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Correspondents : J. Natesan Vikas Tripathi Umesh Barde Veena Coutinho Jaise IttyD.Bhanja Jenny Alexander Shivangi Page S. B. Chandak

Jiju K. T. D. W. Bapat R.B.Menon Nisha RaneParvati Venkatachalam Rama Swati Aditya Laxmi Gupta Noorjahan Khan

N. Haridas

Heating Cooling Power Chemical Water&Waste Solutions Enviro Finance Human Resources Administration

Business Technology Group Research & Development ManufacturingIndustrial Relations Mumbai Delhi Kolkata ChennaiBoiler & Heater Thermax Engineering Construction Company

Volume 39 No. 2 April-June 2009

ABCI

MEMBER

Cover

Attired in colourful clothes, pots perfectly balanced,these two women in Rajasthan are performing athankless daily chore – bringing potable water totheir homes for their men, children and cattle.

In their arid surroundings water is precious. Not adrop to be spilled. Not a drop to be wasted. Thisconservation ethic is deeply ingrained and rain wateris carefully harvested with indigenous systems, overthe decades.

Water is life. Even more so for them. Despite thegravity of the subject, the picture conveys a strangelypositive feeling. Taking things in their stride.

(Picture by Marie Luise Porsch)

CommentMoney doesn't talk, it swears.

– Bob Dylan

Fireside

Fireside

is the quarterly house magazine of Thermax Limited, Pune. For private circulation only. Company related news/features may be reproduced only with the permissionof the Editor. Address : Thermax Limited,Thermax House, 14 Mumbai Pune Road, Wakdewadi, Pune 411 003, India. Tel : (020) 25542263 Fax : (020) 25541226

is also hosted on the website : www.thermaxindia.com Email : abunglow@thermaxindia.com roshan@thermaxindia.com

Printed on recycled paper

Back Cover

2008-2009Highlightsof the Year

DOOR

A FOOT

INTHE

Meher Pudumjee reflects on thecompany's performance andemphasises the need to put one'shouse in order and to look atmarkets with a different perspectivein these trying times

New gimmicks byAmerican jobseekers in therecession # Whydullness, and notflamboyance, is thehallmark ofsuccessful CEOs# and a poster onwhen we comeclosest toperfection

A big order for oil field chemicals

# Hemant Joshi succeeds Govind Lal

as CRM # Samir Raje to head paper

chemicals # Thermax celebrates

Technology Day # New takers for

biomass based heaters even as oil

prices dip # Thermax

wins safety award

from Greentech

Foundation # And

achievements of

Thermax em-

ployees and their

family members

2WHAT'SNEW ?

6EXPRESSIONS

Thermax signs

agreements with two

global majors for new-

age technology in

waste water treatment

# Biggest

export order for

pollution control

equipment for a

project in Oman

# A new manu-

facturing facility for paper chemicals

commissioned # Giant heater for

Shell's bitumen terminal in Dubai

# The small power plant business

comes of age

B K Mathur,

Corporate Head

– Safety & Health

emphasises that

safety is more than

just wearing a

helmet and shoes,

over a Chinese

meal with Ahmed

Bunglowala

18LUNCH

WITH FS

Drawing on theexamples of peoplewho have achieveddistinction in theirfield of activity,Malcolm Gladwellhighlights the goldenrule about long hoursof dedicated practice.Excerpts from his best-selling book, Outliers

Gopal Kavalireddi

on pickles that spice

up our daily lives

# Natasha Rodricks-

Naidu gives a low-

down on the great

Indian wedding card

tradition # and the

Editor makes a point

about the pulling

power of unusual

titles and names

25VOICES

8ROUND UP

20SIGNPOSTS

28SLICE

LIFEOF

The approach towaste watertreatment alsohas evolved overthe years. Whilethe earlier normfor treatmentfocused only ondisposal, now theemphasis is onreuse of thetreated water. Itis here thatmembrane basedtechnologiesbecome useful.

Thermax has recently entered intotechnology agreements with twoglobal majors – Wehrle Umwelt

GmbH of Germany and GE Water &Process Technologies, Canada – for superiormembrane based technology in waste watertreatment. The agreements will strengthenthe company's offerings for the treatment ofboth industrial effluents and municipalsewage.

The first technology tie-up with Wehrle isfor treatment of highly varied and 'loaded'effluents – high in terms of biological andchemical oxygen demand (BOD and COD)– from industries before they can bedischarged or reused. Such effluent istypically generated by industries like pharma(bulk drugs), dyes and pigments, agrochemicals, paper and pulp and distilleries.

The agreement was signed by ErwinMuehle, Managing Director of Wehrleand S Ramachandran, Executive VicePresident (Chemical & Water) of Thermax.

Wehrle is well known in the field of wastewater treatment using membrane basedsystems and is a specialist in handling

difficult-to-degrade effluents. The companyhas over 25 years of experience and 140reference plants where technologies likeanaerobic treatment, sequencing batchreactors and membrane based filtrationsystems have been deployed.

The agreement, valid for five years, includesWehrle training Thermax engineers in newareas and providing assistance in turnkeyexecution of effluent treatment projects.

Thermax and GE have signed a technologylicensing agreement for ultra filtration andmembrane bio reactor (MBR), an advancedtechnology for sewage treatment andrecycling. The agreement was inked byH Bala, Country Manager of GE andS Ramachandran of Thermax.

Under the agreement, which is valid for twoyears (with a joint evaluation after 12months), Thermax will engineer for clientsmembrane filtration system using GE'sguidelines. GE's MBR systems– installed asmembrane modules and cassettes – can beused for sewage treatment in municipal,commercial and industrial applications.

WHAT'SNEW ?

2

Thermax signs technology agree

leaders for waste water treatme

These include hotels, hospitals, IT parks,malls, residential complexes, SEZs, institutes,sewage treatment plants of a wide range ofindustrial units.

The tie-ups reflect the new opportunitiesemerging in the area of environmentmanagement. It is estimated that over 60 %of the sewage generated by Indian cities isdumped untreated in the canals and rivers ofthe country. Ironically, the flooding of sewageis matched by the growing scarcity of cleanwater and the resulting exploitation of

precious ground water. The discharge ofpoorly treated industrial effluents makes thesituation doubly dangerous as it addshazardous chemicals and toxins to theunhygienic sewage dumped in the waterbodies.

Now, there are signs of change. Under theUN Millennium Development Goal, Indiahas to make a determined effort to providesafe drinking water and improved sanitationto its masses. The government has takenseveral initiatives like the Jawaharlal NehruNational Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) for 63 identified cities andUrban Infrastructure Development Schemefor Small and Medium Towns(UIDSSMT). These schemes arecatalysing reforms and investments inpublic water and waste watertreatment projects.

The approach to waste watertreatment also has evolvedover the years. While theearlier norm for treatmentfocused only on disposal,now the emphasis is onreuse of the treatedwater. It is here thatmembrane basedtechnologies becomeuseful. They help totreat effluents andsewage to high levelsof cleanliness to meetpollution controlnorms and to recyclewater for variouspurposes – forindustrial process,irrigation, gardening,toilet flushing and carwash.

Treatment plants based onmembrane based reactor(MBR) technology needs lessspace compared to conventionaltreatment plants and they cantreat anywhere between 10,000litres to five million litres per day.Simpler in design, they do away withsecondary clarifier, filtration and disinfectionunits. They can be fully automated and havethe flexibility to scale up for increasedcapacities.

3

Membrane basicsfor waste water

treatmentMakes use of semi-permeable

membranes for the separation ofsuspended and dissolved solids

from water.

The membranes have millions of micro-scopic pores on the surface. These form abarrier to impurities while allowing purewater molecules to pass through. Wateris drawn through pores using a gentlesuction.

Methods include micro filtration, ultra filtra-tion, nano filtration and reverse osmosis.

Increasingly becoming the preferredtechnology as it helps industry meetstringent pollution control norms in

a single step treatment and allowswater to be reused.

Delivers higher performancewith a smaller footprint

Raw sewage and its propertreatment and

S Ramchandran and colleagueswith Wehrle and GE representatives

ments with world

nt

4

Newmanufacturing plantfor paper chemicalscommissioned

Thermax's Enviro division hassigned a contract with ValeInternational, a Brazilian

multinational, to supply 10 electrostaticprecipitators (ESPs). In its biggest exportorder for air pollution control systems,Thermax will design, engineer andcommission the ESPS at the 2x4.5 milliontons per annum pelletisation plant thatVale is setting up in Oman.

Vale produces and sells a wide range ofmetals and minerals including iron ore,nickel, copper concentrate, coal, bauxite,alumina, aluminum and potassium. Itchose Thermax against established

international players because of itstechnology partnership with Balcke Dürrand its track record in designing andexecuting big air pollution controlprojects.

Thermax has been expandingopportunities for air pollution controlbusiness through the supply of equipment– bag filters, ESPs – and by executingretrofit projects in the cement, steel andpower industry in the Middle East andSouth East Asia. Thermax is engagingwith global cement majors in these regionsto position itself as a major player in cleanair systems.

At the Thermax manufacturing

facility at Paudh, a new plant forpaper chemicals has been

commissioned. The state-of-the-art plant,with distributed control systems, has amanufacturing capacity of 12,000 tons perannum (TPA). From this plant Thermaxwill manufacture the new paper chemicalsbased on the technology tie-up withGeorgia Pacific of USA.

Among the products the plant willmanufacture, there is alkyl ketene dimer(AKD), an internal sizing agent. The newplant can produce 9000 TPA of AKD andis equipped with an importedhomogeniser.

Dr. David Townsend from Georgia Pacific,

an expert on AKD technology was presentduring the first two trial batches. Hisexpertise helped the Thermax projectexecution team to get both the batchesready with international specifications.Georgia Pacific also lent its marketingsupport through Jim Johnston, their R&Dmanager, who was with Bidrohi Sur,Business Development Manager for paperchemicals and his team. He and Survisited the top 10 Indian papermanufacturers to promote the newproduct range.

“This industry is certainly looking forwardto improving the quality of their productsand the Thermax-Georgia Pacific rangemeets their new expectations,” says Sur.

Enviro winsits biggestexport orderIt chose Thermax

against establishedinternational

players because ofits technology

partnership withBalcke Dürr and its

track record indesigning and

executing big airpollution control

projects.

A view of the plant :international

standards

Big deal in Oman :Raut and

Chaudhry withVale’s top brass

“This industry iscertainly lookingforward toimproving thequality of theirproducts and theThermax-GeorgiaPacific rangemeets their newexpectations.”

In the last 10 months, the small powerplant group of Thermax has successfullycommissioned two captive plants – a

cogeneration plant for a textile unit inKarnataka generating up to 4.5 MW ofpower and 18 TPH of steam and a 7.5 MWplant for a cement plant in Rajasthan.

With two more plants to be commissionedshortly, in textile and sponge iron, this newbusiness of Thermax – power plants in therange of 3 MW to 12 MW – has come ofage. “The slow down did affect us and wehad to work together with our clients torevive projects that were being held back,”says Shekhar Kashalikar, who heads the smallpower plants business.

Operating in a tough environment, thebusiness has been quick footed to move intoareas where, even in timesof downturn, clients can besure of quick returns oninvestment. It has beenfocusing on plants that cangenerate power from wasteheat and waste gases fromtheir industrial processes.From such clients, it hasbagged four orders to

generate a cumulative 30 MW of greenpower.

The group has made its mark by offeringinnovative designs to suit client requirements.For example, the textile cogeneration unit itcommissioned three months ago isengineered to fit into limited space andoccupies a small footprint. As they workedwith clients, Shekhar's team had to revisemany of their pet notions of the small powerbusiness – such as the need forstandardisation. They found each power plantthey worked on came up with its own uniquedemands for customisation in terms of space,fuel, source of heat and positioning ofequipment in the process plant. The grouphas responded with modularisation ofequipment that helps in compact

deployment.

Will all those ultra mega powerplants planned by thegovernment make small andmedium captive power plantsunviable? No way, says anunfazed Shekhar. “Industryneeds power here and now.Reliable power is the realissue,” he says.

Thermax has commissioned a thermaloil heater for Shell's bitumen terminalat the downstream petroleum area of

Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone.

From concept to commissioning, theThermax Heating (C&H) team was involvedin installing the heater for Shell's storagetank, which at 8000m is the biggest bitumentank in the region. Mott MacDonald was theconsultants for this project.

In the Middle East, Thermax has alreadyinstalled heating systems at over 100 storage

tanks for petroleum derivatives likebitumen, lube and heavy furnace oils.VOPAK Horizon's terminal uses Thermaxheaters for its requirement of eightmillion kilo calories of heat per hour.Sharjah Oil Refining, Fal Energy,Emirates Lube Oil Co. and British

Petroleum are among the other Thermaxclients.

Petroleum products need to be heated tomake them flow easily and to reducepumping costs. The heated product istransferred to tankers for transportation. Heatis also required for product modifications foruse in various applications such as waterproofing, paint and road works in case ofbitumen.

3

5

Small power plants business gets bigger

Thermax heaterfor Shellin the Middle East

Giant heater : big gains

A small power plant : real benefits

In the MiddleEast, Thermaxhas alreadyinstalled heatingsystems at over100 storage tanksfor petroleumderivatives likebitumen, lubeand heavyfurnace oils.

It has beenfocusing on plantsthat can generatepower from waste

heat and wastegases from their

industrialprocesses.

6

These are trying times for corporates theworld over; but there is also the silver liningof opportunity to put our house in order.First and foremost, freeing up cash fromoperations is vital; moreover, a greatdiscipline for sustainable business. To

manage cash flows prudently, we havestarted Project Ever-Lean toeliminate waste.

T his has been a challenging year –one that started off with greatpromise and ended with a lot of

uncertainty and change.The total income atRs. 3303 crore and profit after tax at Rs. 287crore was almost the same as the previousyear. With a large export order carry forwardfrom the previous year the export income,including deemed exports, increased 35% toRs. 912 crore.

Our compliments to the Managing Director,M. S. Unnikrishnan and his team, who haveworked with alacrity and dedication, tostabilise the company's operations in thesetough market conditions. I also appreciatethe support and contribution of all ouremployees, customers, supplier partnersand business associates. Our Board ofDirectors, as usual, have been verysupportive and provided the requisiteguidance in steering through these difficulttimes.

The economic conditions in the latter half of2008-09 have been tough on businesses.The global economic crisis resulting frominnovative financial engineering methodshave revealed a sense of greed and alacunae in corporate governance practicesthe world over.This unprecedented crisiswill, I believe, change the fundamentals ofthe way business will be carried out in thefuture, which is perhaps what is requiredtoday. In our own company, we havedeclared that performance is critical butvalues are sacrosanct.

These are trying times for corporates theworld over; but there is also the silver liningof opportunity to put our house in order.

First and foremost, freeing up cash fromoperations is vital; moreover, a greatdiscipline for sustainable business.Tomanage cash flows prudently, we havestarted Project Ever-Lean to eliminatewaste, streamline processes and systemsand reduce costs. Coupled with our drivefor operational excellence, this programmewill enable the company to increaseoperational efficiency and reduce the costof poor quality.

It is these unpredictable times that force usto look at all markets with a differentperspective and thereby, extend our reachto wider segments of society. Newopportunities, not thought of earlier, areemerging to serve new customers andprovide them with innovative solutionsand services. Selective participation in theprojects of municipal corporations andpublic sector undertakings have resulted innew and diversified opportunities for theWater and Power businesses.The servicebusiness of the company, although smallat present, is addressing customers withinnovative approaches like energy rental,process efficiency tracking at boiler sites,equipment life extension, operation andmaintenance of power plants and isexploring other service revenueopportunities to mitigate the cyclical risksthat the capital goods sector is prone to.

Over the past few years, commodity priceshave been on the increase especially in theoil, steel, cement and non ferrous sectors.This threw open substantial investments;creating opportunities for your company'sproducts. It also enabled Thermax to focuson fuel shift, converting from expensive oilto solid fuel, primarily biomass and wasteto energy. With oil having lost its value inthe past six months, many projects wereeither cancelled or delayed. However, westrongly believe that this is a temporaryphenomenon and that oil prices will pickup, as has already happened.This, coupledwith climate change as well as the need toharness one of the largest sources ofenergy that nature has to offer, hasprompted your company to invest its time,money and human resources in greenrenewable energy, particularly solarthermal – a long term agenda for Thermax.

The company realises that innovation isthe key to sustained growth.The Board of

7

Directors of Thermax will continue tosupport investments in Research andDevelopment and innovation.This includessetting up of the Research Technology andInnovation Centre (RTIC) with a time-bound programme to establish Centres ofExcellence in the key technology areascritical to Thermax, which include solar,combustion and heat transfer, materialscience and biotechnology alongwithadvanced computing. Focusing oncollaborative research, the centre willundertake projects with premier researchand scientific institutes.These initiatives areexpected to improve the internal drivers ofspeed, scale and sustainability, deliveringvalue over multiple time frames. To kickstart the spirit of innovation and revitalisethe organisation, an Innovation Council hasbeen formed comprising of externalexperts, chaired by Dr. R. A. Mashelkar.

Earlier, I had highlighted three areas offocus for the company – operationalexcellence and innovation which we willcontinue to give impetus to. SelectiveInternationisation is also one that willreceive our attention, however, in thecurrent economic scenario, we would needto wait and watch. Our plant in China isnow operational. All efforts will be put intomaking this investment worth our while.

The buzz of an organisation is its people.Training and developing internal talent areareas that the company will continue to givepriority to. It is only through training ourhuman assets that we will continue to addvalue to our customers and theorganisation.The Thermax LeadershipDevelopment Programme, launched lastyear, has progressed well. We are alsolooking at specific training needs that

include our supplier partners, channelpartners and customers' operators. Aunique one-year program titled theThermax Graduate Programme, wasstarted last year.Your company has trained22 academically qualified B. Sc graduatesfrom tier II towns and economicallyweaker sections of society. After successfulcompletion of their Thermax-specifictraining, they will be employed within thecompany.

The Thermax Social Initiative Foundation(TSIF), the corporate social responsibilityarm of our company, has entered into itsthird year of operation. I am happy to statethat it has undertaken a number ofcommunity initiatives, with education asthe prime focus. We have created variousavenues through which we encourage ouremployees to participate in social causes asper their convenience and choice, such asthe payroll giving programme andvolunteering opportunities at our schools.With the strategic partnership betweenTSIF and Akanksha, we are currentlymanaging two Pune MunicipalCorporation schools, established andscaled up on the basis of a shared visionand commitment to a common cause.Thermax has recently partnered Teach forIndia – an initiative which aims to bridgethe inequity in education.The companyencouraged two of its young engineers toapply and one of them has been selected.He has undergone intense residentialtraining along with 88 others. From midJune, they will be placed as teachers inmunicipal schools for two academic years.Being a responsible corporate, we arecommitted to improving the quality ofeducation in India through which we canmake a small but significant difference tothe less privileged sections of society.

Like everyone else, I look forward to betterand more upbeat times when the fullpotential of the company can be actualisedand we would continue to play asignificant role in the energy andenvironment sectors. With politicalstability at the centre, industry looksforward to the much awaited reforms andgenuine inclusive growth.

With best wishes,

Meher Pudumjee

EXPRESSIONS

Like everyone else, I look forward to betterand more upbeat times when the fullpotential of the company can be actualisedand we would continue to play a significantrole in the energy and environment sectors.With political stability at the centre,industry looks forward to the much awaitedreforms and genuine inclusive growth.

The Chemical divisionhas received a majororder for oil field

chemicals from Cairn Energy.The three year contract forsupply of chemicals for oilfield operations at Cairn'sRavva Basin in AndhraPradesh was won againstinternational competition.The Rs. 34 crore order is thesecond largest single orderthat the division has baggedin the last decade.

In a rigorous selection process,Cairn did an initial laboratory screening ofThermax chemicals to determine theircompatibility with the crude oil, water andother chemicals. This was followed by adetailed field trial in various oil and waterinjection circuits. This was done on a “nocure, no pay” basis – the cure being the

achievement of stated performance standards.

The operating parameters, during theevaluation process were monitored by Cairn'scorporate technical team from Delhi and theoperations team at site. Thermax's credentialsand its manufacturing base in India, besidesthe successful field trials, persuaded Cairn toplace the order.

ROUND UP

8

Still bettingon biomass

Oil prices may have crashed, but this is not stoppingindustries with long term perspectives from shiftingtheir operations to biomass based heating systems.

Recently, Ester Industries in Uttarakhand has installed ahusk-fired thermal oil heater at its polyester film plant. Thehigh temperature fluidised bed heater with a capacity of 7million kilocalories, which was commissioned by C&H(northern region), is the first husk fired system supplied to apolyester unit by Thermax.

Despite the falling prices of furnace oil, the client is able toderive benefits in terms of fuel costs. Satisfied with theexecution of the project, Ester Industries invited the Thermaxteam to their plant to celebrate this achievement. For theirsupport, Thermax presented a memento to the Ester Team.

Biomassenergy :lower fuelcosts

Celebrating a win :credentials count

in oil fieldBig break

chemicals

9

Samir B Raje has joined Thermax tohead the Paper & Pulp business ofChemical division.

Samir has around 20 years of richexperience in companies like Asian Paints(I) Ltd. and Clariant Chemicals (I) Ltd.Before joining Thermax he was GeneralManager - Paper Business with ClariantChemicals (I) Ltd - Mumbai.

Samir has a Masters in physical chemistryand a Masters in administrativemanagement from Mumbai University.

welcomes Samir and wishes himsuccess in a mutually rewarding careerwith Thermax.

Fireside

On 11th May, Thermaxcelebrated the NationalTechnology Day to

express its solidarity to thenational cause. The day markeda series of discussions across thevarious business units on thetheme of building a partnershipbetween academic research andindustry to accelerate technologydevelopment within thecompany. Later, at a valedictoryfunction held at EERC, a paneldiscussion took up the majorthreads of the sessions.Participants, in the presence ofMeher Pudumjee andUnnikrishnan listened to twoeminent speakers representingindustry and academia –PramodChaudhary, CMD of PrajIndustries and Dr. DevangKhakhar, Director of IIT, Mumbai.

On the same day, there was also anexhibition showcasing innovative projectsnominated for Technology Daypresentations. Awards for the best projectschosen from both energy and environmentareas had been declared at the InnovationCouncil meeting held a few days earlier.Award winning teams were felicitated andpresented with certificates and cash prizes by

Dr. Mashelkar, member of the ThermaxBoard and chairman of the InnovationCouncil. In the energy category, the topprize went to the team that designed thesolid fuel fired thermal oil heater.Combustion and zero discharge of spentwash from distilleries won the first prize inthe environment category. Runners up prizeswere also handed out for each category andprizes were also given away for innovativeprocess projects.

Thermax celebrates

Technology Day

Samir Raje to head paper chemicals

Chaudharyof Prajand otherdistinguishedinvitees at theT-Day deliberations :panel discussionand prizes

Raje :rich experience

10

After 34 years of distinguished servicewith Thermax, Govind Lal retiredas the CRM of northern region.

On March 31, 2009, in an internal mail toThermax employees, Unny rememberedhow, “with his soft touch and timely action,Govind Lal epitomised customer service.”

Delhi office oraginsed a farewell party forGovind on 4th April 2009. The party,attended by his colleagues and families, washeld in the open air lawns of India Habitat

Centre. K Chakravarthy SBU Head ofWWS, who was in Delhi, also attended thefarewell function. Govind recalled the earlydays when he joined Thermax and sharedmany pleasant memories of his long careerwith Thermax – from service engineer tocorporate regional manager.

Another farewell function for Govind wasalso organised by the Thermax channelpartners of northern region at Hotel ForteGrand.

Therm

ax bids adieu to Govind Lal

Hemant Joshi takes overas northern region chief

Hemant Joshi took over as the CorporateRegional Manager (CRM) of northernregion on April 1, 2009.

Hemant has been with Thermax since 1989. Aftercompleting his chemical engineering from LIT,Nagpur and an MBA in marketing, he joined theMumbai office in 1989. After moving to Delhi, heworked as Business Manager for both Heating andCooling SBUs.

In his after hours, Hemant likes to catch up withlight reading and old melodies. He also likes towatch National Geographic and Discoveryprogrammes on television.

welcomes Hemant and wishes him asuccessful innings in his new role.Fireside

Govind Lal in anexpansive moodat the farewellfunction (left);and his successoris all smiles

Thermax has received a major orderfor water treatment products fromPatanjali Ayurved of the Baba

Ramdev group. The order, won against stiffcompetition, is for supplying filters, softeners,demineralisers and reverse osmosis plants fortheir food park in Uttar Pradesh. Thermaxwill also be supplying a prefabricated sewagetreatment plant of 60,000 litres per daycapacity.

Supported by WWS and CMG, the orderwas bagged due to the tenacious efforts ofthe Thermax channel partner, MaxothermEngineers.

Thermax

Delhi Metrowater solutions for

Thermax has bagged several orders from DelhiMetro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to provide waterand waste water solutions to its seven depots and

10 stations. It has supplied sewage treatment plant basedon FAB technology and also the compact Eco Cell fortreating and recycling wagon wash effluent. For DMRC'ssecond phase of the metro project, Thermax has alsosupplied filters and softeners for its Sarita Vihar depot. TheDelhi channel management team of Sunil Arora worked intandem with Gary Marketing, the channel partner, to bagthe orders.

expertiseThermaxsources

Patanjali Ayurved

11

Food park :Thermaxexpertise

Delhi Metro :water and wastewater solutions

The manufacturing plants (1, 2and 3) of Boiler & Heaterbusiness of Thermax have won

the national level Gold Award in themanufacturing sector category foroutstanding safety performance during2008. The award is instituted byGreentech Foundation, New Delhi, aninternational non-profit organisation.

On behalf of Thermax, Mohan Patil, B&HManufacturing Head and Shailendra Dafe,Assistant Manager Safety received the awardat an international conference on safety and

fire held at Goa on 4th May.

BK Mathur, who heads the Thermaxinitiatives in safe work practices, says thatthe award will help us to stay on course toreach the “goal of a zero accident work

12

Managersexchange notes on

operationand maintenance

The station managers of the O&M(power plants) group came togetherfor their annual meeting in March

this year, held during the same month everyyear. This is a special programme for themanagers at the various power plants whereThermax is in charge of operation andmaintenance.

At this annual meet in Pune, stationmanagers share their experiences andachievements and learn from one another.For a young group that in four years hasbagged business in power plants built byThermax and others, there is much to learnfrom one another. This time, too, the annualmeeting provided the right setting for suchlearning to take place.

Safety

plantsmanufacturing

Award for

Patil and Dafereceiving the award : safe

O&M managersin Pune : sharinginsights

When a fire breaks out, employeesmay be left with as little as twominutes to escape. So, it is

important everyone knows clearly whatneeds to be done and that too immediately.Are we prepared for such an eventuality?

Thermax Administration and Safety groupsare jointly taking this challenge head on.They are getting the Pune and Mumbaioffices prepared and ready. An audit to plugthe loopholes in the existing fire protectionsystem was followed by an elaborate exercise

on exit routes and emergency action plans.Employees have been trained to assemblecalmly at specially demarcated assemblypoints when a fire alarm is sounded. ‘Firemarshals’ from different parts of the buildinghave been identified and trained toextinguish fires and to help the injured.

Finally a 'mock drill' for emergencyevacuation was conducted at all Thermaxoffices in the two cities with the help ofoutside experts.

The Indian Navy has placed ordersfor Thermax chemicals for use in itsships' boilers. Water treatment

chemical Maxtreat and fuel additiveThermosol will be used on a pilot basis forsix months on two ships. The treatment is tobe replicated for Western Naval Commandfleet to enhance the performance of theships' boilers.

Thermax chemicals were chosen after theNavy's central boiler inspection unitconducted extensive trials. Says MahendraPonde from the performance chemicalsgroup, “This order follows the successfulwork that we did, together with B&HServices, for a study on the life extension ofone of the Naval ship boilers.”

offices

Fireprevention

at Thermax

chemicalsThermax

for Navy'sship boilers

13

Maxtreat andThermosol :Navy’s choiceon the high seas

A fire drill inprogress :no time to lose

Photo News

Abhijeet Joshi, a trainee withCorporate HR, devotes time to bewith HIV positive children looked

after by Sweekar, an NGO. He met themthe first time on Republic Day, when hevisited their place with some friends. Thatvisit was a turning point. Seeing how muchthe presence of outsiders meant for thesechildren, abandoned by their own parents,Abhijeet and friends, decided to go thereagain.

Today, they set aside a day in a month tospend with the children – playing, singingand dancing with them. Abhijeet, who lovesto dance and even gives dancing lessons athome, says some of them are quite good on

their feet. All of them go to governmentschools and three are toppers in their class.

Besides the earmarked day, they visit thechildren on their birthdays with cakes. Everytime they go there, something required fortheir hygiene and something to eat arealways carried along. “But it the time wespend with them that the children treasuremost, as hardly anyone takes the trouble tovisit them,” says Abhijeet.

Sweekar is being kept alive by the dedicatedefforts of its founder, Suparn Shinde, aretired principal. She runs it with the help ofa few trustees. The NGO welcomes supportand those of you who want to reach out tohelp can contact them at 98603 50878.

14

Your presence

Photo News

can be precious for theseHIV children

This high-capacityboiler being unloadedat Jubail,SaudiArabia, is the biggestever boiler assembledat the Thermax portfacility in Mundra.Weighing 585 metrictons it has a capacityof 150 tons of steamper hour at atemperature of 520degrees Celsius andpressure of110 bar.Big league.

Abhijeet at Sweekar :make their day

M Aeet Asmita Kshirsagar Marathe,certified energy auditor. Shecleared the annual exam

conducted by the Bureau of EnergyEfficiency (BEE), Delhi and was awarded theEnergy Auditor certificate this year.

A gold medalist M.Tech from PuneUniversity, Asmita is already a certified leadauditor for ISO 14001: 2004 EnvironmentalManagement system. She works at RTICafter a stint with B&H proposals.

jay Kanade has successfullycompleted American WeldingSociety's Welding Inspector

Certification in January 2009. Thecertification is useful for Ajay who handlesmarketing and execution of life extensionservices of boilers in the Services SBU ofB&H. International certification is countedin turnkey jobs.

desert's edgeat theOn the beach

The Thermax team in Saudi Arabia took time offfor an outing to the Half moon bay. Heading forthe popular tourist destination on the edge of the

eastern province's desert, they had an interesting drivethrough the sand dunes. “After the desert, it feels good to arrive onthe beach curving around the bay in a half circle. We all had arelaxing time,” says Shafi Ahamed, Country Manager.

Marathe

BEE certificateawarded

AWS

for KanadeCertification

15

Ahamedwith his

colleagues andfamily membersat the picnic :good time

T Vhermax Chennai's cricket teamcaptain, V. Ganesh Kumar playedfor the Indian team against

Queensland Cricket Team (Australia) in atwenty-twenty match on 16th April.

The Indian team won scoring 164 runs in16.3 overs with five wickets to spare againstthe Queensland score of 163 for six in 20overs. As opening batsman, Ganesh scored30 runs in 26 balls.

ipin Nair, student of J.N. PetitTechnical High School, Pune,received a Certificate of Honour

for general proficiency in English, Hindi,Science and Social Sciences.

Vipin, an 8th standard student, is the son ofA.Ravindran, caretaker of Thermax'sAquarius Transit House in Pune.

16

Sinha represents

NY panelThermax at

discussion

Rajesh Sinha of Thermax Inc, USA, was a memberof an eminent panel discussion on US-IndiaEconomic Synergy at the India Business

Conference. The discussion was held at ColumbiaBusiness School in New York and was moderated byRanjana Khanna, Asst Gen Secretary, FICCI.

Besides the Deputy Consul General of India in New York,speakers on the panel included Dr. Ajay Gondane,Deputy Consul General of India in New York; David P.Good, Chief Representative, North America, Tata Sons;Madhu Vuppuluri, President, Essar America.

Star cricketerChennaifromoffice

Vipinhis mark

makes

Sinha at thediscussion : economic synergy

Ganesh Kumar in the India colours Vipin receiving the certificate

S

T

N

heerin Sarma of CMG, Pune, won a gold medal forbeing the university topper among all the post graduate programmesacross all the National Institute of Construction Management and Research

(NICMAR) campuses. She received the medal for the PGDM course she did inMarketing and Finance from NICMAR in 2005-07.

Sheerin received the award from Dr. John A Hood, Vice Chancellor, OxfordUniversity

hree of our people – M N A Shaikh, R C Arulkar and H V Bavane –have received the American Welding Society (AWS) Certification.They have complied with the requirements of AWS QC1 Standard

for welding inspectors.

Shaikh, Arulkar and Bavane are working with the Quality Assurance and Controldepartment of the Heating SBU. The certification will help them to ensure qualityimprovement at Thermax shops and in vendor development.

avani Niharika Jha is an accomplished science Olympian. She stood 3rdin Maharashtra and 28th in India for the National Science Olympiad.She is also among the top five hundred in the international math

olympiad and national science talent search examination.

A Class IV student of Podar International School in Pimpri, Navani is thedaughter of R S Jha of C&H Heating Innovation.

Sheerin

gold medalwins

AWS Certification

QAC personnelfor three

Science NavaniOlympian,

17

Sheerinreceiving theaward fromthe ViceChancellor

From left :Shaikh, Arulkarand Bavane

As we head towards East Street,Brijesh Kumar Mathur tells me whyhe has given up driving a car

himself in Pune and has got himself a driver.On his second day in Pune, after arrivingfrom Oman, someone banged into his brandnew car when he'd stopped at a red light at atraffic signal. It was a rude shock for himafter the discipline and order of Oman,where he worked for four years as thecorporate head of safety and compliance forthe Oman Airports Management Company.“I knew I was moving from a cosyenvironment to a hostile one,” he saysphilosophically.

We reach Chinese Room, which is one ofthe oldest Chinese restaurants in Pune,before the mushrooming of dozens ofrestaurants boasting “authentic” Chinesecuisine from different provinces of China. Ihave recommended the place as Mathur isfond of Chinese food and I think hewouldn't be disappointed. “In Oman we atea lot of Chinese food but with a Malayaleetouch,” he quips.

As we settle down with our soups andstarters – a superbly grilled pomfret in redgarlic sauce – Mathur offers me a glimpseinto his stressful first few months in Punewhen his younger son just refused to go toschool as he was traumatised by the changeof lifestyle from Oman to Pune. Also, thepressures of his new job as the corporatehead of safety and health added to the stress.Fortunately, things have settled down in the18 months since he joined Thermax andMathur is his usual amiable self, eager todeliver on what he calls “a systems approachto safety in Thermax.” With the topmanagement's commitment to the value ofhuman life and well-being, Mathur is awareof the serious responsibility this entails.“Safety is more than just wearing a helmetand shoes,” he says.

Safety, according to him, is a behaviouralissue and you have to do the “right things”at all times. He cautions against short cutsand the temptation to do things in a hurry.“A lot of safety procedures are purely

common sense,” he says. He gives theexample of manholes. It is common sense tokeep them securely covered otherwise theyare a clear and present danger. He pulls outa sheet from his papers and shows it to me.“ERIC Saves Lives” reads the heading of theslide. In the acronym, E = eliminate thehazard, R = reduce the hazard, I = isolatethe hazard and C = control exposure orcontact with the hazard. “Lack ofmanagement control is the root cause ofaccidents in companies at any site or plantlocation,” he says. Once managementcontrol is in place – through strict systemsand procedures – accidents and fatalities area thing of the past. “All accidents are caused,they do not happen,” he elaborates. Like themanhole that is left without a cover, invitingtrouble.

The waiter clears the soup bowls and iswaiting for us to place the order for the maincourse. Mathur is not too keen on moreseafood so he orders a chicken dakchin and Isettle for prawns in oyster sauce. We decideto share a vegetable fried rice to go with thesaucy chicken and prawns. The food isserved quickly on the table and we dig in.The prawn sauce is good with a subtlegarnishing of herbs and Mathur seems to beenjoying what's on his plate.

He gives me a quick update on all that'sbeing done on the safety front whichincludes a lot of training, safety audits, safetypassports, tool box talks, reporting andinvestigation guidelines, and safety reviewsby business heads and top management.“Things are stabilising now and this has tobe sustained,” he says in his low-key manner.“Not learning from our mistakes is a crime,”he adds. The important thing, he points out,is to encourage reporting of unsafe practicesacross the organisation so that immediateremedial action can be taken – in safetyjargon referred to as “near misses.” In thetrue sense, people have to integrate safetywith their work. “Safety is not an add-on; ithas to be built into the operations and it isall about continuous improvement,” hestates.

LUNCHWITH FS

18

“Safety is more than just weB K Mathur, Corporate Head – Health, Safety & Environment, talksabout a systems approach to safety and cautions against short cuts andthe temptation to do things in a hurry, over a tasty Chinese meal withAhmed Bunglowala

19

aring a helmet and shoes.”Total involvement of employees is crucial,says Mathur, to reach internationalbenchmarks of safety. The most effective wayto do this is to encourage a “no blameculture” in the company so that people takeresponsibility of safety issues without any fearof a backlash.

The food has gone down well and it is timeto wind up. I ask Mathur if the Indianfatalistic attitude about karma is a problemin implementing safety norms in companypremises and at sites. “That's a hindrance,”he admits. He gives the example of acompany, he worked for earlier, where themanaging director made an announcementthat “it was an act of fate” after a seriousaccident in one of the plants. “It's not rightto blame fate or the dead person,” he says.

A B.Tech in mechanical engineering fromIIT-Bombay and an M. Tech inenvironmental science and engineering fromthe same institute, Mathur has more thantwo decades' experience in safety andenvironment related disciplines withcompanies like BHEL, ACC, British Gas andOman Airports Management Company. Hewas well settled in his job in Oman whenThermax made him an offer he couldn'trefuse. “I saw Thermax as an opportunity todo a bigger job; to design and implementsome of the things I had learnt,” he says.

In the training programmes he conducts,Mathur usually screens a video recording ofthe famous Piper-Alpha oil platform in theNorth Sea, UK,which caught fire in 1987,resulting in many casualties. Investigationsrevealed that all safety norms weredisregarded – from design to procedures topermits. The sole preoccupation there wasoil production. Safety was the casualty.“People come before production and profits,”Mathur emphasises, in these trainingprogrammes.

We order caramel custard for dessert and Iask Mathur if he has any “closingcomments” on safety. He quickly pulls outanother sheet of paper. The title of this slideis “The Evolution of Safety” where youmove from the pathological state (“whocares as long as we are not caught”) to thereactive stage ( “we do a lot every time wehave an accident”) to the calculative stage(“we have systems in place to manage allhazards”) to the proactive stage (“we workon the problems that we still find”) to theultimate generative stage (“safety is how wedo business around here”). He points outthat Thermax, today, is close to thecalculative stage moving towards theproactive stage and all indications arepositive. “The discipline of followingprocedures is the key,” he adds.

On that note we decide to leave. He dropsme off at Thermax House and heads forChinchwad, comfortable in the thought thathe doesn't have to drive on Pune's chaoticroads – where the last thing mostdrivers have on their minds is safety.

The disciplineof following

proceduresis the key.

Far almost a generation, psychologists around the world have beenengaged in a spirited debate over a question that most of us wouldconsider to have been settled years ago. The question is this: is

there such a thing as innate talent? The obvious answer is yes. Not everyhockey player ends up playing at the professional level. Only some do – theinnately talented ones. Achievement is talent plus preparation. The problemwith this view is that the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted,the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the rolepreparation seems to play.

Exhibit A in the talent argument is a study done in the early 1990s by thepsychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues at Berlin's eliteAcademy of Music. With the help of the Academy's professors, they dividedthe school's violinists into three groups. In the first group were the stars,the students with the potential to become world-class soloists. 1n thesecond were those judged to be merely "good." In the third were students

who were unlikely to ever play professionally and who intended to bemusic teachers in the public school system. All of the violinistswere then asked the same question: over the course of yourentire career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how manyhours have you practiced?

Everyone from all three groups started playing at roughly thesame age, around five years old. In those first few years, everyone

practiced roughly the same amount, about two or three hours aweek. But when the students were around the age of eight, real

differences started to emerge. The students who would end up the best in theirclass began to practice more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight

hours a week by age twelve, sixteen hours a week by age fourteen, and up and up, until by theage of twenty they were practicing – that is, purposefully and single-mindedly playing theirinstruments with the intent to get better – well over thirty hours a week. In fact, by the age oftwenty, the elite performers had each totaled ten thousand hours of practice. By contrast, themerely good students had totaled eight thousand hours, and the future music teachers hadtotaled just over four thousand hours.

Ericsson and his colleagues then compared amateur pianists with professional pianists. The samepattern emerged. The amateurs never practiced more than about three hours a week over thecourse of their childhood, and by the age of twenty they had totaled two thousand hours ofpractice. The professionals, on the other hand, steadily increased their practice time every year,until by the age of twenty they, like the violinists, had reached ten thousand hours.

The striking thing about Ericsson's study is that he and his colleagues couldn't find any"naturals," musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the timetheir peers did. Nor could they find any "grinds," people who worked harder than everyone

SIGNPOSTS

20

The-

Rule10,000 Hour

Mozart, the Beatles and Bill Gates

In his provocative

and best-selling

book

Malcolm Gladwell

examines everyone

from business giants

to scientific

geniuses, sports

stars to musicians,

and reveals what

they have in

common. He looks

behind the

spectacular results,

the myths and

legends to show

what really explains

exceptionally

successful people.

This excerpt from

the book highlights

the golden rule about

long hours of

dedicated practice to

achieve distinction in

any field.

Outliers,

else, yet just didn't have what it takes tobreak the top ranks. Their research suggeststhat once a musician has enough ability toget into a top music school, the thing thatdistinguishes one performer from another ishow hard he or she works. That's it. Andwhat's more, the people at the very top don'twork just harder or even much harder thaneveryone else. They work much, muchharder.

The idea that excellence at performing acomplex task requires a critical minimumlevel of practice surfaces again and again instudies of expertise. In fact, researchers havesettled on what they believe is the magicnumber for true expertise:

"The emerging picture from such studies isthat ten thousand hours of practice isrequired to achieve the level of masteryassociated with being a world-class expert –in anything," writes the neurologist DanielLevitin. "In study after study, of composers,basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters,concert pianists, chess players, mastercriminals, and what have you, this numbercomes up again and again. Of course, thisdoesn't address why some people get moreout of their practice sessions than others do.But no one has yet found a case in whichtrue world class expertise was accomplishedin less time. It seems that it takes the brainthis long to assimilate all that it needs toknow to achieve true mastery."

This is true even of people we think of asprodigies. Mozart, for example, famouslystarted writing music at six. But, writes thepsychologist Michael Howe in his book

by the standards of maturecomposers, Mozart's early works are notoutstanding. The earliest pieces were allprobably written down by his father, andperhaps improved in the process.

Many of Wolfgang's childhood compositions,such as the first seven of his concertos forpiano and orchestra, are largelyarrangements of works by other composers.Of those concertos that only contain musicoriginal to Mozart, the earliest that is nowregarded as a masterwork (No. 9, K. 271)was not composed until he was twenty-one:by that time Mozart had already beencomposing concertos for ten years.

The music critic Harold Schonberg goesfurther: Mozart, he argues, actually

"developed late," since he didn't produce hisgreatest work until he had been composingfor more than twenty years.

To become a chess grandmaster also seemsto take about ten years. (Only the legendaryBobby Fischer got to that elite level in lessthan that amount of time: it took him nineyears.) And what's ten years? Well, it'sroughly how long it takes to put in tenthousand hours of hard practice. Tenthousand hours is the magic number ofgreatness.

Practice isn't the thing you doonce you're good. It's thething you do that makes yougood.

The other interesting thingabout that ten thousandhours, of course, is that tenthousand hours is anenormous amount of time. It'sall but impossible to reachthat number all by yourself bythe time you're a young adult.You have to have parents whoencourage and support you.You can't be poor, because ifyou have to hold down a part-time job on the side to helpmake ends meet, there won'tbe time left in the day topractice enough. In fact, mostpeople can reach that numberonly if they get into somekind of special program – likea hockey all-star squad – or ifthey get some kind ofextraordinary opportunity thatgives them a chance to put in those hours.

Let's test the idea with two examples, andfor the sake of simplicity, let's make them asfamiliar as possible: the Beatles, one of themost famous rock bands ever; and Bill Gates,one of the world's richest men.

The Beatles – John Lennon, PaulMcCartney, George Harrison, and RingoStarr – came to the United States inFebruary of 1964, starting the so-called

ten thousand hours.

Genius Explained,

Is the ten-thousand-hour rule a general ruleof success?

21

The 10,000-Hour RuleMozart, the Beatles and Bill Gates

THEamateurs never practiced

more than about three

hours a week over the

course of their childhood,

and by the age of twenty

they had totaled two

thousand hours of

practice. The

professionals, on the

other hand, steadily

increased their practice

time every year, until by

the age of twenty they,

like the violinists, had

reached ten thousand

hours.

British Invasion of the American musicscene and putting out a string of hit recordsthat transformed the face of popular music.

The first interesting thing about the Beatlesfor our purposes is how long they hadalready been together by the time theyreached the United States. Lennon andMcCartney first started playing together in1957, seven years prior to landing inAmerica. (Incidentally, the time that elapsedbetween their founding and their arguablygreatest artistic achievements –

and[White Album] – is ten years.) And if youlook even more closely at those long years ofpreparation, you'll find an experience that, inthe context of chess grandmasters andworld-class violinists, sounds awfully familiar.In 1960, while they were still just a strugglinghigh school rock band, they were invited toplay in Hamburg, Germany.

"Hamburg in those days did not have rock-and-roll music clubs. It hadstrip clubs," says PhilipNorman, who wrote theBeatles biography"There was one particular clubowner called Bruno, who wasoriginally a fairgroundshowman. He had the idea ofbringing in rock groups to playin various clubs. They had thisformula. It was a hugenonstop show, hour after hour,with a lot of people lurchingin and the other lot lurchingout. And the bands wouldplay all the time to catch thepassing traffic. In anAmerican redlight district,they would call it nonstopstriptease.

"Many of the bands thatplayed in Hamburg were from

Liverpool," Norman went on. "It was anaccident. Bruno went to London to look forbands. But he happened to meet anentrepreneur from Liverpool in Soho whowas down in London by pure chance. Andhe arranged to send some bands over. That'show the connection was established. Andeventually the Beatles made a connectionnot just with Bruno but with other clubowners as well. They kept going back

because they got a lot of alcohol and a lot ofsex.”

And what was so special about Hamburg? Itwasn't that it paid well. It didn't. Or that theacoustics were fantastic. They weren't. Orthat, the audiences were savvy andappreciative. They were anything but. It wasthe sheer amount of time the band wasforced to play.

Here is John Lennon, in an interview afterthe Beatles disbanded, talking about theband's performances at a Hamburg strip clubcalled the lndra:

We got better and got more confidence.We couldn't help it with all the experienceplaying all night long. It was handy thembeing foreign. We had to try even harder, putour heart and soul into it, to get ourselvesover. In Liverpool, we'd only ever done one-hour sessions, and we just used to do ourbest numbers, the same ones, at everyone. InHamburg, we had to play for eight hours, sowe really had to find a new way of playing.

Here is Pete Best, the Beatles' drummer atthe time: "Once the news got out about thatwe were making a show, the club startedpacking them in. We played seven nights aweek. At first we played almost nonstop tilltwelve-thirty, when it closed, but as we gotbetter the crowds stayed till two mostmornings.

The Beatles ended up traveling to Hamburgfive times between 1960 and the end of1962. On the first trip, they played 106nights, five or more hours a night. On theirsecond trip, they played 92 times. On theirthird trip, they played 48 times, for a total of172 hours on stage. The last two Hamburggigs, in November and December of 1962,involved another 90 hours of performing. Alltold, they performed for 270 nights in justover a year and a half. By the time they hadtheir first burst of success in 1964, in fact,they had performed live an estimated twelvehundred times. Do you know howextraordinary that is? Most bands today don'tperform twelve hundred times in their entirecareers. The Hamburg crucible is one of thethings that set the Beatles apart.

"They were no good onstage when they wentthere and they were very good when theycame back," Norman went on. "They

Sgt. Pepper'sLonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles

Shout!

Eight hours?

Seven days a week?

22

THEIRresearch suggests that

once a musician has

enough ability to get into

a top music school, the

thing that distinguishes

one performer from

another is how hard he

or she works. That's it.

And what's more, the

people at the very top

don't work just harder or

even much harder than

everyone else. They work

much, much harder.

learned not only stamina. They had to learnan enormous amount of numbers – coverversions of everything you can think of notjust rock and roll, a bit of jazz too. Theyweren't disciplined onstage at all before that.But when they came back, they sounded likeno one else. It was the making of them."

Let's now turn to the history of Bill Gates.His story is almost as well known as theBeatles'. Brilliant, young math whiz discoverscomputer programming. Drops out ofHarvard. Starts a little computer companycalled Microsoft with his friends. Throughsheer brilliance and ambition and guts buildsit into the giant of the software world. That'sthe broad outline. Let's dig a little bit deeper.

Gates's father was a wealthy lawyer inSeattle, and his mother was the daughter ofa well-to-do banker. As a child Bill wasprecocious and easily bored by his studies. Sohis parents took him out of public schooland, at the beginning of seventh grade, senthim to Lakeside, a private school thatcatered to Seattle's elite families. Midwaythrough Gates's second year at Lakeside, theschool started a computer club.

"The Mothers' Club at school did a rummagesale every year, and there was always thequestion of what the money would go to,"Gates remembers. "Some went to thesummer program, where inner-city kidswould come up to the campus. Some of itwould go for teachers. That year, they putthree thousand dollars into a computerterminal down in this funny little room thatwe subsequently took control of. It was kindof an amazing thing."

It was an "amazing thing," of course, becausethis was 1968. Most colleges didn't havecomputer clubs in the 1960s. Even moreremarkable was the kind of computerLakeside bought. The school didn't have itsstudents learn programming by the laboriouscomputer-card system, like virtually everyoneelse was doing in the 1960s. Instead,Lakeside installed what was called an ASR-33 Teletype, which was a time-sharingterminal with a direct link to a mainframecomputer in downtown Seattle. "The wholeidea of time-sharing only got invented innineteen sixty-five," Gates continued,"Someone was pretty forward looking." Bill

Gates got to do real-time programming as aneighth grader in 1968.

From that moment forward, Gates lived inthe computer room. He and a number ofothers began to teach themselves how to usethis strange new device. Buying time on themainframe computer the ASR was hookedup to was, of course, expensive – even for awealthy institution like Lakeside – and itwasn't long before the $3,000 put up by theMothers' Club ran out. The parents raisedmore money. The students spent it. Then, agroup of programmers at the University ofWashington formed an outfit calledComputer CenterCorporation {or C-Cubed),which leased computer timeto local companies. As luckwould have it, one of thefounders of the firm –Monique Rona – had a son atLakeside, a year ahead ofGates. Would the Lakesidecomputer club, Ronawondered, like to test out thecompany's software programson the weekends in exchangefor free programming time?Absolutely! After school,Gates took the bus to theC-Cubed offices andprogrammed long into theevening.

C-Cubed eventually wentbankrupt, so Gates and hisfriends began hanging aroundthe computer center at theUniversity of Washington.Before long they latched onto an outfitcalled ISI (Information Sciences Inc.), whichagreed to let them have free computer timein exchange for working on a piece ofsoftware that could be used to automatecompany payrolls. In one seven- monthperiod in 1971, Gates and his cohorts ran up1,575 hours of computer time on the ISImainframe; which averages out to eighthours a day, seven days a week.

"It was my obsession," Gates says of his earlyhigh school years. "I skipped athletics. I wentup there at night. We were programming onweekends. It would be a rare week that wewouldn't get twenty or thirty hours in. Therewas a period where Paul Allen and I got introuble for stealing a bunch of passwords and

23

The 10,000-Hour RuleMozart, the Beatles and Bill Gates

TObecome a chess grand-

master also seems to

take about ten years.

(Only the legendary Bobby

Fischer got to that elite

level in less than that

amount of time: it took

him nine years.) And

what's ten years? Well,

it's roughly how long it

takes to put in ten

thousand hours of hard

practice. Ten thousand

hours is the magic

number of greatness.

crashing the system. We got kicked out. Ididn't get to use the computer the wholesummer. This is when I was fifteen andsixteen. Then I found out Paul had found acomputer that was free at the University ofWashington. They had these machines inthe medical center and the physicsdepartment. They were on a twenty-four-hour schedule, but with this big slack period,so that between three and six in the morningthey never scheduled anything,” Gateslaughed. "I'd leave at night, after mybedtime. I could walk up to the University ofWashington from my house. Or I'd take thebus. That's why I 'm always so generous tothe University of Washington, because theylet me steal so much computer time." (Yearslater, Gates's mother said, "We alwayswondered why it was so hard for him to getup in the morning.")

One of the founders of ISI, Bud Pembroke,then got a call from the technology company

TRW, which had just signed acontract to set up a computersystem at the huge BonnevillePower station in southernWashington State. TRWdesperately neededprogrammers familiar with theparticular software the powerstation used. In these earlydays of the computerrevolution, programmers withthat kind of specializedexperience were hard to find.But Pembroke knew exactlywhom to call: those highschool kids from Lakeside whohad been running upthousands of hours ofcomputer time on the ISImainframe. Gates was now inhis senior year, and some howhe managed to convince histeachers to let him decamp forBonneville under the guise ofan independent study project.

There he spent the spring writing code,supervised by a man named John Norton,who Gates says taught him as much aboutprogramming as almost anyone he'd evermet.

Those five years, from eighth grade throughthe end of high school, were Bill Gates'sHamburg, and by any measure, he was

presented with an extraordinary series ofopportunities.

Opportunity number one was that Gates gotsent to Lakeside. How many high schools inthe world had access to time-sharingterminal in 1968? Opportunity number twowas that the mothers of Lakeside hadenough money to pay for the school'scomputer fees. Number three was that, whenthat money ran out, one of the parentshappened to work at C-Cubed, whichhappened to need someone to check its codeon the weekends, and which also happenednot to care if weekends turned intoweeknights. Number four was that Gates justhappened to find out about ISI, and ISI justhappened to need someone to work on itspayroll software. Number five was that Gateshappened to live within walking distance ofthe University of Washington. Number sixwas that the university happened to havefree computer time between three and six inthe morning. Number seven was that TRWhappened to call Bud Pembroke. Numbereight was that the best programmersPembroke knew for that particular problemhappened to be two high school kids. Andnumber nine was that Lakeside was willingto let those kids spend their spring termmiles away, writing code.

And what did virtually all of thoseopportunities have in common? They gaveBill Gates extra time to practice. By the timeGates dropped out of Harvard after hissophomore year to try his hand at his ownsoftware company, he'd been programmingpractically nonstop for seven consecutiveyears. He was way past ten thousand hours.How many teenagers in the world had thekind of experience Gates had? "If there werefifty in the world, I'd be stunned," he says."There was C-Cubed and the payroll stuff wedid, then TRW – all those things cametogether. I had a better exposure to softwaredevelopment at a young age than I thinkanyone did in that period of time, and allbecause of an incredibly lucky series ofevents."

Outliers( Excerpted fromby Malcolm Gladwell)

24

ANDwhat did virtually all of

those opportunities have

in common? They gave Bill

Gates extra time to

practice. By the time

Gates dropped out of

Harvard after his

sophomore year to try his

hand at his own software

company, he'd been

programming practically

nonstop for seven

consecutive years. He

was way past ten

thousand hours.

25

VOICES

PicklesI cannot imagine aday go by withouteating pickle. Myfavourite combi-nations are mangopickle mixed withrice and a littleghee; red chillipickle spread onbread and sugarsprinkled over it;and gongura orlime pickle withcurd-rice whichhas a generousdose of tadka.

It was a lovely afternoon inJuly of 1999 when Idisembarked at the Atlanta

international airport. I was on myway to join the Master's programme atFlorida International University in Miami.Standing in the queue at customs, I happenedto notice the officials single out Indians forspecial attention. I wondered why and wasworried at the same time, till I remembered myfriends' advice, “Don't mention the pickles andother food items that you are carrying – theymight confiscate it”. Here I was with a bag-fullof pickles to last me till I got back home againafter the course. The official checked my bags,looked at me and asked, “You joining schoolhere?” and I said, “Yes, sir” still anxious aboutmy precious pickles. But he smiled and to myutter surprise said, “Welcome to America”. Heseemed to know, pretty well, what picklesmeant to Indians.

This incident was 10 years ago. Now though Iwork and live here, whenever I go home toHyderabad, my mom makes sure that shepacks enough pickles to last me for a year. Justto make sure that others don't finish mine, shepacks some for my friends and colleagues too!

What's an Indian meal without a dash of spicypickle? North, south, east or west, people inthis land just can't do without it. Call them byany name,

or the pickles of India havealways found a place in our hearts and possiblyin every meal. They cut across boundaries ofwealth, caste, creed, gender and aim to servethe tingling taste buds of one and all.Whatever your preference, there's a pickle forevery occasion and what's more, people havealso mastered the art of making pickles out ofalmost anything.

Ranging from sweet to salty to fiery, the king offruits, mango, is the hot favourite for pickle-making. My grandmother's kitchen shelvesused to be lined with an array of cylindricalceramic jars containing different varieties ofpickles. Of course, the famous 'avakaya' alwaysstood majestically occupying the largest jar inthe row while the lesser known, yet delectablepickles, were stored in smaller jars.

The art of making pickle dates back manycenturies. It takes the genius of Indians topreserve food for years without the use ofchemicals and make it taste great at the sametime. Indian pickles consist of a large variety ofpickled fruits and vegetables which aremarinated in oil or lemon juice and differentIndian spices and salt. Pickles go with

everything – rice, breads,snacks, meats and even

… just pickle. Thecommon vegetarian pickles

are mango, tomato, ginger, lemon,garlic, green or red chillies and amla amongothers and the non vegetarian specials includethe Parsi pomfret (fish), the Goan balchao(shrimp), the Malayali kallumekkai (oysters)and the Andhra kodi (chicken) pickle.

The Indian pickle market was worth Rs. 1000crore in 2007. It is growing at 8% per annumconsistently (faster than our GDP) and out ofthis, non-veg pickles account for one-third ofthe entire quantity in kilos. No wonder thereare so many branded and unbranded players inthe market.

The difference between the north and southIndian pickles is mainly in the oil base, souringagent and choice of spices – mustard oil is thepopular pickling medium as opposed to gingellyor sesame seed oil in the south. The souringagents used in the south, apart from thepickled vegetable itself, are tamarind or curd orlime juice or a combination of them, asopposed to vinegar in the north. In the northcumin seeds, ajwain and fennel are used and inthe south mustard seeds, tamarind and curryleaves are preferred.

Pickles are best stored in glass or porcelaincontainers. The lid should be secured tightlyand they should be stored in a cool, dark placeto increase shelf life. Always use a clean, dryspoon to serve the pickle. Remember to makesure that the pickle is fully submerged underthe oil, brine or vinegar, as this acts as apreservative. For convenience, pickles may alsobe refrigerated.

I cannot imagine a day go by without eatingpickle. My favourite combinations are mangopickle mixed with rice and a little ghee; redchilli pickle spread on bread and sugarsprinkled over it; and gongura or lime picklewith curd-rice which has a generous doseof tadka. The non veg trio of chicken,mutton and prawn pickle gives me anexcellent reason to eat a pickle and nonvegetarian food at the same time!Right now, as I write this, all thosesharp memorable flavours fromso many varieties of pickles awakenmy taste buds. Hope you too haveyour favourite pickles totake you on a spice-of-lifejourney.

lonche, achaar, uppinakayi, uppillittuth,pachchadi oorugai,

Gopal V Kavalireddi

AreUs

I say a silentprayer for thelucky couple andhope all goeswell because thewedding mightbe over in acouple of days,but their journeytogether wouldhave just begun.

26

In Solicitationof Your Presence

It's the wedding season in summer! And animportant item in the wedding planner'sguide is the wedding invitation.

Traditionally meant to be a form ofcommunication on the ofa wedding, this humble card has now comeinto its own.

Irrespective of the culture or region, class orreligion that the couple hails from, theinvitation card is supposed to make astatement. It marks the starting point of theGreat Indian Wedding. On careful scrutiny ofthe many cards you receive “soliciting thepleasure of your company;” you'll find thatapart from all these factors, individual tastesand budgets play a significant role too.

The quintessentially Indian wedding invitationoffers interesting insights into our variedpsyches. Beginning from the chosen texture ofpaper (standard or hand made) to colours(pastel or glitter), from formats (readymadeblanks vs. customized novelty) to design(traditional vs. contemporary motifs) toprinting (screen vs. fancy embossing), there'ssomething for everyone.

The traditional haldi-edged cards have alingering timelessness about them but theavant-garde cards find their own novel nichesas keepsakes. While some prefer a holysalutation like 'Glory to Lord Ganesha,Revered God of our Well-Being, Destroyer ofObstacles, Giver of Auspiciousness and Bliss',others take the filmy route with, “Come,witness the binding of love in paradise.”Photogenic couples can afford to pose smilingin the background to the text. An artisticallyinclined cousin of mine painted a little pictureof herself and her groom (including his shavedhead), set against the church in Goa they weregetting married in. Some, like me, included ashort personalised poem. Then there are themecards with motifs relating to summer, doves,Christmas or seashells, which also form theleitmotif for the wedding reception décor. Irecall seeing an image of a modern-day cardbased on the social networking site, Orkut andanother on the Cadbury's Celebrationchocolate wrapper. The net savvy havewebsites dedicated to their approaching D-Daywith links to gift registries, blogs on weddingpreparations, updates and pictures.

Indian weddings are as much about familiesmarrying into each other as they are about thecouple starting anew. In keeping with ourregard for the elders in the family, it's not

always the couple inviting the guests, but theirparents, relations or grandparents, which thenbecomes a lesson in the family ancestry. Whichis also probably why, sometimes, the familysurname gets bigger and bolder prominence inthe card over the names of the bride andgroom. Add to that the names of the who'swho in the village – government officials,relations, pet names, children and everyone inthe village is pleased to share in the limelight!

Then again, I've wondered if any weddingcard protocol decides whether the groom wedsthe bride or vice versa? Perhaps it's wiser(and safer) to wait to be legally wed beforeannouncing that the Mrs. is the boss! And inthe true Indian hospitality tradition, you don'tjust invite your guests; you solicit theirGracious, Esteemed and sometimes Prayerfulpresence.

The delivery of cards is another distinct featureof Indian weddings. The first card isrespectfully presented to the “kuldev”, literally,the family deity. The ideal manner of invitationto mortal guests is personal hand delivery. Ifyour guest list runs into a couple of hundreds,the cards are posted or couriered. But they doalso expect a phone call to lend that personaltouch. In more lavish weddings the little giftsaccompanying the invitation – like betel nutand silver coins in delicate tissue purses or abox of premium pistachios – are loud enoughindicators of the degree of extravagance to beexpected at the wedding. These days, an emailto friends and colleagues in the cc is intimationenough to “Be there, people, as I bid adieu tomy single status.”

Finally, as a chosen guest, when the card hasjourneyed into your hands and you're readingit, you're swept with the aura of anticipationand celebration. You could almost conjure upimages of the bride in all her finery, the dappergroom looking his best, the proud and beamingparents, guests carting their gifts, the louddecoration, breathe in the aroma of asumptuous buffet, the fireworks, the roseattar… society partaking in this momentoussocial occasion.

For me, I say a silent prayer for the luckycouple and hope all goes well because thewedding might be over in a couple of days, buttheir journey together would have just begun.

what-who-when-where

(HR)Natasha Rodricks-Naidu

27

EternalSunshineof theSpotlessMind

I love to dabble in

writing catchy

titles. When I was

breaking into

copywriting as a

young man I

wrote this

headline for a

shaving cream:

Shaving is

Believing. Of

course, it never

saw the light of

day but I had

great fun

churning up

catchy ad lines.

Unusual and intriguing titles grab your attention andcan prod you to buy a ticket for the movie or pick upa book in the library or bookstore. The hunt for

unusual titles is a favourite sport of many people,including sub-editors in newspapers and periodicalswho give catchy headlines to the news stories andfeatures. Here is one from a business daily: “Bulls in atight bear hug.” It says it all about the unfathomable goings on inthe stock market.

The Latin American writer Gabriel Garcia Marquezhas a knack for tell-tale titles. Two of his novels aretitled, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love inthe Time of Cholera and a short story called, TheHandsomest Drowned Man in the World. The storyis about a handsome drowned man, who's washed ashore,and all the women of the village falling in love with him! Somemore interesting book titles: Death on the Installment Plan,Chicken Soup for the Soul, To Kill a Mockingbird, Who's Afraid ofVirginia Wolfe? Karma Cola, Freedom at Midnight…

Hollywood and Bollywood and others are not far behind in their questfor unusual titles. Try these: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie;The Cars That Ate Paris; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; The Sisterhood ofthe Traveling Pants; Last Tango in Paris; River of No Return; Reap theWhirlwind; Cool Hand Luke; Glengarry Glen Ross, A Fish CalledWanda; Four Weddings and a Funereal; The Good, the Bad, the Ugly;The Silence of the Lambs; Even Dwarfs Started Small; Sophie’sChoice, Claire’s Knee. And these two samples from Bollywood:Rectangular Love Story and Do Paise ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane kiBaarish.

I love to dabble in writing catchy titles. When I was breaking intocopywriting as a young man I wrote this headline for a shavingcream: Shaving is Believing. Of course, it never saw the light of daybut I had great fun churning up catchy ad lines. Here are some all-time great taglines from the world of advertising and brandpromotion. Impossible is Nothing (Adidas); A Diamond is Forever(DeBeers); The Ultimate Driving Machine (BMW); We Try Harder(Avis); Don't Leave Home Without It (American Express); WeMake Money the Old-fashioned Way – We Earn It (Smith Barney);We Drink All We Can. The Rest We Sell (Utica Club Brewery); TheMind is a Terrible Thing to Waste (United Negro College Fund).

Some years ago three friends of mine were planning to start afreelance writing service in Pune and they were searching for acatchy name for their outfit. In conversation, I suggested they calltheir fledgeling company, “Three Writers and a Dog”. Prospectiveclients were bound to ask, “What does the dog do?” And they wouldanswer, “The dog does the spell check!” A great way to break the ice andget noticed. Here are a couple more name options for anyone who wantsto start a writing or editing service business: Andthis one which is my recent favourite coinage:

The above names are likely to give you much more mileage than run-of-the-mill names like Word Smith, Write Stuff and Word Wise.

So, what's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.Wrong. I don't think would have done so well with a differentname like Fabrics of India. Besides the quality of their stuff, the namegives them a great competitive advantage, globally.

A catchy name, title or slogan gets instant recall and recognition. All ofyou know to whom this one belongs: “Improving Your Business is OurBusiness.” If you're not sure here are a few hints. The company is based inPune, is Parsi-owned and is not in the IT business.

Clean Copy, No Chaff.Polished Prose, No Problem.

Fabindia

Ahmed Bunglowala

KARMA COLA

Sophie’s Choice

Death on the installment plan

FREEDOM at MIDNIG

C H LOOL AND UKE

Even Dwarfs Started Small

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Last Tango in Paris

Darkness at Noon

AGUIRRE : THE WRATH OF GOD

Love in theTime of Cholera

SLICELIFEOF

28

Job-seekers in the U. S. are using unusual gimmicks to grab the attention ofpotential employers, such as in one case sending a shoe along with a resumeto get a “foot in the door” according to a recent survey conducted by

CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site.

Faced with the highest unemployment in 25 years, candidates are trying a varietyof tricks, including:

“The search for employment is taking longer and is more competitive than it hasbeen in the past years,” said Jason Ferrara, senior career adviser at CareerBuilder.But he cautioned: “While unusual job search antics may attract the attention ofhiring managers, they need to done with care and professionalism so thatcandidates are remembered for the right reasons.”

(Source: Reuters)

�

�

�

�

�

�

handing out resumes at stoplights

washing cars in a companyparking lot

staging a sit-in in a company lobbyto demand a meeting with a director

sending a cake designed as a

business card with the candidate'spicture

handing out personalisedcoffee cups

going to the same barber as thecompany chairman to have thebarber speak on his behalf

In praise of dullness at the top

DOOR

A FOOT

INTHE

Should CEOs read novels? The questionseems to answer itself. After all, CEOswork with people all day. Novel-reading

should give them greater psychological insight,a feel for human relationships, a greatersensitivity toward their own emotional chords.

Sadly, though, most of the recent researchsuggests that these are not the most importanttalents for a person who is trying to run acompany. Steven Kaplan, Mark Klebanovand Morten Sorensen recently completed astudy called “Which CEO Characteristics andAbilities Matter?”

They relied on detailed personalityassessments of 316 CEOs and measured theircompanies' performances. They found thatstrong people skills correlate loosely or not atall with being a good CEO. Traits like being agood listener, a good team builder, anenthusiastic colleague, a great communicatordo not seem to be very important when itcomes to leading successful companies.

What mattered, it turned out, were executionand organisational skills. The traits thatcorrelated most powerfully with success wereattention to details, persistence, efficiency,analytic thoroughness and the ability to worklong hours.

In other words, warm, flexible, team-orientedand empathetic people are less likely to thriveas CEOs. Organised, dogged and slightlyboring people are more likely to thrive.

These results are consistent with a lot of workthat's been done over the past few decades.

In 2001, Jim Collins published a best-sellingstudy called He found that thebest CEOs were not the flamboyant visionaries.They were humble self-effacing, diligent andresolute souls who found one thing they werereally good at and did it over and over again.

Good to Great.

(Courtesy: The Asian Age)

PERFECT N1OThe closest people come to

is in their resumes

And this poster

(Contributed by Natasha Rodricks-Naidu, HR)

The A S Bhathena summer camps were a sell-out, as every year. With education and fun

mixed to give Thermax employees' children amemorable time. A camp at Mulshi, a know-

your-city tour, a visit to a science museum andfort, a film appreciation course and theatre

workshop and more.The pictures capture someof the excitement.

GiveUs

More

Thermax shows stable performance in a tough

market. Posts a total income of Rs. 3303 crore

and a profit after tax of Rs.287 crore.

Export income, including deemed exports,

increases by 35 % to Rs.912 crore.

The company creates diversified opportunities

in water and power businesses by selective

participation in the projects of municipal

corporations and public sector undertakings.

Service business explores revenue opportunities

to offset the cyclical risks of the capital goods

sector by venturing into innovative areas of

energy rentals, facility upgrades, equipment life

extension, and operation and maintenance.

The Board approves investments to set up

a Research, Technology and Innovation

Centre (RTIC) with a time-bound programme

to establish centres of excellence in the key

technology areas critical to Thermax.

Rolls out Project Ever-Lean to eliminate

waste, streamline processes and

systems, and reduce costs.

The Thermax Social Initiative Foundation

(TSIF) continues with more community

initiatives in the third year.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR2008-2009

Business Standard honours Meher Pudumjee,

Chairperson, with the CEO of the Year

(2007-08) Award, in recognition of the sustained

growth of Thermax and the value return to

shareholders, without compromising on ethics.