CITADEL – A FORTRESS REVISITED

Recently I posted an old group photograph of my ex-colleagues on Facebook and tagged a few friends.  They in turn tagged a few more and many of my old associates commented on the post.   This brought back many old memories; many good, some bad and a few ugly. Many faces, names, events and episodes flashed before my eyes.  Most of the comments posted on the Facebook wall were by those who operated from the field.  Their perspective and their experiences were very different from mine and I decided to share mine on my next blogpost and here they are:

Soon after I graduated from college, I started applying for jobs randomly.  I received a call letter in response to one such application and I attended the interview at the Citadel factory in Velachery.  Though Mr.Ranjan Rao, who interviewed was very impressed, I declined the offer since the factory was very far away from my home and not well connected. The next day, I received another call letter from their marketing office in the city and I attended that too.  Though there was no vacancy at that time, they created one and appointed me. That was the main secret behind my loyalty towards them.

The office was very spacious, well lit and ventilated.  Managers and Directors occupied the glass cabins that faced the entrance and all clerks, typists, stenographers, secretaries, the Administrative Manager and the office boys sat in the main hall.  The tables were arranged in a “class room” style and there was pin drop silence.   There was no induction or introductory session.  Mr.Prasad, the Admin Manager, led me into Mr.Jayaraman’s room and introduced me to Mr.Jayaraman and Mr.Appa Rao and left the room.  To initiate me into the work, Mr.Jayaraman dictated a few lines.  Soon after I settled in my seat, Mr.P.N.Krishna Kumar, came to me with a box of toffees and introduced himself.  He was blessed with a baby girl either that morning or the previous night and so he distributed sweets.  

 Mr.Ganapathi, who occupied the cabin diagonally opposite to the main door, pressed the buzzer hard.  When I did not respond, he signaled Jayanthi, who was seated before me to prompt me.  That’s how we were all summoned into the rooms for a very long time.  He dictated a congratulatory message and directed me to send telegram greetings to Mr.Prakash Nair and Mr.Roshan Paul, who were Area Sales Managers for Pune and Solapur respectively.  Both had completed their annual targets in advance and hence the greetings.   I took help from Kalyani to type and dispatch the telegrams.  Next, he dictated a letter to Mr.Krishnakumar.  I typed it without any errors and got it signed.  The addresses of all staff were typed on the reverse of waste visiting cards and preserved in a visiting card holder.  I collected Mr.Krishnakumar’s address from a senior and gave the envelope for dispatch.  Next evening, Mr.Krishnakumar landed in the office fuming, holding the letter in his hand.  Mr.Ganapathi pressed the buzzer more vigorously than before and signaled me to come.  I was not aware that there was another Krishnakumar somewhere in Kerala and posted it to P.N.Krishnakumar in Chennai.  Mr.Ganapathi was very angry with me and gave me a long lecture.  I apologized and left the room cursing myself.  

Our office started at 9 am.  Since late-coming and permissions were not allowed even occasionally, the ladies reached office exactly at 9 am.  Those who reached early waited at a nearby temple and stepped into the office only at 9 am.  Mr.Murali, who got dropped by a friend, waited in a nearby petrol bunk and stepped in at 9 am. Everyone worked in a synchronized manner and it was indeed a pleasure.  Soon after meetings of a Campaign concluded, dates for the next meetings were fixed. Conference halls and rooms at hotels and train tickets for the participants were booked well in advance. Samples, stationery, detailing folders, detailing stories and gifts for the next session too were organized and the functioning was very smooth.  There was just one computer and an electronic typewriter and all letters, circulars and envelopes were typed manually.  Dispatch schedule of bonus offer and incentive circulars and pricelists were intimated in advance and envelopes for all the preferred dealers and field staff kept ready for the date.  I knew all the addresses by heart and enjoyed typing hundreds of envelopes in a day.  I stopped typing from my memory after a letter landed in a wrong address and of course after a session with Mr.Ganapathi.    

Soon after I joined, I got familiarized with all the activities and by the time of my confirmation, I started reporting to Mr.Rajiv and Dr.Ramesh.  Dr.Ramesh’s friends too took my assistance once in a while and one such friend came to the office with just two letterheads and requested me to type a letter to an embassy requesting for a visa.  He warned me, “I have just two letterheads.  Please be careful while typing.”  I typed the letter with great care and took it to him. But there was a change in his programme and so he requested me to change just the dates and retype the letter and I did it.  As I handed over the letter and returned to my place, Dr.Ramesh followed me and asked “Do you think he will get a visa?  Read out his name” he demanded.  I read out “Jindas”.  The gentleman’s name was “Jinadas” and because I omitted an “a” it became “Jindas” (read Gin).  They had a hearty laugh and sent someone to his office and got another letterhead.  

Mr.Rajiv and Mr.Prasad ensured that there was strict discipline in office and the office always resembled an examination hall.  Still we all had fun.  Mr.Indramohan’s absent mindedness and forgetfulness caused amusement to us.  Poor man!  He visited office only four or five days in a month and we looked forward to his presence. I once reserved a room for him at Ramanashree comforts in Bangalore and he landed in Ramanamaharshi Ashram.  His ticket was reserved to Samalkot (Kakinada) and he got down at Rajahmundry and waited for hours together for Krishnachandran at the station.  He used to bring lunch from home and also buy from outside. Any given time there were two or three lunch boxes in his draw.  One day he walked into the office with a ladies’ handbag on his shoulder.  He dropped his sister somewhere and she had forgotten to take her bag with her.  Neither she had his number, nor did he have hers. After he left, Mr.Balasubramaniam filled the vacuum.

We had separate lunch sessions for women and men.  By 12.30, we girls got into the conference hall.  It was our lunch hall and had lot of fun.  Every now and then we laughed loudly and all the men in the office wondered “appadi ennathan pesuvangalo?” (What is that they discuss?)  Unable to sustain curiosity, Murali sneaked into the room very often, only to be chased out immediately by me and Jayanthi.  We used to come back to our seats exactly by 1.00 with fingers on our lips.  But that changed after Mr.Mani joined and many times he would dial the conference hall extension number, just to remind us that it was time for us to get out.  His BP shot up by noon every day.  We enjoyed his cribbing.

One of Citadel’s policies was to settle DEG on time.  Jayanthi handled it and in our spare times, we too helped her in valuation and preparation of cheques.  After the DEG was settled, the date expired goods were sent to factory for discarding.  But there was also a great demand for some of the DEGs.  Mr.Rajiv loved eating Lactonil and he stocked all broken and damaged tins in his room.  While Raghothaman chased Jayanthi for DEG stocks of Enerjase, Seetharaman loved Expectrol.  He loved gulping bottles of Expectrol every day. (Please note, he was a pious man and a teetotaler) 

After office, we never went home straight.  There were many exhibition halls around our office and we were regulars there.  We also visited all restaurants, small and big in the vicinity.  Ice cream parlours, cold drink bars, road side eateries, bakeries, you name it and we have visited them.  In between, we also drank tender coconut water from the roadside.  There were 2 or 3 hawkers and they fought with each other to serve us.  If for some reason I did not join my friends, the shopkeepers asked my friends “gundu paapaa engey?” (Where is the chubby girl?).  We were very popular in the locality. Our territory comprised of Mylapore, Alwarpet, Teynampet and T.Nagar. 

Packing of gifts for the Doctors was a big exercise.  The gifts never arrived on time and Mr.Jayaraman roped in the entire office to check, pack and dispatch gifts to various territories on time.  Though laborious, it was a very enjoyable work.  If we had to work after office hours to complete packing, he ensured that we were all dropped in his car safely.  Once, we had kept aside a cover to be sent to Kottayam, as a few gifts allocated were missing. For easy identification, I wrote, “Mr.K.T.Mathew, Kottayam” on the envelope and Bhavani had given it for dispatch inadvertently.  When we found the envelope missing, we were very worried, but to our surprise, the cover got delivered to Mr.Mathew.  He was so popular in Kottayam, that an envelope which had just his name and Citadel’s logo, got delivered.  Recently, I came to know that Mr.Mathew passed away and I recollected this incident.

Mr. Rajiv always insisted that incentive cheques to all executives have to be released on the same day.  Mr.Jayaraman wanted a personalized covering letter to be sent with the cheques.  Every campaign, almost 200 people qualified for different incentives, which meant, I had to type 200 different letters and vouchers and post cheques.  Long distance cheques were always sent on a priority and to save on postage, we clubbed letters.  I don’t remember the year, but during one campaign, I could dispatch only 80% of the cheques by the evening and thought I would dispatch the balance the next day.  The next day was a postal holiday and the third a holiday for our office.  This was followed by a brief postal strike and so the dispatch was delayed.  By the time the cheques were sent, one of the executives who qualified for the incentive, Mr.Vimal Sedani died in an accident.  If I am not mistaken, he had earned the highest incentive that campaign and it had not reached him.  The cheque was later returned as his wife and parents disputed and the incentive included in his final settlement.  After this incident, I don’t retain any bills or cheques with me.  Any day could be the last day.

Ayudha Pooja was a great annual affair.  The office was thoroughly cleaned, decorated and Saraswati pooja performed in the evening.  The de facto priest was Iyer the Great - Natarajan.  Raghothaman stood next to him with folded hands and soon after the pooja was over, looked for somebody to request him to sing.  His standard reply when he was asked to sing was “I can sing only Kannada songs” and year after year he sang “Bhagyada Lakshmi Baaramma”.  The moment he would start singing, Gopi would start giggling and within a few minutes, there would be a leakage of Nitrogen oxide and those who were unable to remain serious, got into the toilets. 

Every year, during August, the Accounts team organized a tour and colleagues from factory too joined us.  We visited several tourist spots in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa. The respective field executives guided us and helped us with lodging and boarding.  When we planned a trip to South Karnataka, Veerappan Kidnapped Rajkumar and we had to cancel the tickets.  When we planned a trip to Sri Lanka, the war intensified.   

We were very much like a family.  We shared a love-hate relationship. We all thanked God when the flight in which Mr.Ganapathi and Mr.Natarajan were travelling crash landed in paddy fields near Tirupati.  We were shocked when there was a bomb blast in the hotel Mr.Ramkumar, KSG and Roshan stayed before Bombay launch.  We were anxious when Sundar was kidnapped by terrorists in Kashmir.  We were hurt when Swaminathan was attacked by Union members at a Railway station.  When there was an earth quake in Latur, we were worried about only one person on earth – Kishore Govindpurkar.  When Arun Vyas was stabbed and Abhijit Sarkar was diagnosed with cancer, we created benevolent funds for them.  

For most of us, it was love at first sight.  The infatuation continued for long.  But it was no fairy tale.  We didn’t live happily ever after.  There were changes.  Tremendous changes.  Changes that could not be handled.

During the fag end, the organization was plagued by lack of leadership, lack of vision, sense of direction, petty politics and dirty alliances, lack of systems, unhealthy competition, cheap behavior and mudslinging.   Those who played “Divide and rule” politics at a lower level till then, played the same game at a higher level and the fortress crumbled. It was so painful to see the deterioration from up-close.    

Not a single day passes without me thinking or discussing something about Citadel.  I miss my dear bosses Mr.Rajiv and Mr.Ram Kumar very much. 

I have moved on.  So have many others.  But life will never be the same again.

Jeena isi ka naam hai.