Friday 1 May 2009

Hi Pyazoo, Tasneem and Venu !!


An old friend of mine from the KV, Berhampur had forwarded the link to your blog to me. It was so precious to get refreshed with nostalgic memories as old as four decades. Fayaaz, after we contacted each other during 1982, I just lost you. I thought you had left UAE and gone over to Pakistan. I was really worred about you and did a lot of search on the net. One day I found a post of your sister and tried send a mail to her seeking your whereabouts. But could nt get connected.

I am now based in Hyderabad working with an Infrastructure company as its Senior Vice-President-HR. I earlier worked with BHEL, Lanco Group, Suzlon Energy and Larsen and Toubro as their Head of HR. I really want to meet you once and I am sure I will cos you were a real nice guy and suh a jovial character. I hope you have had all good things in life and are blessed with happiness and a happy family.
Where is Henry these days. Tasneem, the guy next to Rajulu is Gauri prasanna Mishra. Hope you are doing well in life too. Wish we could some day all meet once...cos I think we have all crossed a lot of water in life and are getting closer to the grave. i know its not possible to meet up everyone in the group but at least some of us could.

Love to all of you and Blessings to you children!

Sreenu Babu

( Sreenu if you are reading this post then get in touch with Venu who is also based in Hyderabad: 9849090971- Arun Bhatt)
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41 comments:

Enarkay said...

Good to hear from Sreenu Babu my old friend and classmate at SVC and Khallikote College. The last news of him was that he was at Bhadrachalam Paperboards( Of course that was a long time ago). Sreenu if u are reading this blog u can contact me at Kolkata -9830271857.
And Arun thanks for finding an old friend of ours

Venu N said...

Hey Sreeu, nice to know you are in Hyd---we can catch up anytime--I have a holiday today, and Sat & Sun are off days.
I was told you worked with Andhra Bank, but it looks like that was wrong news.
Please contact me on my cell--Arun has given the number in his post.

Faiyaz said...

Where the hell were you Sreenu - Viswanathan Anand of Berhampur?

We all are almost Senior citizens -
Great knowing that you are the Senior Vice President!

You were going great guns - I thought you would knock Vishwanathan Anand and Konneru Hampy one day!

Currently I am with my family and hopefully after 3-4 days will be leaving to join Office - Will be meeting Henry too - he works for Gulf News

Thanks Arun - It appears you are doing what Vimal has been doing all these years - Connecting People!

Nargis said...

Okay...who has posted this? Sreenu or Arun ;-}

This is just a rhetorical question. You don't have to answer it Mr.Nokia....:-}

And WELCOME Sreenu! I hope you enjoy blogging as much as all of us crazy folks out here :-}

Tasneem said...

Hi Sreenu Champ. Join the blog fast.
Faiyaz has been telling me how good you are at chess. Did you start playing from Std v when we bought all those indoor games for the class?
I remember, I learnt Chinese Checker in class!!

Omkar said...

Tas,

Aisay hi do chaar chizein hum bhi school jaake seekh liye thay ;-)

Tasneem said...

lol ;]

Vinita Deshmukh said...

Congrats to Vimal and Arun for bringing old mates together! V laudable

Tasneem said...

Congrats to Enarkay too for bringing Seetha (one of our very valued contributors).
Thanks everyone for your responsible contributions and for upholding the standard and dignity of our wonderful blog.
Jai Ho, hamara blog!!

Enarkay said...

Hey Sreenu got it right. The guy next to Rajulu in our class photo is indeed Gouri Prasad Mishra who is standing behind Sreenu and I. Gouri was also my classmate in Stewarts School Cuttack and is now in SAIL Rourkela. One day at while at Stewarts he claimed to have been my classmate at SVC. I wasnt sure till he showed me the same photo. He must have been a shy boy at school
Sreenu Get onto the blog pronto!
Tas Thanks. Debnath Roy remembers you and Faiyaz

Venu N said...

HRH Sreenu Babu called me this morning, and promised to catch up with me a.s.a.p. His office is just a km from my house---it is beside Pulla Reddy Sweets, where Fai bought a handful of obbatulu.

Naresh said...

Welcome to the blog Sreenu Babu.

Venu: Which Pulla Reddy - I trust the one near Walden is already closed or still working ??

Venu N said...

Naresh,
The one near Walden is live n tickin'. Fai and I visited both Pulla Reddy and Walden in March. Sreenu Babu's office is a couple of floors above Walden.

Faiyaz said...

How I wish I knew Sreenu's Office was a few floors above!

Anyways next time!

The Pulla Reddy Obbatulu's were delicious - I strongly recommend!

Venu N said...

Thanks for the feedback on Obbatulu, Fai. I gotta buy some now.
Sreenu Babu has just arrived downstairs, and wants to know how to become a member of this blog.

Vim, can you please send him an invite? Arun has his email id, I think.

Stanley David said...

Hi Sreenu,

How are you? We used to meet at Urban Bank road, not so much at school, where you were low profile --playing chess, I gather.

Please send me an email :havinci@yahoo.com

Welcome to the SVC Tube, courtesy Vimal

Venu N said...

Stan,
He's just left my place, and gifted us some sumptuous Obbatulu from Pulla Reddy Sweets---looks like my magic genie has granted succour to my wishes!

Vim, his email id is tsb2k1@gmail.com. Please send him the invite pronto.

Faiyaz---he was asking for your email id---please email him a.s.a.p.

Venu N said...

Fai, you've had 2 touch n go situations with SB---one in March when we visited Walden, and another in Toronto,when SB visited last November.
He said 'shit, I didn't know that Fai was there!'
Vim, special thanks to you for starting this blog and getting so many people together---merci, danken, gracias, spasiba---whatever--!

Venu N said...

Hey Vims,
There was a typo in the email id---the correct one is tsbabu2k1@gmail.com.

Faiyaz said...

Thanks 4 the Email ID - Will liaise with Sreenu. Meanwhile, enjoy the Ubbatulus!
The weather is lovely and I'm off with my Family to enjoy my weekend!

Seetha said...

Hi Sreenu, welcome to the blog,:). I have to admit I don't remember you. Nevertheless, we have SVC in common, and that is the only thing that matters.

Enarkay said...

Sreenu called this morning and we caught up after decades. I hope Vimal has sent him an invite He was a real champ at chess. Coming from a small town like Bam his achievements are really great.So nice to reconnect with him.Thanks to Arun and Vimal

Venu N said...

Sreenu should be getting his invite by Wednesday, as Vim is travelling.

Faiyaz said...

You mean, A Wednesday?
Amazing Movie, I must say!

Sreenu Babu said...

Here we go.....and you have me joining in this precious group that radiates incredible nostalgic warmth. I am really amazed at fervence that you bring on to this blog. Thanks to Vimal,the blog seems to have let you all unleash the much cherished CHILD within YOU as I figure your articulation is so pure and natural. Over these years as I have been overly ambitious, I had shackled and masked my behaviour and modeled my self into a mere corporate animal. I realise how much I have swayed away and perhaps degenerating my original self.

The Great Warmth with which you have welcomed me here itself was something that I cant remember its equivalent in recent times.

Venu, Ennarkay, Stanley, Tasneem, Seetha, Vimal, Faiyaz, Naresh, Nargis, Omkar and Vinita- Thanks a Million to each one of you.

Ennarkay and Stanley thanks for the kind words.

Tasneem, I remember you as a very intelligent and serious girl. You seem to be as naughty as our Faiyaaz! I learnt chess when I was in Class 7th in KV. Only if I knew you live in Toronto, I would have met you and Faiyaz last November as I had visited Canada as a member of the Indian Construction Industry Delegation. Wow Canada is an amazing country and only wish Faiyaz gets a decent break in Toronto and settles down there.

Seetha, You may not remember me, but I do remember you. And about your house, a friend of mine (TATA-that cricketer- Enarkay would know) lived in our house during the later years of the 70s and I used to visit him quite often.

Nargisji, thanks for nice words.This is indeed a great place to be !!!

Tasneem said...

Hey Sreenu, at last we have you in our midst! A warm welcome, man!
I remember you as a tall, lanky boy. In your pic you haven't changed much from what I remember of you except for the moosh of course!! Thanks for paying me all those compliments... as for being naughty....well, I guess this blog has really unleashed the ''child'' in me! Otherwise I'm a pretty stern bureaucrat ;)
I'm in Calgary which is in Western Canada and not in Toronto. Anyways, I'll be back in India after a couple of months. Maybe we can meet up then. Just counting the days before I can get back to my family...sigh!
Let us know all about yourself and your family and what you did since leaving SVC. Which company are you with now? Also, as per Vims, our Blogmaster's diktat, you have to post your family pic. So do that pronto and keep blogging as often as you can. It'll be fun reading inputs from you, esp of your glorious chess days.
Till then, take care.
Tas.

Tasneem said...

AB & Sreenu... how did both of you touch base and how did Sreenu send a letter to us through AB. Now that would make an interesting read. Both of you throw some light into this. I'm curious!

Sreenu Babu said...

Oh Hi Tas!

Well, we did spend a couple days at Calgary at the SAIT Polytechnic, exploring possibilities of a partnership with them for them domain support of construction skill upgradation of our talent force. I work for a company called SEW Infrastructure Ltd., this is 49 year old company into Infrastructure development and doing close to Rs.2000 crores of turnover. My role here is Change Management and Organization Development. Well my chess playing days were all in the school and college mostly. Some of my accomplishments were Orissa state school boys championship, the Orissa state juniors champ thrice years and Orissa State seniors once. At the nationals I played the juniors thrice and the seniors twice. Represented Berhampur University four times and once won the All India Inter University individual championship. One of my major wins was beating DVPrasad, a Grandmaster. I can still play blindfolded simultaneously with two opponents. I didnt embrace chess as a profession, because it didnt offer a career in real terms. Therefore, I placed my passion and career in distinct buckets with a greater focus on career and family. You see these are not really very great accomplishments.

Professionally, I am a mad workoholic with an unnatural appetitite for achivement and success. Some of my major professional achievements are implementation of Lean Management in Construction projects leading to efficiencies of over 360% and reduction of 35% of manpower and other costs merely by application of a process approach in construction. This is the first such in India. Another one is a customised 'Employee Engagement' initiative which I branded as People First in Suzlon Energy where I worked as its HR Head, that initiative really made a huge change impact in terms of leadership style and People Focus moved up the business value chain. Recently, I am nominated to the Asian HR Advisory Board.

On the family front, I am married to Ramani who hails from Andhra pradesh, she is a postgraduate and a great home maker. I have two daughters Sushma and Asha. Sushma who has done her B.Tech in Electronics and Communication and an MBA from Symbiosis Pune, is married to Mohan and works in IBM, Singapore as a Team Lead in SAP-ABAP and Mohan is also a I.T Professional in Credit Suisse. They elevated me as a Grandpa with Tejal joining our family just three weeks back. Yes, I can proudly declare myself as the only Grandpa here on this Blog right! Asha is doing her B.E in Electronics & Comm.Engineering and will be moving on to the final year. She also aspires to take the CAT (MBA entrance in India) this November. I will post our family photograph in a day or two.

Tas I am not surprised at you being stern bureacrat if other vincentians remember how upright a girl you used to appear. May be Faiyaz knew you thoroughly! Now this guy Fai has a great sense of Wit and Satire flowing in so naturally and aptly. Faiyaz you need to really leverage this talent in you and may be emulate the likes of RK Laxman or Cho Ramasamy.

Now as to how I tracked you all - It was Sudarsana Bhatt an old school mate from (KV,Berhampur) whom I had coached Chess while in school contacted me on the Linkedin and he mentioned to me about SVCBerhampur and helped me forward my first mail to this blog thru AB. And when are you visiting India?

Tasneem said...

Sreenu, thanks for the feedback on yourself & your family. You are going great guns in your career. Congrats and may you reach even greater heights. Congrats also on becoming a Grandpa! Wow!!
Such a pity you came to Calgary and we didn't meet. Thanks to Vim's blog that is now remedied and at least we "blog-dosts" know where each one is located or is traveling to.

Sreenu Babu said...

Tas....what about your family and what are you doing in Calgary? There is lot of talk about the calgary canal which turns into a skating rink during winters (did you try it out?) and I guess the Calgary riot (??did I get that right?)... Take Care and God Bless you and your family!!

Faiyaz, why dont you try to extend the deadline before you actualy relinquish the canadian pr status.

arun bhatt said...

Hi Sreenu,
Welcome to blogland. I am sure you will enjoy this 'homecoming'. do keep blogging

Sreenu Babu said...

Hi Arun!

Oh thanks pal...if it were not for you I wouldnt have landed in this lovely world!! Thanks a Ton really!!!

Tasneem said...

Sreenu, pass your number and maybe we can talk. Other blog dosts would be too bored to re-read all about me.So I'll spare them the pain!

Sreenu Babu said...

My number is 09701611899

Tasneem said...

Will call you soon. Its the Calgary Stampede and not "riot"! Close enough though.
The canal you are talking about is probably the Calgary Olympic Park which is a multi-purpose athletic facility designed for skiing, snowboarding and bobsledding during the winter. Calgary was the host city of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. Have seen it from far as it is a landmark but haven't been there though it is just like 10km away from where I stay. Maybe one of these days I'll go there for a Sunday brunch and catch the view of the Rockies. Better make the most of spring before I leave.

Faiyaz said...

Sreenu- Your Post seems to have drawn 36 Comments! Wow!!
Hey wait a minute, Wasn't 36 Your T shirt size?

Naresh said...

Sreenu

If my memory goes right , I recall you were a " Hexadactyl" ( correct me if I am wrong, not to embarass you ).

Just trying to tie in some lost strings while going down memory lane.

After 35 years I had recalled Arun having a Scar on his right mandible, courtesy his operation performed by Dr Feroze Ali [ Faibhai's father ].

Strains of forensic evaluation !!!

Passing out with VIMAL , Sarita etc in the 1976 batch, am not sure how Senior you were ( alongwith TAS )

Sreenu Babu said...

Hey Faiyaz.... it was perhaps its now 46. So buddy mind your satire...after all you will meet soon right !

Yes, Naresh you got me right I still have them those six fingers in both my hands! Yes, TAS and FAI's.

Faiyaz said...

Yes Sreenu, Will plan a trip in the near future and I hope to meet you folks soon!
Anxious and eager....

Enarkay said...

Hi Sreenu Welcome to the blog!!!
Of course I remember SPTata who was a good batsman (Are you in touch with him?)He used to live on the road to City Hospital

Sreenu Babu said...

Oh Thanks Enarkay....Nope not in touch really...the last i heard of him was he was an entrepreuner into apparel exports in Delhi....