Sonoware Lost and ProArtis Gained....Hurray...the paradise of fun went unplugged - Manmar Reunion @ MGM Sep 2013

Cranky....what....No  No...show the cheeks..we can see the alphabets...the right side got M and left side got V....Giggle go on, on flutters raising in the air..with smiles turning into loud laughters...thank god...these crazy people got huts of their own and let the remaining resort doze off in booze. and blend with the sounds of the sea just few meters away!

Here came the IT freaks....best world class tech geeks..into the world of their own...to unwind and unwrap the secrets of a lifetime...giving the founders a blemishing smilezzzzzzzz....whispering into the ears of each other...the less known secrets to the loudly uttered crazy jokes of the past...from ballooning the time into a rendezvous journey -  a time machine flying back to a decade of innocent times...that were not so very innocent as they seemed..... from the time 2 wonderful bio-medical engineers who joined...and of whom one is a beautiful damsel even today...as she slipped on the stairs with a sprain...20 odd boys left the coding as it is and ran to help her raise....one man gave a damn and walked away.....and later was the guy holding her hand as they walked together in a wedding binge ...a relationship of a lifetime!

The guy whose photographs-  yeap the passport size one's could only fit a A4 size sheets..is now emerged a new You....making people ask him where is half of him.....where is their wonderful and most loving Heavy!....the guy who could fit a Breakvan for travel...made people jumble up in amaze...as he climbed mountains high, ran trails new to find, and swam deeper depths than one can imagine...and above all..shaping up as a New You!  Making the factooo that nothing is impossible!

"Eppidi poyiniruku"  - dont ever dare to ask to this to our vulture conservationist and a born genius artist...and be shocked and faint with his spontaneous reply...-  Poda,,, Orey tannni aaaa poiyniruku..! 

Tall as his height and sales to his might....this one guy had every reason to roll over in wit and smile...and along with his friend called DR...dubai...R.... who could sell without even a product in hand,,make brouchers in train ....and sell the product even without a customer....that was the spirit of selling...that they could sell anything!  

Candid Moments!  Yes, as we moved to the beach...unfortunately with the black sands that stood as testimony to the poor ganeshas that were thrown into the sea...that made the beaches look like drains... the beautiful damsel of our union..started to speak about her new hobby and a possible venture....photography...the candid shots that make holes in the one's who requests the spots!....reminds us of Kamal Hassan's dance shots!

Moments that made the day...the past that had its blast...the divine charm of friendship that swayed in the air..what else can you ask for when you get 25 people together after 10 years...and make them recollect their past and share their present times and to hold together the bonding for the future..Yes, this was about the Manmar Reunion 2013-  after 20 years exactly on the day Manmar shaped up in 1993,..and eventually after 10 years when Manmar diluted with history leaving behind thousands of customers....and very useful and still used products in the health care industry.  

Manmar had the privilege of being the best IT product company and was way ahead of their times. penetrating into the ultrasound market like no other player....they expanded their wings into health care by catering to the OEMs like GE, Siemens, Philips and Toshiba to name a few.  With best of Products like Sonoware, Proartis , ProArtis Xpert, Echo,  Cupid and ProCath to name few...their reach was far and wide...with a vibrant sales force and committed service team across India and Abroad..Manmar found a place in the History of IT in Tamil Nadu...Even today, people who worked their in the past feel connected, for the small company grew into a highly process oriented and a really cherished product company and unfortunately,  due to few wrong moves...it went into the history of times.  What remains today is the unbelievable intellect..that is wide spread still in the health care domain and entrepreneurs who dream big and made it into areas of OBG, Radiology, Tele-medicines,  Medical Imaging and Documentation, and lot more.   

Now on the Reunion of Marmarties that happened at MGM Beach Resorts on 28^th and 29^th of Sep 2013-   Update from Ravindran Padmanaban:

This re-union was a excellent trip to nostalgia, as Umasree described in her blog. We had some great talk, chitchat with friends, games, swim, food finally not to leave the booze. Glad to see age has taken a toll on all of us, but by heart we have the same enthusiasm and feeling. I wish this event could happen every year on September 4th Week (Bala suggested), so our calenders keep this marked permanently. My family had a great week-end.

We need your feedbacks as well for a better event next time. Please upload all your photos, this will motivate our friends to warmup for the next event. Had a never ending laughter treatment for almost 18 hours with all you guys. Thanks for all your presence, it was a great moment for my family aswell.

The Grand re-union happened MGM Beach Resorts Mahabalipuram, around 25 people across South India came, we have great fun. Soon we will update this Group with photos. The good news is, we have passed a friendly resolution to have this event will happen every year 4th Week of September. So don't worry guys who have missed - we would love to see you guys next year. Keep watching this forum for frequent updates.

 I will post more pictures once our Official Candid Photographer sends me her pictures!

 

My Experiences in Manufacturing Plants....especially Automobiles!

It was in the last year of my college, we had an opportunity to work as interns in a local factory called Crompton Greaves Igarashi Motors inside MEPZ (Madras Export Processing Zone) near Tambaram Sanitorium.  I was not only excited to earn few extra ruppes to buy books for studing ICWAI, but also to the fact that I am going to have first hand experience of a factory worker.   I had to report to work at 9 am to be taken as a daily wage worker, for a stipend of Rs.75 and a token of Rs.2 for a subsidised lunch inside the factory canteen.   I was longing to get the uniform that other girls on the normal employment used to wear, but the floor supervisor was fine to allow us in casual wear as we were college students.   We used to embark our trains at Tambaram Sanitorium after hanging on the footpath enjoying the metro electric train journey and catch the company vans to reach on time.  We used to undergo a security check and then leave our personal things in a pigeon hut provided and go to the shift on time.   There the fun begins.  
Few girls trained us on how to handle each manufacturing process at a time.  We were training on one activity for the day.  My job was to hold each rotor and put it in the machine that keeps running in circles and take it out with the correct precision of timing...just 10 seconds for each rotor.  CG Igarashi motors used to manufactur micro motors and rotors especially for use in automobiles,  power tools and house hold appliances.   Automobile industry uses close to 90% of its manufacturing output.  
One quality manager explained to me why the precision timing is important to the job I was assigned.  I felt like running away.  For simple reasons that I beleive it creates the circles inside the rotor for every second I hold the rotor in the machine, and cars use these rotos in the door locks.  So if the precision of the rotor is more or less, it creates an extra circle inside the rotor and it is a scrap during the quality check.  And for any reason, it slips and gets into the car manufacturing assembly line, the car itself would be considered having a faulty door locking system and the door assembled will have to be replaced.  For any reason, if it escapes the quality check of the Car Assembly line, a child sitting in the car seat may have a jerk of her or his life, when the car door opens up on drive.  I told the quality manager, that he scared me enough.  But a small mistake during my job that day can have dire consequences is the lesson of the day.    I managed to pull out close 600 routers that day at the end of my 8 hours shift and quality manager pattered me back and said that there were only 2 defects., which is quite common.  I gave the biggest sigh of relief.     At lunch, I chatted with the girls working in the factory for many years.  They were full of life.  I know they jobs were hard and their lives were on toes the whole day.  Especially Gayathri, a girl who worked in the chemical mixing division had a tough task of combining blue color chemical to create a paste kind of thing.   She said, only if that could be automated, her life would be better.  But during lunch, they all giggled, discussed movies, kids and marriages, love affairs,  and commented on an old supervisor.   I found a meaning of hardwork that day.  End of the day, they used to change to their casual clothes, board the train together, buy hot samosas or butter biscuits in the train and disperse.   The food in the canteen was not only nutricious, delicious but also fresh and economical.   I  know that most of the girls working there are not even tenth passouts, but the kind of attention, commitment and liveliness they bring in to the workplace is amazing.  Today after a decade of experience in IT, I still try to find a similar liveliness filled with unconditional acceptance of the quality need, kind of hardwork and commitment somehow missing across the industry.  Not ever one does like the girls in the factory used to do today. 
This manufacturing unit created jobs for semi-educated youth,.especially to more number of women providing employment, self- reliance and confidence.   I only wished more EPZ's are encouraged and give way for creation of more jobs to common people than to only those blue collared high tech workers.

My second experience was again related to manufacturing plant... this time a pure automobile plant of Ashok Leyland Manufacturing and Assembly unit in Ennore.  Experience was quite different from what I experience as a student intern.   As a IT specialist, I had a different challenge.  This time, without knowing I had lot of complaints unlike the girls of CGI.    May be because, we in IT are used to some royal treatment.  Unlike my parents who worked all their lives sitting in wooden chairs with a pedostal fans in office and having racks of paper files pilled with dust and aging around them and a tea walla bring in tea twice a day, we are used to fully airconditioned sophasticated cushion chairs , rolling.  Tea vending machines and full furnished rest rooms.  So when I was assigned to this plant to be on my first "Onsite" model project., no doubt I showed some resistance.  Today after 3 years, I feel bad about it and would surely apologize for my expectations.   But same time, I overcame all my inbuilt insecurities working at a place, close to the borders of Tamil Nadu, dominated by men....what dominated, just filled with men in uniforms.  The only two ladies I used to see in Ashok Leyland Ennore plant were the middle aged receptionists and one day who worked in the ERP and who never spoked to me.    So to see a young IT worker was a feast to all those men, who used to look at me and other 2 girls who joined later in my team as if were are some aliens.  I used to sometimes enjoy the attention and sometimes get frustrated.  It wasnt like a usual IT office where you go in what ever you like to.  I had to wear sandals that dont make noise, wear fully wrapped salwars with duppatas or sarees, no jeans or shirts allowed.   Though it had been my usual way to work, somehow when someone puts that as a protocol or restriction, we restrain...thats nature I guess.  I used to get all respect for the good work from senior IT managers there and they used to respect my punctuality and work.   I used to be the first one to get on board of the car pooling Qualis, and call each one in the line to be ready as we reached near their houses and  get them on boards and with the ongoing construction of Padi Bridge, Anna nagar flyover, Koyembedu trafffic, I used to feel like a conductor of a bus.   My manager used to joke that there is lot of similarity between me and Rajnikanth...somehow, sitting between 6 men in the car, they used to joke on everything on the road, which I failed to see.  They used to giggle saying, after all, its boy's matter!.  
Fun apart, coming to the work at Ennore plant. , there buses and lorries used to be assembled.  known for its eco-friendly engine technology,  and as the largest commercial manufacturing unit in India,  for commercial vehicles that include trucks, buses, emergency vehicles (fire trucks) and militiary vehicles.    They also manufacture and assemble engines for industrial and marine needs.  The factory used to be largest job creator since 1948 when it first started.  Even today, many people look upon the Ennore plant for employment.   Ennore plant also keeps its technology updation on track.  They aim at catering to the modern day needs., provide economical and competitive advantages to their products and aim at quality deliverables.  The scrap garage is a witness on how the company respects quality.  The road test centre opposite to the plant where we used to park our cars, is a sheer joy to witness the first rides of many buses and trucks.  Driving for 4 hours a day to the plant up and down, amidst the Chennai harbour bound trailers wasn't fun always.  We witness so many so road accidents, careless driving, drunken drivers, and eve teasers.  But to us, improving their ERP division and provide IT support was the key agenda and everything around looked small in front of our gigantic task to  be part of the technological revolution happening in the company.  I used to love watching the men, transported in the company provided busess numbered from 1 to many... to all corners of the city.    They used to sleep, sing, talk politics, cinema, families, cooperative society that allowed them to buy provisions and groceries at cheaper rates,  education, IT, and the company's progress.    This wasnt much different from the girls of CGI.   All these men used to work overtime and on holidays when ever possible to earn few extra ruppes... to support their families.   I saw wonderful fathers, brothers and sons in them.   Who are responsibile, consistent and wonderful.  I still remember the day, one Mr.Vaithyanathan who worked in IT Finance came and showed me a Pen he bagged as a token of appreciation for 25 years of service.  To me, it was the day of amazing understanding of being loyal and committed to the organization.   He was so elated that he and his friend got the same in the same function as their families were also welcomed to be part of the function.   They were humble, sinciere, loyal and modest and nothing in par....  And bang came the Dussera celebrations...the whole factory was lighted up in the festive eve... the decorations using paper banners and colors was a feast to the eyes...We were welcomed to the celebration where every machine was worshipped as God on the Ayudha puja day.  I stood spell bound with the beautiful and dedicated singing of NC, their Chief officer who mesmerised the audience with his songs and devotion...not just to the god, but the work they have been doing for years.
I also had a collegue who was named Ashok, just because his dad worked their since his marriage...I had no words
Here too we had the privilege of having the company provided lunch,..along with all their factory workers.  To me those were the best of lunch times, for I used to see the comraderie, sinciere care and consideration to fellow workers, unity amogst them, their participation in the Union and addressing issues, their cooperation to the local adminsitration, their consideration to Nature and waste management discussions.  To some of us today, it is a topic for Speech in AC halls.  But to the ordinary factory worker, it was an every day topic, to be considerate, responsive and reactive to the needs.   And during factory elections, we used to see Obama's there.   Orators who spoke with so much zeal and enthusiam, so much knowledge and understanding of people's problems and needs., constructive thoughts on innovation, technology and expansion projects.   This is what is called grassroots empowerment.  Enablement at the ground level.  Governance at the best.    

These were very transforming experiences and gave me knowledge and awareness that no book or teaching can bring...You have expeirence it, feel it and realize it for better You.    As I travelled from Ennore to Pontiac, another hub of automobile revolution, in midst of Detroit called as the Global Automobile city, I had more experiences that gave me better insights of manufacturing plants.  Will write my thoughts and experiences in the GM plants in my next post...till then, thanks for reading