Written by Pancinovia Neelu M, Creative Empowerment Batch 3
Born in 1956 the second half of
the 50s, he was the eldest of the four children. By the time 60s were getting
over was turning 14 interestingly for whatever reason inexplicable was vaguely
thrown into the third standard when he was 5 years old. Starting off as an
underaged made him aware of unexpectedly competitive surroundings and made him
a wide-eyed, naïve character. Constantly existing in a surrounding where one
needs to keep their mind, eyes and ears tuned to be a part utopian world he was
put into was his first unintended circumstance he lived which became his
trigger to be constantly aware and be sharp of the surrounding.
The treatment by their peers,
society and the potential surrounding did not seem up to the mark of
egalitarianism, equality for all kinds of the notion he had. Instead of
fighting for the problem he kept looking for an explanation that made him go
away from listening to people and delving into bits and pieces of paper floating
in the wind as part of the garbage where he lived.
Those printed pieces were the
spark for the glimpses of what could be beyond the words from the people he had
lived with and pushed him further deep into the world of books, magazines, and
newspapers and found a home in the libraries. The potential unintended habit
was what shaped his mind in a way that explained inequalities and sometimes what
he believed to be injustice and kept bringing a resolve in him while growing
up.
“I am not going to do anything
that has been done to me. And I am going to practice things which I have learnt
so it smoothens and eases the minds of many other people who may be in my kind
of situation.”
Looking back to these abstract things made him
feel like he was nothing but just a rebel, a non-conformist. Standing by his
word and going his way whoever it may be, he lived by stating “I will chart my
own course based on my discovery from the writings of whether it is Bankhim
Chandra Chaterjee or Balakumaran or Jayakanthan” from the tamil literature.
Proceeding with a craving to
learn a little bit of English because he believed it has more to offer and it
was also breaking the linguistic barrier that prevailed around him. Luckily he
got an opportunity to move out of Tamilnadu into Jawaharlal Nehru university.
Talking about inspiration as a
conscious note, it hit him when he was pursuing his BSc Zoology second year
while on a trip to collect specimens from the calm waters of Rameswaram which
was blocked by the coral reaf. Accompanied by many North Indian peers, he
realized how much of a culture barrier was distancing himself from his fellow
classmates. The realisation is what created a spell or an impelling wish to
live upto a life that one looks up to, to move out of the cocoon that he felt
he hid under.
He terms the land of promise as
the one that brought him life. The desire to learn English, move out of the
state and live a life which is beyond basic was a trigger point for him on his
way back from Rameswaram looking at his peers. But due to socio-economic
reasons the struggle to find a way to his desires was persistent which made him
to drive trucks and run a small condiment shop until he ran into an
advertisement by Jawaharlal Nehru University where the university claims to pay
for all the tuition expenses of the student.
Walking into the University is
when he discovered what kind of a world exists, what levels are there and how
there are islands where the egalitarianism, equality, you are to be interacted
with based on what you are not what your family is or parents are or society.
This was the big turning point in the life of Mr. Vijay which he terms as an
inspiration where he plunged into it and took it head on. It also compelled him
to learn the language of the world which is English which opened the floodgates
of global literature be it relating to the future of societies, or award-winning
ideas in science and then the whole existence shifted into the head cerebral.
He started chasing all the ideas
and thoughts that have shaped humanity, learning about the story of philosophy,
of science, of sociology and like many other people decided to test out the
civil services IAS and then decided not to proceed with the field as it was a
feeling of power game administration. Moving away from all these career options
and he moved into banking where again the situation in banks of the way the
bankers treated the customers who are the real bosses was pretty bad and living
with the entitlement of selfishness and greed annoyed and brought out the rebel
in him and made him think that one day he will change the way banking happens.
He said “when we wish for
something intently, I think it comes our way”. By 1993, the banking economy
went through a change, structural reforms took place and the banking sector was
key and they were bringing about a change in which he was aligned to be a part
of setting up the new bank called the ICICI back and then further it paved way
for him to be a part of setting up the IndusInd bank.
All these exposures made him think that why
cannot create a new entity at the economic system of the country level
International Financial Services Centre which led to why only new things in
finance why don’t we do for the economy as a whole which later led to Free trade
Warehousing Zone and an export-oriented area called Special Economic Zone.
Without too much of a conscious thought going with the flow, it kept taking him
to newer and wider and more complex areas which not many fortunately were
paying attention to which made them a band of people who were keen on bringing
in a change and trying to be the change upto an extent they can which he claimed
was an infectious excitement.
He believed that you don’t need
the whole country to move with you to bring about the change a bunch of four of
five people is good enough to seed those things. Once the seed grows and picks
up attention and momentum came in, that is how the special economic zones and
private sector ports and public-private partnerships to build airports and
seaports and integrated townships and investment regions all such achievements
begun. When one gets deep into all such things one can learn every facet, and dimension. It could be legal or planning the land or designing a building or
financing the projects it could be managing the people, convincing the government, and finding the customer all that one can't escape. It amplified the opportunities
which forced him to dive into and gain opportunities to pick up the pearls from
the deep ocean. All such successions gave the minimum recognition across the
government and private sectors and policymakers in companies national and
international.
A person who sees the need for
constant improvement what he sees as sub-optimal, he found construction being
done by turning human beings into cattle using muscle power. The whole process
of the construction sector disheartened him. He saw an opportunity where it is
streamlining, mechanizing, which adds value to people who need built
environment and the people who are into building the built environment. Again
it was not explicit it was intuitively known and implicit which force impels
you. If it was very clearly understood it would not have so much of energy.
Being a new area he went into economic strife and found his way out of it. A person who believes in
reaching nowhere but enjoys the pursuit and not in getting it.
