On his second death Anniversary I would like to remember Charukesi , a friend who re-introduced me to the Tamil literary world, post my retirement ,
Charukesi who passed away on 30th January,2019 after turning 80 was a prolific writer who was also multi dimensional. He had written over 8000 articles, a couple of hundred short stories and a few books in the six decades since he started writing..
I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Shanta for an article I wrote on the Cancer Institute , which appeared in three parts in Madras Musings issues in June/July 2013. During the course of the interview she admitted that she did not believe in going to temples as she considered the Cancer Institute, where she has served for 60 long years, as her temple. No wonder for lakhs of cancer patients who come with hopes in their hearts to the hospital, she and her team of dedicated doctors are like ‘Gods’. When I said this to her she responded with just a smile.
This was a few months after my wife passed away of colon
cancer in spite of the best efforts of the doctors at the Cancer Institute. I
am sharing below the part featuring my family`s experience in dealing with the hospital.
This is my humble tribute to the memory
of Dr.Shantha , who spent her lifetime in building the Cancer Institute as
`Centre of Excellence in Cancer Care`. May her great soul Rest in Peace!
It was on 4th June 2012 that we got the shocking
news; that my wife was suffering from cancer and subsequent tests proved that
it was cancer of colon which had already metastasised to the liver and lungs.
It was an inoperable case. Unfortunately we
discovered the disease very late - all the doctors who saw the test reports
opined that cure was not possible. But still we had to give her some treatment
to see if we could contain the disease so that she could live longer than what
was predicted..
The choice for treatment was between a top five
star speciality hospital and the Cancer Institute. We were in a dilemma. My
family had already undergone a bad experience of dealing with this particular
star hospital for a simple tonsillitis procedure required for my granddaughter.
Though the hospital boasts of some of the finest doctors, because it is a
corporate hospital with high investment in latest equipment, the systems have
to ensure maximum utilisation of the equipment and profit for the hospital.
On the other hand Cancer Institute Adyar, though
a centre of excellence in Cancer treatment, run by Women`s India Association
(WIA), is a not-for-profit NGO and has the image of a typical government
hospital. It caters largely to poor patients from across the country, who are
given the expensive treatment, totally free of cost! So there was some
hesitation on our part to go to the Cancer Institute.
A senior doctor from a five star hospital whom
we consulted informally helped us make up our mind. He said, "If you are prejudiced against the five
star hospital because of your bad experience, I would recommend you go to the
Cancer Institute, Adyar, because they are one of the best in the country".
So the decision was made, my wife would be taken
to the Cancer Institute for treatment not because it was less expensive but
because we were assured that the hospital is totally dedicated to providing top
rate diagnostic facilities and focused treatment for all types of cancer,
irrespective of whether the patient is poor or rich. Our experience with the
Institute laid to rest all our early apprehensions.
The hospital has two wings. The main building is
where thousands of poor patients are provided free consultation and treatment
by the panel of highly qualified Oncologists. There is another wing called
Maduram Narayanan (M &N ) Block where patients paying for the services are
given appointments to meet the consultant doctors This wing has an air
conditioned reception area where patients wait patiently for their appointments
with the doctors. The same building also houses well appointed and well
maintained non AC and AC rooms for patients who come for treatment, be it for
investigations, chemotherapy or for post-operative care. Rooms are reasonably
priced unlike the rates of rooms in the five star hospitals which are higher
than even the rates in some of the five star hotels today..
A team of top medical Oncologists provide
consultation to all the paying patients. If you are particular about meeting
the same doctor for reassurance, you can do so by scheduling an appointment on
that specific day of the week when that particular doctor is available. All the
doctors are down to earth, practical and are friendly. No patient or attendant
is allowed to throw his weight around using his/ her position or power. At no
stage do you get the feeling that you are being exploited. Besides this, as it
is a speciality hospital totally devoted to cancer, only relevant tests are
conducted. Thorough investigation is conducted to locate the root of the Cancer
before the doctors commence treatment. There is no question of your being
admitted to the hospital for observation and having every single specialist in
the hospital check on the patient, recommending unnecessary tests, the cost of
which gets added to your bill
The Cancer Institute has the best of Diagnostic
testing facilities in the country which are available for both paying and nonpaying
patients. Testing facilities are common for both types. This is the only place
where paying patients have to rub shoulders with
non paying patients and where I saw some discrimination – paying patients get a
priority over non paying patients, if there is a long queue for a particular
test.
All the doctors at the testing centres are kind,
sympathetic and try to make the patients feel comfortable though the patient is
undergoing a painful procedure. Similarly the nurses and ayas are equally
friendly and kind.
Two other areas where I found the hospital
distinctly different from the exploitative five star hospitals are in their
methods of treatment and financial dealings. All the tests we had conducted on
my wife conclusively proved that her disease was not curable. It was only a
question of time. Three of the consultant doctors told us that though special
and highly priced injections are now available they would not recommend them
because the effort would be futile. At best her life span could be extended by
a couple of months but with all the pain and misery related to the disease. So
they decided to give her only palliative treatment which would keep her
comfortable with much less side effects associated with aggressive treatment.
In a similar situation involving a relative, the
doctors at the five star hospital started on the expensive injection from the
word ‘go’. The patient did not live long and the last few days of his life he
spent in the ICU of the hospital resulting in the family having to pay a huge
bill before the body could be removed from the hospital.
The second area is the payment system – this is
where the five star hospitals make you feel miserable. Not only do you have to
pay a sizeable advance to such hospitals before any kind of tests are conducted
but you have to keep topping up the balance constantly to ensure that the tests
and treatment are conducted without interruption. On the other hand at Cancer
Institute, apart from paying consultant fee for the first time there is no further
consultant fees.. If it is a continuous process running for a couple of days
then the cash department makes a note of the doctor’s diagnostic prescriptions
to your account but provides you a final bill only at the time of discharge.
There is no question of treatment and tests stopped for want of a balance in
your account.
Considering the large number of patients handled
by the hospital and apparent pressures on the administrative staff, I found the
established systems and procedures work very well and every single patient is
attended to every day. There was a method in the madness. There was hope and a
positive attitude among the hundreds of patients and their attendants waiting
in the reception area.
In spite of the huge turnout of poorer patients visiting
the facilities, I found the hospital being maintained well. The entire
sprawling campus is clean and even the Wards meant for free patients are neat
and tidy. The typical disinfectant smell you get in any hospital was
surprisingly missing.
My wife had to be admitted to the hospital seven
times during the six month period she was undergoing Chemotherapy. Except for
the first time when there was a feeling of nervousness and trepidation, on
every subsequent occasion it was like a picnic for two or three days. The
atmosphere was so informal and nice that in spite of the pain and suffering,
her stay in the hospital was comfortable.
Though my wife passed away on the seventh month
from the date of being diagnosed with terminal cancer, my family and I would
like to thank the Team of dedicated doctors at the Institute and the staff,
ably led by the Magsaysay Award winning Chairperson of the Institute,
Dr.Shantha, for doing their best under the circumstances. Never, ever, making
us regret for having gone to the Cancer Institute instead of the five star
hospital. The family, however, was hoping that a miracle will save my wife. It
was not to be. She left this world surrounded by her near and dear ones. Her
time had come.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of releasing the First copy of my friend S.Ganesan`s autobiography, besides writing the Forewrrd for the book. A double honour indeed. Here is a brief extract from my Foreword:
I
have known Shri Ganesan only for the last 10 years. I consider our friendship
as a gift from the Gandhi Nagar Club Library to me. I regularly meet him at the library where both of us can be seen browsing through the many dailies and
magazines the Library subscribes for the
benefit of its members. He would always come to the library in the
evenings in his track pants and tea
shirt with his trade mark shoulder bag,
after finishing his daily fitness routine at the Club GYM located
adjacent to the library. I used to both admire and envy him for being able
to indulge in this daily ritual at 88. No wonder other youngsters in the GYM
consider him an inspiration.
Over
a period of time I also came to know about this self made man and how he came
up in his life the hard way. I found quite a few similarities in our lives.
Since I had already published my autobiography which had inspired many
youngsters, I kept urging him to write his memoirs too. I am glad to know that his own children were
able to give the final push to him to write his autobiography. He took
advantage of the forced confinement at home thanks to Covid to complete the
book. I was more than happy when I was asked to write a Foreword for the book
because I have been persuading many senior citizens to write their memoirs not
to become famous writers but because `Biography is History` . As my mentor Mr
S.Muthiah would say- `biography is
social history- providing insights into life, happenings, values and
mores of a city or a community or a profession at certain period of time`. That
is precisely what Ganesan has done in his autobiography, which graphically
traces his life from his birth till date.( He is the 8th person I
know who has penned his memoirs responding to my call in the last 10 years- six more are in the process of
writing their memoirs))
I finished reading the book in two sittings. Written in a simple and engaging style, Ganesan`s story is bound to inspire both the young and the old . I would like to draw particular attention to the section preceding the concluding chapter, where Ganesan shares a SWOT ( Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) analysis of himself. In conclusion, he says , `If you want to live in the modern and constantly changing world, you should learn to follow the AFFI principle. A - Adjust, F - Forgive, F - Forget, and I – Ignore`. A principle which helped him face life with confidence and reach great heights.
I pray God to bestow good health and long life on Ganesan so that he continues to inspire all those who come in contact with him.
The book published my good friend Diwakar of Compuprint is for private circulation only
A recent news item announcing the demise of Dr. C.K Rajkumar of Velvette Shampoo fame caught my eye. It brought back memories of my long association with Rural marketing.
As
a guest faculty in Rural marketing at Management Institutes across the country,
I would always devote a class to the
sachet revolution which had made a huge impact on rural marketing. It was to open the rural markets in a big way
to all FMCG companies for their products in the eighties.. making it possible
for a poor villager to buy expensive brands of daily consumables like soaps,
shampoos etc. in small packs at prices he could afford.
Unlike urban folks who bought their provisions
on a monthly basis, a farmer who got his
salary for his services every week-end, would buy the items to last for a day
or a week. He
bought goods in small portion packs. No wonder in the pre sachet days in the Seventies,, during my field visits, I would
notice the village shop keeper,
splitting the popular Lifebuoy soap into
six pieces and sell each piece at a price which was a little more than the
price of one sixth piece- satisfying a
customer demand and at the same time making extra money for himself.
After
a brief introduction to the sachet concept, when I asked the students to name the person who
invented the sachet pack, invariably the
answer would be either C.K Rajkumar or
his younger brother C.K.Ranganathan, the current CMD of Cavin Care which
markets the popular Chik Shampoo. I
would tell them that it was neither
C.K.Rajkumar nor C.K.Ranganathan but their Baap
(Pithaji)), Chinni Krishnan, based
in Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, who
introduced the sachet concept to the Indian market. Much before the
multinational companies even woke up to
the benefits of the sachet idea.
Chinni
Krishnan, was an agriculturist who was
also into pharmaceutical business. He used
to get perturbed by seeing poor children
with unkempt hair walking on the streets. He dreamt of a day when a common man
would be able to enjoy whatever a rich man enjoys, He often used to say, 'Whatever I make, I want the coolies
and the rickshaw pullers to use. I want to make my products affordable to
them,'.
In
those days talcum powders were packed in
tin containers and priced high. He repacked the contents in
smaller packs, containing 100 gm,
50 gm and 20 gm and sold them at a cheaper price. He did the same with Epsom
salt. He was confident that even liquid items
could be packed in sachets.
How did Chinni Krishnan first develop the sachet? He first
modified a machine that sealed PVC folders and then took a transparent hose
pipe that was used to water plants. He sealed the transparent plastic at one
end and filled it with water, and then sealed it at the other end. The first
experiment was not successful. He tried alternative materials using the same
idea until he got the right product.
Thus the sachet idea was born. He packed hair oil, honey and shampoo in the
sachets. These were the first three products that he sold in
sachet packs, in and around Cuddalore.
Chinni Krishnan was a great innovator, but a poor marketer. Selling
products in sachets was
his mission and he used to tell his sons that 'this is going to be the product of the
future`. Unfortunately he did not live
up to see his dream come true.
Chinni Krishnan died in
1979 at the relatively young age of 48, a couple of years after he got into sachet business. When he
died, it was discovered that he had taken a bank loan of Rs 2 lakhs from the State Bank of India and the bank
threatened to auction the family house which was mortgaged to the bank, if the
loan was not repaid. Though they had no
knowledge of the business, in order to
save the family house from the bank, his eldest son Rajkumar , a Doctor and his second son Ashok Kumar, a lawyer by
profession resigned their jobs to take over and run the business. They introduced Velvette
Shampoo in a sachet pack which
they sold at Rs 2 a sachet. The credit for making Velvette Shampoo a famous brand must go to Dr.Rajkumar As the business started picking up he took marketing help from Godrej Soaps to reach markets not only in India but also abroad. While it
was Dr.Rajkumar who made his father`s dream come true initially, today it is Chinni Krishnan`s younger son, C K Ranganathan, the Chennai
based Chairman and Managing Director of CavinKare, who has shown the world
that it is possible to beat the multinationals even in the most difficult
market of fast moving consumer goods. Though he was not academically well
qualified like his brothers, the
entrepreneurial spirit which he inherited from his father made him break away from
the family business very early because
of a difference he had with his brothers over
how the business should be run. He started his own company Beauty Products and started selling the now famous Chik Shampoo at Rs 1/- a sachet. It
was directly in competition with Velvette shamapoo. Interestingly
the name `Chik`was coined by him using letters from his father`s name
Chinni Krishnan`.
He was to take the brand Chik to great heights
using interesting promotional ideas and concentrating on rural markets, Within a couple of years Chik overtook Velvette and became the
numero uno shampoo brand in South India. The success of Chik motivated
Ranganathan to diversify into other
fields like dairy, personal and
professional care, food, snacks and beverages with brand names like Chik, Nyle, Karthika and Cavin
all marketed under Cavin Kare, the new name of his company. With a turnover nearing Rs 1500
crores Cavin Kare is today one of
the leading players in the FMCG segment
in India with headquarters in Chennai. Chinni Krishnan would have been really proud of his youngest son`s achievements.
While
the inspiring success story of
Ranaganathan & CavinKare has been well documented and Ranganathan has won
every possible industry award that he
could get, his father , the original innovator of the sachet was never recognised
for his revolutionary concept until recently.
Your Story.com, a definitive platform started in 2008, recognises
eminent men and women who made a difference
in their chosen vocations. The Legend of Disruption award was one of the key
highlights of the Your Story Disruptors Tamil Nadu 2018 event. For
the first time, late Chinni Krishnan, who invented the sachet, was posthumously
conferred with an award for his invention. The award was received by his four sons at a
glittering function in Chennai.
A well deserved and long overdue recognition for a man whose
invention not only revolutionised rural
marketing but has penetrated even urban markets so much so that every
conceivable product, not necessarily restricted only to cosmetics and toiletries,
is now available in sachet packs. I am a
regular user of Rs 3/- pack of Bru instant coffee.
In retrospect it is with a sense of pride that we should remember
Chinni Krishnan, for the revolutionary
sachet idea, Like Karsanbhai Patel of
the Nirma detergent fame, Chinni Krishnan was also a pioneer who proved
the theory that anyone, irrespective of his economic status or background can come up with new ideas which can create a disruption in the market
place.
|
This
article has appeared in the Madras Musings issue dt.1-15,January,2021 |
I am posting this piece on 5th January 2021, which marks the Eighth anniversary of Prabha’s demise. People don`t ask me any more `How is life without wife`. Instead many appreciate my adapting to the changed circumstances, continuing to celebrate my life. Though I have got used to a life without the dominant presence of a partner, I continue to feel Prabha’s spirit in every room of my home, which she looked after passionately throughout her life. As a tribute to her memory I am trying to maintain the house as neatly as possible within my capabilities. In spite of the loving care I receive from my children and siblings, during times when I am ill, lying in bed alone I do miss the minute to minute loving care that only a life partner can give and which a spouse can demand. I do miss the shouting matches we used to have , sometimes on silly issues. I miss her regular admonishing me for messing the home and for trying to help her in the kitchen when she didn`t want any help; or for buying items from the department stores which were not in her list. I miss her sorely when I am travelling in family groups where I am the only one without a life partner accompanying me. However, Prabha makes up for her physical absence by regularly appearing in my dreams. Besides, Prabha Rajan Talent Foundation
( PRTF) which I
started in her memory keeps me busy with activities which help in bringing
talented women with creative abilities to lime light.
During 2020, though
many of the planned new activities could not be held because of the
restrictions imposed by the pandemic, I am happy that PRTF could help Mrs
Kanaka Sharma, a 93 year old lady who started writing only when she was 90,realise
her dream of seeing her short stories in print. A collection of her short
stories was published in a book form with active help from Mrs Girija Raghavan,
Editor of Ladies Special magazine, who also ensured that
Mrs Sharma was interviewed in her `women stars` programme on You Tube which had
almost 2000 views bringing Mrs Sharma immense joy and recognition. My reward for all the efforts was the Hearty Blessings I received from her
besides proving my belief that age is no barrier for pursuing your passion.
On this day I pledge that I will continue with
activities to perpetuate Prabha`s
memory, as long as I am able and active.
Hopefully 2021 will witness a special programme from PRTF.
Wishing all my friends
on FB a Very Happy New Year!
