The Hindu Business Line : A hint of roses. A glint of steel.

I had heard a lot about Ms Daruwalla, but had never met her. Somehow all the things I had heard merged into two points. She was a terrific, hard-working leader. And she had a terribly short temper.

Yet my first impression of her as she casually waved me into a sofa in her well-designed office in tony Nariman Point was that she somehow knew how to put you at ease almost immediately. What followed was a chat where Homai Daruwalla came across as a very genuine human being. She is certainly someone very special. She is now only the second woman to head a public sector bank, and in the completely male-dominated world of Indian public sector banking, that itself is quite remarkable. To me, however, it was quite amazing to see a completely self-made professional who has literally pulled herself up by dint of sheer crushingly hard work, grit and determination to this position of pre-eminence. And yet, it was very clear that behind that rather imposing exterior built up by all those unfortunate men who have no doubt faced the rapier thrust of her temper, lay a warm and very simple human being.

Homai started off as the average girl-next-door. Her conservative Parsi upbringing ensured that the importance of good thoughts, words and deeds were drilled into her young and impressionable mind. Her schooling at the J. B. Vatcha School only reinforced this upbringing with an all-girls environment, religious classes and an ambience that educated her in what was good, bad and ugly. She reminisces that those school days were really great days. A period in her life where along with her studies she revelled in the mysteries that Enid Blyton spun around her in the world of the Secret Seven and the Famous Five. Somehow this enquiring mind was to grow up and take shape as a chartered accountant after she graduated with honours from the Poddar College in Mumbai and successfully completed her training with Kalyaniwala and Mistry, a well-known firm of chartered accountants.

Homai began her professional life on the first floor of the prestigious Sterling Apartments at Peddar Road in Mumbai in the South East Asian Secretariat of the Lions International. The young Homai could have scarcely imagined that life would take her full circle and many years later bring her back to same Sterling Apartments, only this time to reside on the 13th floor as the Chairperson of the Central Bank of India.

The intervening years were filled with work. She confesses that she always wanted to work with a large corporate house. Yet fate had different designs ready for her. In 1975 she joined the Union Bank of India on a regal gross salary of Rs 1,450, and began her journey step by meticulous step up the complex hierarchy of the public sector banking scenario in India. In fact, there is a tremendous eye for detail that one cannot help noticing about Homai Daruwalla. She casually tells me that her stint of thirteen years, nine months and seven days in the audit department of the bank gave her access to every parameter that was relevant in the banking industry. This extremely precise nature is observed many times during our conversation when she talks about the ten months and four days she worked as Executive Director of the Oriental Bank of Commerce, or about the 39,055 staff members she heads at Central Bank or when she mentions the 3,233 branches of her bank.

Ms Daruwalla has obviously come up the hard way, and she has managed to make a difference all along the way. She admits that it has been a tough climb and not a smooth ride to the top. “I have had my ups and downs”, she says frankly. “It hasn’t been roses all the way.” But she draws satisfaction from the fact that she has done her job with passion. She believes in aiming for the moon and falling on a star. And having arrived at the top she recalls what her father always said: “As you climb don’t forget to look down and lend a helping hand.”

And what about that famous temper, I enquire. She readily agrees that she is rather short-tempered. “I have always been blunt,” she says, “it is either Yes or No. No sugar coating ever. And once I get it out of my system, it is over. I am never annoyed with you as a person, only with your work. I am told I have low blood pressure,” she jokes, flashing a rather infectious smile. It is amply clear why colleagues find it difficult to remain upset with her.

Homai Daruwalla believes in team work. No “I, me or myself”. She avers that a positive attitude will ensure that others will work along with you. She stresses the importance of every single person in her organisation and relies on their wholehearted cooperation. So how do you stay in touch with your extended team, I ask. She shows me a copy of a letter she regularly sends out to all her ‘Centralites’. It is fairly long, written entirely by her (no ghost-writers for Ms Daruwalla) and is printed exclusively on blue paper, so that her colleagues immediately recognise it when it lands on their desks. She also travels extensively where she makes sure she meets with customers and staff, listens to suggestions and either ensures they are implemented or immediately explains why they cannot be implemented. Over and above all this are her weekly Management Committee Meetings and her quarterly business reviews which are marathon sessions that last for three days. Obviously all this is a lot of work. “I often work till midnight” is the frank admission. So does she expect her staff to work as much as she does? “Everyone must work if there are pending matters” is her final word on the matter.

So does Homai ever relax? Well, the inexhaustible worker loves movies, specially whodunits. And she watches soap operas as well. Like Kyunki Saas Bhi ... Yet, the late timings of these shows are probably the reason why she manages to catch them. And yes, she likes travelling abroad or to hill stations and yes again, she does relax and shop on these holidays. “I do make a call to the office once in a while,” she admits, her eyes twinkling.

Her advice to young managers is simple: Work with passion, have a positive approach and remember that life teaches you something new every day.

The perfectionist workaholic has a charmingly human side that acknowledges she knows that people have many nicknames for her including Thatcher (she admires the Iron Lady), Phoolan Devi and Helen. So which one do you like, I ask her. “A rose by any name would smell as sweet,” she replies with her characteristic smile. We couldn’t agree more with you, Homai.

(Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant.)

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