Moreover, having gone public a year earlier, the company was now accountable to shareholders. “It was a huge responsibility. The board had to take the tough decision of her heading the organisation within 48 hours of dad’s demise,” Meher says. What made things worse was the downturn in the Indian economy, which caused Thermax’s share price to plunge from Rs 400 to Rs 36.
“My mother’s courage of conviction surfaced and she had to come up with a turnaround plan,” Meher says. Soon after, says Gita Piramal, Anu transformed herself with “courage and uncommon common sense from an HR head to a chairman. She succeeded magnificently, as Thermax’s performance shows.”
“My mother’s courage of conviction surfaced and she had to come up with a turnaround plan,” Meher says. Soon after, says Gita Piramal, Anu transformed herself with “courage and uncommon common sense from an HR head to a chairman. She succeeded magnificently, as Thermax’s performance shows.”
Tragedy Strikes Again
I remember Anu going quiet for several minutes before she opened up about what she called the “most challenging” time of her life yet. Barely a year after her husband’s death, Anu lost her mother-in-law and, in the cruellest blow of all, her twenty-five-year-old son, Kurush, was killed in a car accident.
Losing a son made the loss of a husband “recede into insignificance”, says Anu. For Meher, losing her father, grandmother and brother was traumatic, but Anu’s strength was a rare blessing. “Surprisingly, I found that she was a bigger pillar of strength to me than I was to her,” she tells me.
When I ask Anu what the source of that strength was, she attributes it to her Vipassana practice. Another important lesson she learnt after Kurush’s demise was to stop asking why it happened and, instead, start acknowledging the Almighty’s design of things, which can sometimes be inexplicable.
“As soon as you are born you are going to die. The sun rises and it sets. Similarly all of us have to vacate this earth and if we don’t, can you imagine the chaos? So, we cannot shy away from death. This acceptance will teach you to take out time and do things when people are alive. Not to postpone it, not to procrastinate,” she says.
Datar recalls, “Coming to terms with this was the most formative period. It made Anu what she is today.”
Through all this pain and suffering, Thermax remained Anu’s catharsis and focus. By the time she stepped down as chairperson in 2004, the total income of the group company was at an unprecedented Rs 1,281 crore. It was now time to pass on the baton. Meher took over the reins in what seemed like a divine orchestration of a complete circle.
The Social Reformer
Today Anu is found either with her books or her grandchildren. Vipassana continues to be an inherent part of her existence. Retirement finally gave her the time to do what she enjoyed best—working towards helping the underprivileged. She is completely devoted to philanthropy today and is deeply involved with Teach for India and Akanksha—both working for the spread of education.
Why education, I ask Meher. “Because we believe that given an opportunity and equal access to education, everyone can make something of their lives, if they choose to,” she replies. “The relevant term here is given the opportunity and most people don’t get it. So through Teach for India, Akanksha, she is trying to bring about a change.”
I learn later that it was also Kurush’s sudden death that reminded Anu of the fact that everything is ephemeral.