The Godavari Express is a daily overnight train from Secunderabad to Vizag and vice versa. The journey is comfortable and I found a few passengers all ready and prepared to go straight to work from the station. There was some breakfast in the train in the form of cold insipid idli and vadas but we were not complaining. The hotel was reasonably comfortable and my first introduction to a person was a gentleman named Chinna Rao. He happened to be Rakjumar’s fixed and favourite Auto Rickshaw Driver and little did I know as to how important a role he would play during my stint in this place.
We were chauffeured to Saptagiri Steels a renowned Building Material Supplier with a modern outlook and were introduced to the owner and his brother. They also happened to be some sort of a reseller for ours. It was a three-storied building and the terrace was converted to an office that was let out to Network. The office had a table and two chairs and a phone and lots of space for us to install a billiards board!!
The agenda for the day was tight since Rajkumar wanted to introduce the main clients of the region to me. The first visit was to Vizag Steel Plan which was about 30-40 kilometers from town and Chinna Rao was in full form with his Telugu accented Hindi while Rajkumar with his Hyderabadi intonation. I was the silent audience with minor interjections and questions here and there.
The Steel Plant complex was under construction and once we reached the gate, the main road led us into tributaries of muddy roads with all sorts of cranes, fork lift trucks and heavy duty load trucks roaming up and down. The factory was almost under completion and we finally reached the office complex. The first stop was at the Finance Section since we needed to collect some payments that were outstanding (the outstanding story is a historic one in Network that I would delve in a later blog). Rajkumar explained the GARN system to me, and if I meet you in person I would be able to narrate a hilarious adult anecdote associated with it.
Later on visited a few other persons of concern in different departments and then went on to our other sojourns to the various naval establishments. The day was over quickly while in evening we went over to Hotel Dolphin for a beer and I had one of the best Fish Mayo ever served in a restaurant. It was fresh Bhekti and it was absolutely slurp, slurp!! The vegetarians please do pardon me for my indulgence which is of course mutual!!
The next day was again spent visiting some other leads and in the evening we were back on our way to Secunderabad. I was to come back to Vizag, bag and baggage the following week and I learnt that KVS would also be relocated to Vizag for looking after the increasing support needs.
Thanks to Chinna Rao, I had fixed up my accommodation in the previous trip. Chinna was there at the station to receive me and off we went to Siripuram where this house was located. It had a restaurant downstairs, so I knew that food was not a thing to be worried about. Later I fixed a monthly scheme with the guys that worked effective for both parties.
My routine was quite unique in the sense that I had to wake early morning at about 4.30 or so daily since the water supply was at that time and I needed to store my requirements. In continuation I also finished with my morning jobs and was ready for office by 6 AM!! I went off to sleep again and Chinna Rao would come and wake me up for breakfast and then we would go off to office. KVS had taken up some other place and he had his two-wheeler. We would quickly plan our day and get on with our visits. The late afternoons were typically reserved for administrative jobs like accounting and stuff since we had consumables and spares to handle and invoice.
Chinna Rao while being my constant chauffeur was also used by us as our delivery person. So there were times when we used to plan visits where while I make my calls in a particular establishment, he would go and deliver consumables and take necessary signatures on invoices or go and collect payments, etc. While in office he was also our office boy in terms of getting tea and stuff. The arrangement was productive and useful and we also developed a relationship with the guy. There were times when he would take me to places on holidays and I have even been to his house to meet his family.
While in Secunderabad I did not encounter corruption as such but Vizag did introduce to me the murkier side of Government deals. I would not say that it was very rampant but it did start off with minor variations.
Eastern Naval Command was an untapped establishment and I was delighted when I got through with an appointment with Nadkarni the then GOC-in-C who later on went on to become the Chief of Navy. He was pretty impressed with our equipment but his budget was only for a Network 102 (Hermes vintage). The inclination was towards a 316 and how they managed the same was always a good story for me. They bought a 102 and used it for a couple of months and given that background they requisitioned for 2 more. The best part was that these machines were not being used by the GOC’s office. They were all given to other subordinate officers.
Nadkarni after all wanted the 316. Then one fine morning I was summoned and his secretary Venugopal had this proposition. It was proposed that on paper they would place orders for consumables worth a 316 value (about 37000 INR in 1985) and I needed to supply them a machine instead. Needless to say, this was done. There were four invoices and subsequently four payments were made by the CDA (Central Defence Accounts). Believe me, when I say that R.Kannan summoned me to Delhi for explaining these transactions to Audit!! But then I had got used to the ways of Network and nobody was complaining!!
The executives in the Government sector had unique ideas on how to get things that they really wanted. So I was not surprised when Naval Science and Technological laboratory bought an Oscilloscope for me. The name of the equipment sold by me was Instrument 332!! I am sure the latter did not have a lens for sure.
Eastern Naval Command was my biggest reference point. I managed to get this Pass organized for me so that I could enter any naval establishment without problems even during mock war exercises. The whole of Navy knew that if I was to be contacted a call to the C-in-C’s office was the ideal number!! So when Piyush of PCL one day came to the Command Office I blatantly told him that he should not waste his productive time in the Navy.
The attachment with Navy grew beyond professional the arena and I started mixing around with Officers at the clubs and started getting home invitations. As a bachelor what more could I want? Except of course that most of them were young officers and therefore there were no issues who I could get friendly with!!!
The life in Vizag was of course somewhat monotonous, and after some time it got on my nerves. It was all like a routine. There were some sojourns of course to Koraput for the HAL and INDAL accounts but that was that. As usual it was always a pleasure to visit them since their behavior and attitude was as if I was doing a favour by allowing them to use our machines!
This stint also created this opportunity of visiting KVS’s house in a village near Rajahmundry and that was a pleasure. Hyderabad is only one part of Andhra and I am grateful to both KVS and LB (stayed with him in his house at Vijaywada) for allowing me to experience other places. The experience of such visits was absolutely different than from when I would go on official visits, except of course my official trips to the jungles of South Orissa visiting NALCO or otherwise.
The sea in Vizag was an important part of my evenings. A casual walk down to the beach on a moonlit night was beautiful as usual. Me and my later on room partner(Anand Sharma – later joined Network HR) were almost regular visitors. There were a couple of friends from Hindustan Petroleum and that was our group for movies and stuff,
Then one day Prithviraj called me and said that Mumbai beckoned me and I needed to be there as early as possible. It was almost a year and I was absolutely excited. Mumbai was an extremely important phase in terms of me learning sales and relationships. Yeh hai Mumbai nagariya, tu dekh babua!!! But that’s due next!!
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