Very often old photos help you go down memory lane. Going through my archives I found one which brought back memories of my five year stint with Clarion McCann Advertising where I started my life as a management trainee in 1964 at the age of 22. The photo taken in front of the Princes Room at Taj after a meeting with a visiting dignitary of Mc Cann Erickson, features four of my old bosses under whom I learnt the advertising business. There is Homi Kharas ( Standing 2nd from left) the soft spoken Parsi gentleman, who was also a well known photographer of his time. He was my first boss. Next to him is Osborne ( Ozzie) D`Souza, copy writer turned Account Executive who in a way was responsible for my getting promoted to the post of Account Executive early in life. Ramesh Khanna,( fifth from the left) briefly the Branch Manager of Clarion Bombay who pushed me from being a backroom boy to the frontline and of course the redoubtable Tara Sinha,( standing third from right) a dynamic and tough Sardarini who was initially disappointed with me for my lack of social grace but later accepted me for my merits and gave me the first letter of promotion. When she became the CEO of Advertising Consultants India Ltd ( ACIL) she hired me as the Group Manager ( Planning) in ACIL) and within a year made me the Deputy Chief . Due to a major difference between her and Clarion management when she left ACIL to join the agency`s important client Coca Cola, I was forced by circumstances to step into her more than life size shoes as an acting CEO of ACIL. I was only 31.The next two years were the most eventful and turbulent years of my life about which I have written at length in my autobiography titled `Courage My Companion`.
An important boss who is missing in the photo is the legendary Subroto Sengupta who had already left for Calcutta after handing over charge of the Bombay branch to Tara Sinha.The photo also features Noshir Irani ( extreme right) the handsome young man who later migrated to Australia with his family and behind him his boss Ananda Mukerji. Standing behind Tara Sinha is Allen Fernandes a bright copy writer who later became the Creative Director of ACIL and joined ITDC in a senior position before migrating to Australia. There is Suren Chawla seated second from right who was to make a big name as a media planner in Ogilvy Mather.
Oh! I forgot to mention Dinaz Boga( standing fourth from the left) the petite Parsi Girl who was my first date in life. She agreed to be my girl friend at a party for one evening on the condition that I pick her up from home and drop her back. When I went to pick her up I was introduced to her mother who immediately approved the innocent looking Madrasi boy(!) who had come to escort her daughter to a party. Your`s truly , with plenty of wavy hair and suited -booted is seated in the extreme left! On photo and so many memories!
No comments:
Post a Comment