Life After Titan Vistara And Cmca Bhaskar Bhat Vrunda Bhaskar

TITLE: Life After Titan, Vistara and CMCA: Still Trekking, Still Dreaming | Bhaskar Bhat & Vrunda Bhaskar CHANNEL: Been There, Done That DATE: ---TRANSCRIPT--- How did you all view work life balance as? For me, there was nothing called work life balance. I think it’s the passion which drives you. Another person the world lost last year was Sri Atant Tata. A very curious man. Do what you like or like what you do. If you don’t like what you’re doing, how do you like what you do? Mr. Rakil Junjunala who you worked very closely with. You’d ask me. Both of you have a passion for trekking. First trick I did was just after college. Maggie was not even there. This is 1978. We had an arrange marriage. This guy at least goes trekking which I’ve been wanting to do. So let me marry her. I think we have been fortunate enough to have found something that we like. How old are you? She’s 7 years younger to me. What was the one learning you had from him? His style was so different and the respect for his intellectual. He was the founder of the company. What is your comfort food? Kurdai song. Idli sambar. What is a song that you’re listening to on repeat? Kashmir. [Music] I’m delighted to be a part of Zerodha 01 media network. If you want to learn from the lived experiences of our seniors, been there done that is the channel to follow. Hello and welcome. On this podcast, we talk to seniors about their lives, their experiences, their learnings, and how they’re having an active lifestyle. We’re joined by two very special guests today, guests I look up to. She has worked with lacks of students for more than two decades, helping them become active citizens. He’s been at the helm of brands that we love and use everyday. Titan, Tanish, Air Vistara. We’re in conversation with Mrs. Reinda Bhaskar and Mr. Bhaskar But thank you ma’am. Thank you sir. Um I I usually start the podcast by asking our guests how old are you? She’s 7 years younger to me. I’m 71. How do your what do your typical days look like now? I um Okay. Sometimes uh some days in the week is start with a gym in the morning uh or a walk on other days. Um and then I have some uh philosophy sessions that I attend otherwise if I’m in that phase binge watching. Yeah. Otherwise just meet friends and uh or read and things like that. Mine is very boring to begin with. I’m up at 5:15 5:30. After that I do my morning disciplines of uh starting with lighting the lamps and doing my meditation and yoga and then between three things I do two at least which is yoga, swimming, badminton. Uh, and by the time I finished with everything, had bath and go for breakfast, it’s 9:30. And given that both of y’all were working, how did you all view work life balance as? Did you did did you all have a similar definition or a different definition? And did you truly find it possible to maintain it? For me, there was nothing called work life balance. I believed that I behaved the same way at work as at home. Uh so a lot of people at work used to find that very funny because I was uh unbriddled in my in my behaviors. Okay, maybe I was I’m built like that or whatever that whether I was in frontline sales and then marketing whatever I did that you felt responsible for all those who worked for you, all those you uh worked with and so on. So that is very irritating to many people today because you take calls at any time in the night. uh you’re available. Um and as you grow up that sense of responsibility actually becomes more and more you know that you ought to be available, you ought to be responding and uh therefore that was 10 years back. So it it is not just the time getting utilized but your head being completely oriented towards that sense of responsibility. So when we started CMCA 25 years ago, I was like um of course much younger, more energy and um I think it’s the passion which drives you. I certainly didn’t have any divide between work. I was working all the time like he said it’s in your mind every time you feel responsible. It was like a new baby and I don’t think anything new can grow without that kind of uh passion and attention. Okay, you need it but whether it has a cost, yes it does have a cost. I mainly on the family maybe on the self too. I think both of us this is something which I think we have been fortunate enough to have found something that we liked. We can keep talking to young people like uh do what you like or like what you do. I mean all these are easily said you know if you don’t like what you’re doing how do you like what you do? It’s it’s I mean we have been fortunate I certainly have been fortunate because you know one was able to do something and like she just said it was the baby and it was there’s no like or dislike it is just I agree with him that uh there was no need to unwind because you loved what you were doing. So it uh and CMC was also like a family uh it still is uh to a large extent where you feel so connected to everyone they are they are friends they are colleagues everything uh so there was no need to unwind you’ll have a both of yall have a passion for trekking and how did you all make the time I mean was that something you all were looking forward to during the year or how did you develop a passion for it for me trekking was because my brother when I was very young he would um go off trekking mountain climbing actually to the Himalayas and come back and show us those days no video no phone so just the photos yeah photographs he put project it and uh I think I was inspired then and there and so when he came we had an arranged marriage so when he came to see me uh uh he had just come back from a trek so I said okay this guy at least goes trekking which I’ve been wanting to do. So I said okay let me marry her. First trek I did was just after college and um you know I was not so familiar with uh uh I was in Bombay at that time. I don’t know whether Bombay you know the spots to trek uh in the western garts now probably are more common but typically people living in Delhi and beyond go trekking go because of the Himalayas you know so that’s when a few of my friends from my classmates they said let’s go up to Kulu Manali trekking that was my first trip you know we we tked up the bas and Uh and of course that time very young and we did everything you know carried everything including a pressure cooker in our backpack and cooked up. You were not the let’s see Maggie on the Maggie was not even there. This is 1978 7879. So we would do our own uh nutri nuggets nuggets was the typical kiti which we cook. But it took like uh 13 years after marriage for us to track. The next track after we getting married that first track is very memorable as in we went to a place where it was not it was Himalayas’s all right but uh I think for her it was very exciting towards the end it was she almost wanted to give up but we had a friend and the start and the end of that trek was absolutely fantastic. Not the track itself where we took off from and he’s still one of our best friends. Which track was this? Where was it to? It was from Kalum Pong. Zongri. It is Zongri top. It’s it’s in Sikkim. Since then we’ve done about eight eight or nine Himalayan tracks. Maybe more. Only Himalayan tricks. Only Himalayan. Yeah, we go I think we’ve done together we go only to the Himalayas. So I had some colleagues at work uh in CMCA. So every year we go to uh the western guts. Is there any trick you’re looking forward to? You haven’t yet done you want to do? Uh I want to trek in Nepal because I’ve not done and I’ve heard a lot of stories about it. I had a knee injury about 14 years back. So that’s actually restricted me quite a bit. U so I wear a lot of knee braces and everything. I the only thing I don’t want to stop ever is to track. I wanted to change gears a little bit. Um, I wanted to talk about um, when you were younger, what were the kind of role models you all had? Were there anybody yall you all looked up to? Um, I think no. I just do things that I want to do, I like to do. Um, if somebody else has done great things, I admire them. Okay. Maybe what is inspiring is uh, when I’m not very social. So, um, meaning I’m that’s not a bad thing at all. I mean I would count myself in that as well. But when I see a friend who uh who talks a lot, entertains guests and well I find that uh I like really admirable and maybe I’ll try to understand how she does it and be like her in the only things like that which I find difficult. Everybody I try to learn from everybody. There’s something somebody does which is exceptional you I just looked at that book there, John Lear. I really love the way he writes, but not just his pros. I mean his expertise on the subject you know Frederick Forset and John Lea we had a dog called Bozo you know Labrador when Aditi and I were kids and I one thing I learned from him what is unconditional love you know I used to hate him but every time I come home he’s licking you know I said you know something to learn you know uncondition he had no uh you know barriers you know he hates me or like he just so like that you learn from so many people. You took over from Zak’s desai. Uh what is the one thing he told you when you took over? What was the one learning you had from him? actually you know his his style was so different and he was so much you uh I mean he was a he was much older and therefore in a way that respect for age and the respect for his intellectual um provice if you call it apart from everything else he did he was the founder of the company so if I were to take one leaf out of his you know uh his his attitude to business and when I went for the interview I actually this whole thing is you know then I preceded Titan you know the company was formed after I joined the project so the I responded to an ad which said watch project you know some company is going to get so when I went into his room in Tata press outside there was this big board said think big you know so that remained when I went in I didn’t know what it meant okay think big you know like IBM used to say think and all that but I had prepared myself technically you know watchmaking you know what what is a movement I had gone to the British library in Amadabad read about watches it was a marketing executive and it was like that you know he was sitting there and and then he started talking about the world watch market I said hello this is now out of syllabus you I don’t even know anything on the world watch. I hope he asked me a question about quartz watches or mechanical watch or nothing. He was selling the job lit in the sense he he was painting his vision. you know this think big at that time you realize that you know the transitioning from somebody who’s I mean middle class uh good education background you at the end of it you want to get into uh you go at the placement you want to get the best job and then strive after that correct the transitioning of how I I won’t say visionaries certainly what is entrepreneurism uh what is um visioning and therefore what is think big what does it constitute you know that gap in your thinking everybody can think big I feel you know you’re just constrained by your upbringing saying no no no you know you are meant only to do this and so this generation the current generation Even beyond my children the startup energy in this in this city in this country I have said in every public uh you know opportunity that it is we who have enabled that to happen. We till our generation it was you get a good job you have to look after your parents you have to look after your children we freed our children from thinking like that saying do what you want you don’t have to look after us look after yourself I think a whole lot of parents today have given that freedom to their children say do what you want you don’t that burden is it is the India story frankly I’m telling you the world also changed yeah has been guaranteed in a way when you took over Titan grew leaps and bounds and one of the people who saw uh the investment in Titan do really well is Mr. Rakhir Junjin Wala who you worked very closely with uh he’s unfortunately no more with us. What is one of the memories you have with him which you’ll always remember? I think the only thing I remember about him I you see business and uh the the his intuitive uh sense of how to invest what Titan should do etc was well known but what he brought to me and to us in a way but to me more was an exceptional sense of warmth friendliness. I had directors telling me I don’t know why you take his calls you know suspecting that you know there would be insider trading stuff and so I don’t know what courage I had because I had faith in the guy he would tell me you know he’d ask me but his affection extraordinary you know he would he was emotional he would he did his 50th th birthday that’s where she had her knee problem so much you know you’d say we’re going to charter a plane you should come in that maicious okay so it was not about business at all every time he’ say he’ll cry you know he like cry as you know please come so it was he was very fond of yeah very very uh very affectionate Did you also get a chance to engage interact and many time with the family and uh when we go to Bombay we go to their house he supported CMC in a big way for Aditi’s wedding you know what he did the day I went and told him you know he was close to the family I said look Aditi’s wedding 25th October he was thrilled of course and within 3 minutes we were making a call making a call performing after he kept the [Music] phone was so upset you know so I had to tell him boss you know so he was like that and what he had no reason he said big heart very largearted very largearted you know certed I can imagine another person the world lost last year was Sri Ratant Tata. The nation was in mourning. How would both of y’all remember him? Everybody knows about his simplicity and so on and his big thinking every time without fail even when he was the last meeting he would walk up to the door and I’d sometimes laugh at him you know at the door he said do you have a car? I said sir why are you worried about mic you know please go back so exceptional human being and I know his staff was also like that you know uh they were just they would adore him you know as a human being so that’s those were the few interactions I wanted to ask you you worked with lacks and lacks of children uh through CMCA what are some of the most memorable moments that you have um which in many ways has made you start CMCA and then through the course of working working there there was this girl Lavana in one of the villages um and where uh she insisted that their house the government was giving a grant for building toilets so the homes didn’t have toilet they would go to the fields and you know all that and for women it was very embarrassing uh so she went on a hunger strike in her house and insisted her father used the government scheme scheme to build a toilet. And so she got that done and after that you know most homes about 200 homes in that village then were inspired also to build toilets because the women folk put pressure on them. We have something called Makla grammar sabas where uh you know the children’s sabas uh gram the gram panchayat but it’s for children. So they’ve been able to get roads repaired or their schools get toilets. Uh these all children fighting okay and writing to uh the either the MLAs or the village leaders. They’ve stopped child marriages have been stopped in that though we’ve heard like quite a bit of stories and and talking of children you’ll also have grandchildren. Um how do you all connect with your grandchildren? Is it easy? She she’s the one who connects like you know physically. No it’s easy when we are together certainly. Yeah she like go like going to Malaysia and she’ll go to London. Yeah if I miss them I go I go there because I feel okay I’m able to go now. Who knows how when things change they also come. But uh otherwise it’s because of the English UK accent. Okay. It become very difficult uh to understand what they’re talking. It’s all English. So then I tell them to spell it out and they must be thinking what is this doma now? No, but I think one common uh what what connects her or this house and is they like the food they like irrespect of you know what they eat there they they like the food they love idli and chutney pi like that sambar and tambli and all that. And what kind of games do you play with them? Yeah, we do uh I mean game if you take chess you know we uh but we played soccer outside but the fun thing we do is go by auto because for them auto is not available so that so we go by auto to caban park and come back you know I wanted to come to the last section of this and it’s a rapid fire the same questions for both of you uh because you love binge watching a show you’re currently watching or your all-time favorite show. Um, okay. What I’m self-made. I’m really enjoying it. Okay. It’s a show on Netflix, I think. Um, so it’s about uh how the black women in America, they are um I mean, she started this brand, cosmetic brand. So, it’s a story of that. So, I did binge watch uh the the biggest one I did was John Lears and that was in London. That is the hotel. What is that? Um he’s all these spy thriller all thrillers and the one I remember forever is Jamtara of course and it must be something you might have searched as well so quite a bit I binged watched that both of them a book you’re currently reading or your favorite book favorite two favorite authors u I mean three actually all of them same genre Frederick Forset John Lear and Robert Leam any book which is interesting and I come across but favorite is the there’s a book called the gut the gut yeah okay and where this French uh author student actually she’s written about the gut in a very humorous way but very illuminating way what is a song that you’re listening to on repeat or your all-time favorite my all-time favorite is carpenters top of the world is only one kashmir gali uh shami kapoor in the boat. Uh Diana, what is your comfort food? Kurd rice for me. Kurd rice, idli sambar. Idli sambar. Yeah. Okay. Kurd rice. Yes. Um three items that are still on your bucket list. Can also be tracks which you already did mention but Yeah. Yeah. I want to uh sing well and dance well which I can’t do currently. So that I want to do like before I’m too old for it. And okay the other one is a little spiritual but I want to find myself also. What about you sir? Yeah very clear. So the first is instrument musical instrument. It’s all there and my good friend uh Rakkesh actually gifted it to me. Second is a journey itself which is uh which when I retired I told her and I’ve not yet started which is uh traveling by train uh like the golden quadrilateral you know across the country country and uh the third is learn one more language I started uh but it’s not for the language it’s for what uh is it so I started with Sanskrit so I I’m not learning Sanskrit. I’m understanding the Bhagwat Gita in Sanskrit. The last three questions is about advice. One that you would I mean given the experience you have in life, the advice you would give to your 30-year-old self. To my 30-year-old self, I would say don’t be scared. Go out and do what you want. What about you, sir? Clearly my 30-year-old self, I would uh say care about your family. You need to care about how you deal with them, how much time you spend with them. And um the advice you would give to a 20, 21 year old student who’s just graduating from college, okay, somewhat similar. I would u say um you know don’t let things bind you down uh experiment with new things with whatever you want to do. It’s a I try to do this with my son and you know to tell the young people I hate to sermonize. I hate so I I tell them you trigger what you want. If you are coming to me you trigger the conversation and I will share with you my experience. Learning is yours. my time is available and therefore seek the answer through learning rather than expecting me to give you an answer. So um the advice you’d give to someone who is just retiring and entering the silver years. There’s a lot of life left. I mean I feel now is the time to do things which you would not have done earlier either because of family responsibilities or so if you are able focus on your health and do things which you love. I feel I feel some of the best years of life is after 50 60 is really nice. I’m in my 60s so I’m enjoying it. Mine is simple. I would tell anyone remain mentally and physically active. I mean curious I tell tell people to be curious but then to some curiosity you know doesn’t they don’t know what is curious. I’ve seen my her father he would be doing sudoku at 99. He’d be doing uh you know WhatsApp uh you know taking photographs and videos and know cracking jokes so that you know mentally active and curious. Sir ma’am thank you so much for speaking to us. This is an experience for me and I’m sure our viewers are going to find it equally uh insightful and they’re going to learn a lot as well. No they definitely will. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. It was the pleasure.