‘I don't want any more deadlines'

After his last day at Infosys on June 11 as its HR Director, Mr T.V. Mohandas Pai plans to live a life without “the discipline of a deadline. For 17 years, I've had deadlines and don't want them anymore.”

Seated in his spacious room at the Infosys headquarters in Bangalore and having weathered the storm of speculation on why he really quit, a relaxed Mr Pai smiles: “I've worked enough, saved enough and now soney ke pinjre se panchi ud gaya (The bird has flown away from the gilded cage).

So, what next? He rules out starting or running another company; he's got offers to be on the boards of many companies but hasn't taken a call, as “Infosys is still paying my salary.”

Both his wife, Kusumlata, and N.R. Narayana Murthy were aware of his decision for almost a year. So, how tough was it to quit?

“This is my dream company; as a young boy, I dreamt of working for a company that was a role model and set standards. Every living day in Infosys… 17 years… my dream has come true. I've worked very hard, even on weekends, sacrificed my family life and have contributed my fair share in making what Infosys is today.”

He is not “retiring” though; for, a third of his time will be invested in the area of higher education — he is already on the boards of IIT Bhubaneswar, Manipal, Jain (Bangalore) and Jaypee universities — a third will go to the company boards that he will “pick and choose”, and the remaining will be for social work and travel with his wife to exciting places in the world such as Machu Pichu, Athens, Rome, Jerusalem, Cairo, Istanbul and Xian.

The rest of the time he'll sit “in a corner and read books, without treading on my wife's toes.”

One less known nugget: Mr Pai is a “hopeless romantic” and loves to dance with Kusum to Abba tunes… hopefully, without treading on her toes!

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