It is difficult for my children to imagine that milk was a scarce commodity in Bombay in the early 1970s. But, people of my generation would remember that we queued up with our milk cards for our quota. Gradually, we started getting our requirement of milk in full measure. Those days, on our way to school, we would often see an Operation Flood milk train trundling by on the Harbour Line. It was beyond us to connect the two. But, behind all this, one man connected with the nation and its people in a unique manner and brought about a change that had far-reaching consequences. (I did not know then that my connection with him would be stronger in the future.)
Even as countless Bombayiites and Indians in different cities had our fill of milk and grew up strong and healthy, in the interiors of India’s villages, where Gandhi said India resides, millions of villagers also progressed from want to self-sufficiency and took on a robust hue.
Verghese Kurien, who earned the ‘milk man of India’ epithet, made all this possible. Kurien personified a ‘foreign returned’ helping his country become self-sufficient, generations before it became fashionable to be so.
Gandhian inspiration
A US educated engineer finds himself in Anand. The sight of a Gandhian — Tribhuvandas Patel — attempting to run a decrepit dairy against an established player presents a challenge he finds difficult to resist. He helps the Gandhian put the dairy on its feet and eventually ends up adopting his ideals and dedicates his life to building milk cooperatives and empowering the lowest of the low.
Impressed by the Amul model, the PM requests him to replicate it across India. Kurien dictates his own terms to the then prime minister. (An older Kurien once wondered aloud, in my presence, how ‘he had the gumption to say as much to the PM, and, at that young age’.) The PM, Lal Bahadur Shastri, graciously accepts the conditions that Kurien be allowed to continue working for Amul and keep the headquarters of the proposed Dairy Board in Anand away from bureaucratic interference from Delhi.
Kurien rechristens the World Food Programme as ‘Operation Flood’ and ushers in the White Revolution. Subsequently, he goes on to establish and nurture the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) to create a pool of professional managers to sustain the model.
Grace and courtesy
It is not just his marketing acumen that we remember him for; he also taught us, by his own example, to respect everyone.
When I headed to Anand in the mid-1990s, I just knew that I would get to work for the one and only Kurien, the man behind those railway tankers from my childhood and someone who was also connected with the Amul girl.
Shortly after joining NDDB, one morning as I walked across the Chairman’s Office, I saw Kurien in conversation with a senior official. When he glanced at me briefly, I wished him, expecting nothing more than a nod of the head. Kurien, however, stopped talking to his guest, turned fully around to face me, returned the greeting with his charming smile and resumed the conversation. His grace and courtesy did not fail to leave anyone unimpressed.
Despite holding him in high esteem we never felt intimidated by the man — because he would also be sublimely human as he spoke forcefully about reaching out and helping the farmer live with respect. Or, disarmingly connect with a youngster, as he once demonstrated to me at his residence the best way to draw the fragrance out of a piece of sandalwood — by pouring water over it and rubbing it. I have likewise seen his influence rubbing off on people, bringing out the best in them.
I was witness to Kurien chiding someone for keeping the campus lights on during the day. It was the norm at NDDB to put up notes on one-sided papers, even those that went up to the Chairman. The message was clear — no extravagance or wastage. In such small details one could glimpse the mind that helped usher in the White Revolution. Kurien had imbibed Gandhian ideals and firmly believed in them. Hearing him on stage, and informally, one was struck by the passion that burst forth. Hearing a passionate Kurien speak, an impressed Shyam Benegal made Manthan and Sylvester da Cunha’s team created the Amul moppet.
It would surprise many to know that Kurien also saw every new Amul advertisement along with the rest — on the billboards! He believed in choosing the right person to do a particular task and gave complete freedom to do so. More important, he respected them.
Dealing straight and just
As a junior PR official when I first entered Kurien’s chamber with a certain degree of trepidation, I wished him and started speaking. He directed me to a chair and only after I settled uncomfortably before the big man did he hear me. A few minutes later I walked out confidently. Likewise, Kurien himself never felt ill at ease in anyone’s presence. When Atal Behari Vajpayee, as PM, visited Anand, we walked a few paces behind the duo. Kurien talking animatedly to the PM swiftly bundled him in his own car and drove out of the NDDB campus to the adjoining IRMA campus trailed by the sheepish SPG. For a few minutes, the PM was out of the security zone thanks to Kurien.
Today, when NDDB is mired in controversies I am reminded of Kurien’s statement. “The day I realise that we are not working for the betterment of the marginal farmer and have become an institution that subsists to sustain itself, I shall wind up the Dairy Board”, he had said.
Farewell, Captain.
(The writer is Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Steel Authority of India Ltd, based in Kolkata. Views are personal.)