Sunday, February 28, 2010

D. RAMA MOHAN RAO REMINISCES

Here is a collage from DRM's album

DRM addressing a farewell meeting for a Depot Executive who was transferred during 1983-84.

DRM seen with M.P.P. Rao at the time of a STAR the function in Sringar

Don't memories haze over time?
DRM with K. Prabhakar at the time of a STAR function in 1979 at Mahabalipuram.


Wasn't it the best? A section of Glaxo-Pharma A.P. team

Doesn't it look like a page from Inspira? A detailing practice session in progress.

The Hyderabad City team in 1979-80.

The big moment! 
DRM recieving his STAR Award from Sir Austin Bide in 1979.
N. M. Reddy, A.S.E. is seen in the middle.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A GLAXO PHARMA CONFERENCE (MADRAS - DECEMBER 1967)


This file photo of a Glaxo Pharma - Madras Conference known in those days as the 'Interview Plan Meeting' held in December 1967, was contributed by K.Gopal (first from right in the first row). Gopal was a Medical Representative then. He became A.S.E., R.S.M., and Branch Manager in Madras Branch and finally retired as General Manager, Training & Development in 2001. 

In the photo are seen Dr. R. K. and John Reece (back to the camera at the 'head-table'.) Who is the other one addressing the group? A few, alas, are missing from our midst. We shall be thankful - and be happy to publish - if anyone can identify all the names.

Here is another view:

Click on the photos to see them in full-screen magnification.

Photos contributed by K. Gopal

Monday, February 22, 2010

FESTIVE SEASON-1974

The Indian calendar is dotted with festivities throughout the year but is dense between September and October beginning with the nine-day Vinayaka Chaturdhi followed by the ten-day Dusserah-Pooja and then the Diwali.

For the group of 35 mainly from what was known as the MSA (Madras Selling Area) and a few from other branches, September - October 1974 was indeed a festive season, for it marked their induction into the Glaxo-Indian community. In September a prayer to the elephant-headed god was in order to seek His blessings for a successful career. If one remembers well, the training stretched through the Dusserah festivities with a promise of Vijay on the Dasami! Diwali was ‘back home’ with the heart lighted by a new joy adding a new lilt to the tune and a new spring to the step! Earlier on, after a gruelling selection process in July they had an agonising wait through August as the induction training programme was to start on September 2.

If the five-and-a-half-foot cots in Sodality House (Bycullah) where the company accommodated them were too short for a couple of tall guys or the ‘princely’ stipend of Rs 350/- and daily allowance of Rs 5/- was measly, it did not matter, for what was to come was a ‘dream come true’, which expression might sound like a cliché but like many clichés, quite true! Yes indeed, as the five-letter logo on the visiting card spelt open sesame in the ‘field’ and not just for doors that were generally closed.

A colleague remembers with great delight that in one of his first visits to a small town a doctor clutched his hand with both his hands to his heart and intoned, “I am so happy a Glaxo medical rep has come to my clinic!” Sounds apocryphal – but quite true! And the five-letter logo was also the bearer’s pride and neighbour’s envy!

GLAXO PHARMA OCTOBER 1974
It was also a time to be in Glaxo where the lingua franca was still English English, to which this writer is partial! Madras Branch had its share of men erudite in this genre led by the scholarly and witty D. R. Nathan; the ‘emphatic’ V. Seetharaman, the soft spoken S. Ramachandran (SRC) and in the lower ranks C. P. Appa Rao whose memos were peppered with Johnsonese - to be more savoured by the few than understood by many!

The trainees did not know it then but Glaxo diaspora was to rule the industry for the next two decades. Tarun Gupta’s Glaxo was the training ground for pharma marketing managers, the equivalent of IIMs of later years! TG’s ateliers and marketing experiments could well find their way into the ‘case studies’ of these premier institutions, but were certainly replicated by many other companies.

TG had in place a team that was the toast of the industry: the erudite K. S. Ramanathan (KSR), whom C. Jagadisan a senior member of the product management team nicknamed ‘the Englishman from Trichy’; the redoubtable Dr. Meswani who could find a killing slot for the doddering Betnelan in Asthma and a number of Bhabhas and Bhatias.

The company had an equally powerful implementation arm in its sales teams. How else did the company climb back to the number 2 slot in the industry rankings in just nine years armed with such ‘pricey’ products as Complex B Glaxo Liquid and Ostocalcium B12 Syrup the unit costs of which never exceeded Rs 5/- and the Beta group as mainstay, the prices of which were actually pushed down by the government not once but twice within the period?

Boy, wasn’t the training programme a lark? It was to last four weeks but was extended by a week when Marketing Manager Irani espied this gem in an answer sheet in the daily test: Betneton contains Betamethasone and Chloramphenicol. (“I can not send you into the market with this kind of knowledge!”) The railways extended it by another week as they could not accommodate the large Madras contingent in the Bombay - Madras mail just yet.

A typical day would commence with a sumptuous subsidized breakfast (priced @ Re 1/-) in the staff canteen and end with dinner in the South Indian restaurant across Bycullah Bridge. A colleague conversant with Hindi commented on the travails of South Indians unfamiliar with the nuances of the language: ‘yeh baaji lao, vo baaji lao’ and helpfully adding, ‘billu mat lao’! Then there was the hilarious moment when a couple of pure vegetarians realised to their horror, with a mouthful, that the fare they were served for lunch on the ‘Biryani day’ was non-vegetarian!

The training did have its highs and lows. It began with an announcement by TG that made many daydream in the day and sleepless in the night, on the first day: “Gentlemen, by the time you go back to the field, you would be drawing a four-figure salary!” A week into the training one member was missing and the newspapers the next day announced the names of a gang that was arrested for smuggling, which unfortunately included him. Those were the days when the government was showcasing COFEPOSA and movie theatres screened a Films Division documentary which commented, ‘the higher the status in the smuggling world the greater the ostentation and vulgarity of greed!’ The ‘emergency’ that the government declared to ‘discipline an errant nation and run trains on time’ was only months in the offing.

A faculty and the interface between the trainees and other faculty was Mr. Choksey, who though lovable had a favourite fellow Gujarati in the batch: ‘Mr. Vyas will throw the latest light on the subject’ as the said Vyas graduated with microbiology as one of the subjects! The faculty composed of an amorphous group: the plain (it would be impolite to use the word ‘simpleton’) Mr. Mallick who every time there was a query rushed to a tome he kept on the table (Let’s see what this fellow says!); the debonair Dr. Kochar (reporting some of his ‘asides’, though delectable then would be politically incorrect today!) the irascible Dr. Kuverjee and of course Dr. Meswani apart from Marketing Managers, KSR, Irani and Venkatesh.

And finally the ‘return to Branch’ had had its share of adventure. The engine of the train to Madras broke down at Guntakal and the guard ‘assured’ everyone that the train would not move till next morning. Two members of the AP team walked into the nearby town, which is about two to three miles from the railway station to visit the movies. As luck would have it they picked up a rather long movie lasting about three hours and after enjoying it slowly walked back to the station.

They were still a mile away when they saw a train chugging out of the station and realised to their horror that it was ‘their’ train. They began running after it on the tracks, at the same time shouting for it to stop. After they ran about two miles they could attract the attention of the guard who peeked out to see two people running behind the train and pulled the brake. Panting and grunting the duo lunged into the guard’s compartment and narrated their tale. The kind guard offered them water which they accepted gratefully and in the next stop moved to their compartment.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Monday, February 15, 2010

Mr. MAHESH NIRESHWALIA


We have recieved the following message about the sad demise of Mr. Nireshwalia from Mr. C. Jagadisan :
It is with deep sorrow I have received the sad news that our dear Mr. Nireshwalia reached the Lotus feet of the Good Lord on the 1st Feb 10 at his son Mahesh Nireshwalia's (Munna) home, Pune. He has had a paralytic stroke a couple of months back and lost his ability to speak. In fact Mr. Reddi and I were planning to visit him at Pune and before it could be implemented, we have received this sad news. Mr. Walia was an affable, gregarious person and we will miss him in our midst.

Mr. Walia was 90 years old! But he didn't look his age anytime!! In fact last year when I met him at his niece's place, in Bengaluru I joked at him stating that he was so fit he can afford to marry again!!
He had a long stint with Pharma in Madras Branch, became Senior Sales Promotion Executive (SSPE), then got picked by Mr. Tarun Gupta and became Branch Sales Manager, Madras for Family Products Division (FPD), then moved to HO to become Product Manager and then Marketing Manager, FPD. He was a very jovial and an affable person, very humane!!
May his soul rest in peace!! Amen!!
Kindly help circulate this to other Glaxoites who knew him
Remembering Nareshwalia Nagarajan Sankaranarayanan worte:
I am indeed very sad to hear the news.
I endorse every word you had said in your mail about the two fine friends and gentlemen I had the good fortune to know to closely. You may not know that it was Naresh whom I met in GH on the first day on the field when my boss, Dr Ramakrishnan left me in his care. That day and my association with and admiration for him are still green in my mind. They had deepened over the years.
Naresh is one of the finest men whom I had great fortune to have known. I met him couple of times when I returned to Bangalore after my retirement.
May his soul rest in peace!!!.
Saturday, March 20,2010.
Mr. Ch. Mohan Rao wrote:
I know Mr. Nireshwalia who used to visit Vijayawada depot. He was very active in day to day life. I pray god for his soul.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE CURE FOR Mr.D.R.NATHAN!

We have recieved the following message from Mr. C. Jagadisan. Those of us who know Mr. Nathan as an affable, witty, humane person and a lovable boss are saddened to know he is ailing with an unoperable metastasized cancer. We can only pray that God performs a miracle to cure him.  

Mr. D. R. Nathan, 85 has been diagnosed having cancer in the ascending colon that can not be operated upon as the tumour is too big . He has been discharged from Isabella Hospital, Chennai last Sunday and he is with his second son Ramesh (who is a manager with Madras Management Association, Madras) staying at Neelangari. We feel very sad that this should be happening to another finest gentleman Mr. Nathan; secondaries seem to have already spread, as per the surgeon and even liver is affected. God's miracle is required to cure him!! He should not suffer with pain! Drs have sent him back home and would decide about chemotherapy after he picks up some health and strength! He is far too weak now. I was at Chennai on 21/22 Jan and went to see him at the hospital. He was then in ICU and even then he was cracking jokes!! Typical Mr. Nathan!!

AMAN KHANNA SAYS THANK-U GLAXOINDIAN


Dear Friends,

Thanks for starting the blog.

To all my old mates, a big Hello & do send me your contacts.

Regards,

Aman Khanna
Area Director, ROA & Egypt
Ranbaxy Laboratories
South Africa
Phone: (Dir) + 27 12 6432050
(Board) + 27 12 6432000
(Mob) + 27 82 5559083