That was the time I got engaged and most of my MLDP
colleagues were in the engagement at one bedroom house at 113 Kamaraj Avenue
Adyar. VS was the first to come and was till the end. To listener’s request RB
sang a few songs. How could this small house accommodate such a big event and
that to with so many dear relatives and L&T colleagues I wonder now! We
live in bigger homes now but where are the people? That time will not come
again!
There was no cell phone in that period and having a phone at
home was a luxury. There was no STD also which came later and only available
option is to book trunk call. At that
time I did not have phone at home and my would be partner after engagement will
call occasionally for clarifications in the office number. The entire department will
stop working listening to the conversation. The spirit of the department was
that each one cared for others and developed a personal rapport like never after
that period. Though this is written in satirical fashion to make it interesting
in these difficult times these six years were the best period of my life which
I cherish even today!👍
As usual here is the old classic fun song connected with the blog
TO BE CONCLUDED
Associated Blogs with MLDP
(VOL 11)- Visit to Singapore from MLDP
(Vol 9 and 10) Visit to Japan from MLDP
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