Be Nice...

here is a forward sent to me by one of my friends...pls read it its worth it...

I FELT IT worth reading , take time and please read thru....
Have Passion!
It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and
gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my
postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other
girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science.
I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in
computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in
the US ... I had not thought of taking up a job in India .
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I
saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard jobrequirement
notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now
Tata Motors)... It stated that the company required young, bright
engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background,
etc.
At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need not apply.'
I read it and was very upset! . For the first time in my life I was up
against gender discrimination.
Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I
had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male
peers...
Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough
to be successful?
After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform
the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the
company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but
there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco
I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of
the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually,
Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card,
addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly
what I wrote.
'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who
started the basic infrastructure industries in India , such as iron and
steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher
education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the
establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study
there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is
discriminating on the basis of gender.'
I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received
a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune
facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram.
My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free
of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs30
each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like
laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good
enough to make the trip.
It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.
To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do
in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As
directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.
There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was
serious business.
'This is the girl who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon
as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the
job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather
cool while the interview was being conducted.
Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I
told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.'
They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed
about my attitude.
The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.
Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you
know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that
we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed
college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first
ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work
in research laboratories.
I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited
place.
I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties,
so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will
ever be able to work in your factories.'
Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this
was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would
take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we
became good friends and we got married.
It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the
uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get
to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show
some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as
SM.. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata
headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I
saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the
affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.
I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM
introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him),
this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.
She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at
me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my
interview (or the postcard that preceded it).
Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are
getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your
name?'
'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am
Sudha Murthy.' He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion
with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.
After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group
chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had
in common. I was in awe of him.
One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after
office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not
know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard.
Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a
small incident for him, but not so for me.
'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said,
'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It
is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor.
I'll wait with you till your husband comes.'
I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting
alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.
I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a
simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There
wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this
person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is
waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.'
Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady,
tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to
resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not
have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after
wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was
absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He
saw me and paused.
Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the
way he always addressed me..) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'
'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a !
company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.'
'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'
'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with
diffidence,' he advised me 'Always start with confidence. When you are
successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we
must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'
Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what
seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.
Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House,
occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet
memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice
hearing about Jeh from you.
The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'
I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy
person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice.
He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have
thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of
that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her
an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he
changed her life and mindset forever.
Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are
girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry
segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and
asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today
to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it
wholeheartedly.
My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the
passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model
for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his
employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the
same vastness and magnificence.
(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys
Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys
chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)
Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative
Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth
anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004 .
BE NICE TO PEOPLE ON YOUR WAY UP,
FOR YOU NEVER KNOW,
WHOM YOU WILL MEET, ON YOUR WAY DOWN.