My First Job: A Year in Baroda, with GSW

I came to Baroda (now Vadodara) in 1995 to work with Goel Scientific Works

In an earlier post, I wrote about moving from Lucknow to Bareilly and completing my post-graduation from Rohilkhand University. With a Master’s degree in hand, it was time to look for a job, but my search for work wasn’t exactly yielding great results. So, now what? The story continues here.

Back in 1993, when I had completed my graduation from Lucknow University and was struggling to figure out what my next steps should be, it was my father who had suggested that I should move to Bareilly, where he was posted at the time. He was the one who had encouraged me to do my post-graduation from Rohilkhand University and simultaneously also enroll in ICFAI’s distance learning program for CFA certification. While I had dropped out of CFA after just a few months, I had at least been able to complete my post-graduation from Bareilly – at least now I had a Master’s degree and could put that on my CV, even if the reality was that I did not really care for accounts, commerce, banking and business studies etc., and did not know much about any of these subjects, despite having a degree that implied I should.

After completing my M.Com, I had spent about a month looking for a job and wasn’t getting anywhere with my search for work. I was beginning to get worried and started wondering what I could do next – sitting idle at home, without any work, just did not seem right. My father, seeing that I was distressed, offered to try and help me out. He offered to speak to his elder brother, whose son-in-law, Kamal ji, had a flourishing business in Baroda. Kamal ji (my cousin’s husband, hence my brother-in-law) was a director in Goel Scientific Glass Works Ltd., which was based in Baroda. This company, which had been set up by Kamal ji’s elder brother, Hemant bhai, manufactured industrial glass equipment for a wide range of applications and was a leader in its segment. My father spoke to his elder brother, who in turn discussed things with Kamal ji and asked him if he might be able to offer me a job with GSW.

Now, I had no background in science – physics and chemistry were alien to me – and I did not really have any sales and/or marketing skills or experience either. But still, Kamal ji very kindly agreed to give me an opportunity – he said I could come to Baroda and work with GSW, and that he would, over a period of time, figure out next steps. My cousin, Babita didi (Kamal ji’s wife), invited me to stay at her house, so meals and accommodation would be taken care of. I would travel from her house to the office and back in a Maruti van that the company had provided, which was already being used by a group of 4-5 staff members for their daily commute. I would be joining this group, so transport was also taken care of. And I would get a salary of Rs 2,000 per month, which would take care of my other, miscellaneous expenses. It was a very generous offer, especially taking into account that I had no ‘technical’ skills or qualifications. Kamal ji would be paying me to explore my options and see what I wanted to do at GSW, would provide me with whatever on-the-job training I needed, and would also take care of my meals and accommodation.

When my father told me all of this and asked me if I’d like to go to Baroda and work at GSW, I said I’d think about it and let him know in a day or two. I did think about it long and hard, and realised this might be the best option that was available to me at the time. I could watch 500cc motorcycle GP racing on television all day, but racing wasn’t going to be a career option for me. And now that I was 22 years old, it was time for me to go out and find my place in the world. There was no harm in giving this a shot, I told myself, and the next day I said to my father that I was willing to go to Baroda and see what I could do at GSW. Soon, my train tickets were booked, bags were packed and I was ready to leave Bareilly to go to Baroda. My parents encouraged me to work hard, with sincerity and commitment. I was asked to make an effort to fully understand GSW’s business and quickly make myself useful so as to avoid being a deadweight, a burden Kamal ji and family. I promised to do my best. How, and in what ways, I did not know, but I’d certainly try.

Kamal ji and Babita didi gave me a very warm welcome when I reached Baroda. Even Hemant bhai (Kamal ji’s elder brother) and his family did their best to make me feel welcome. Kamal ji and Hemant bhai lived in one large house in Alkapuri, an upmarket residential area. Kamal ji was on the first floor and I was given a room to myself there. Babita didi took care of all my meals – I was always given a nice, full breakfast before leaving for office and she used pack a lunchbox for me, so I could eat my lunch in the afternoon. In the evening, once Kamal bhai and I were back from office, we’d all have dinner together, sometimes sitting out on the terrace. Everything was taken care of, for me and I couldn’t have asked for better.

Kamal ji had his own separate cabin in the GSW office and initially, for the first few days, I used to sit in his cabin, with him. He explained GSW’s business to me as best as he could, and occasionally used to take me to the GSW factory with him, which was a 20–25-minute drive from the office. Visits to the factory were actually quite interesting – it was fascinating for me to watch some of the processes that were part of GSW’s glass equipment manufacturing system. However, there was very little for me to do at the factory and I ended up spending most of time in the main office, where I met and spoke to the sales and marketing persons, and spent a fair bit of time with the team that was responsible for actually erecting GSW’s elaborate, complex industrial glass assemblies at their customers’ factories. In fact, I travelled with GSW technicians to various locations in Gujarat and Rajasthan and worked alongside them in setting up some of those glass assemblies. To be completely honest, the work wasn’t really my kind of thing – I couldn’t see myself doing this forever, but I was willing to bide my time, to wait and watch and see how things developed.

In the meanwhile, back in the office, Kamal ji had a desktop computer in his office that ran Windows NT 3.1. He had AutoCAD on this computer, on which he designed some of the industrial glass equipment that was manufactured at GSW’s factory. I was absolutely fascinated with this computer and Kamal ji very kindly allowed me to use the machine when he wasn’t using it. With some help from him, I learned to use this computer and also used to spend at least one hour every day learning AutoCAD. While I had no interest in industrial glass assemblies, I did try to ‘design’ various outlandish motorcycles on AutoCAD. I used to be quite pleased with my designs though I’m quite sure any industrial design professional who saw my work would have dismissed it as utter garbage. But while it may have served no actual purpose, working on AutoCAD for hours gave me immense pleasure and also helped me while away the hours in office. Because really, honestly, there was very little for me to do at GSW and neither the management nor I could figure out how I could be more useful at the company.

By the time I had spent about one full year in Baroda, I think Kamal ji had come to the conclusion that there was not much point in me continuing at GSW. Sure enough, I was going to office with him every day from morning till evening, would go to the factory occasionally with Hemant bhai and would travel with GSW’s technicians to various on-site locations for equipment assemblies, but I wasn’t really contributing any useful value. I honestly think I did try to figure out things and thought about where and how I could fit in best, but wasn’t able to find anything where I could make a useful contribution. Hemant bhai, who headed the company, was exceptionally kind and supportive and never made me feel I was a useless burden on his organization. Seeing my fascination with cars, he also let me drive his own cars – a Maruti Esteem and a Tata Estate – both of which I quite liked. I was happiest on the days when I could drive either one of these two cars, or the company’s Maruti Omni, to office and back.

Kamal ji and Babita didi also took very good care of me, and I wanted for nothing in their house. The three of us got along very well – we’d often go for long walks in the morning in a nearby park, and sometimes they would take me out for dinner at one of their favourite South Indian restaurants. Knowing about interest in cars and bikes, Kamal ji also took me to meet one of his friends who owned one of the biggest, most popular car accessories showrooms in Baroda. He encouraged me to spend some time there, try to understand the business and see if I’d be interested in doing something on similar lines. In the meanwhile, however, what was clear was that I had no future at GSW – a simple fact that we both accepted without any acrimony. Soon, in the interests of my future – so that I could find work that would be better suited to my areas of interest and start building my career – we decided that I would leave Baroda and go back to Bareilly. My father, who had also spoken to Kamal ji, agreed that it would be best for me to come back to Bareilly, after which we’d decide a future course of action for me.

My time at GSW, in Baroda, hadn’t been useful for the company but personally, for me, it had been a pleasant year. Kamal ji and Hemant bhai had accepted me as part of their big, happy family and I had actually enjoyed spending time in office with Kamal ji, learning to use his computer and getting familiar with AutoCAD. In fact, while I did not know this at the time, it was this little aspect – my ever-growing fascination with computers – that would form the basis for the next chapter in my life.

The story continues here