Dadan Bhai: The Big Picture Thinkr

In 1977, he talked to Shiv Nadar and me and joined us in HCL, to set up our
typewriter and dictation systems operations. He volunteered to move to Guwahati,
Assam. (During the troubled times there he was independently in charge of that
office and the entire North East). He successfully grew the business even when
everyone was leaving that part of the country. Then, he moved to Calcutta to
head the HCL operations in the entire East. Around 1983, he moved to the HCL
head office in Delhi, responsible for our national sales (engineering and
scientific segment).

Soon he left HCL to start Altos India. He had always wished to do something
on his own. Initially, Altos was in the video game market but, owing to the
excessive excise duties, the market size was limited. So, Altos quickly switched
to typewriters and soon became one of the leading players in the market.
Anticipating that the typewriter market would peak and then slow down some time
in the near future, he started PCL (Pertech Computers) and moved aggressively
into PCs. The story of PCL is well known. It became the price leader and,
probably, one of the largest PC players in a few years. He also went on to start
PCL Mindware and, in a short time, it too became an established software
services export player.

After Dadan Bhai's ventures (PCL, Altos and Mindware) closed down and he
had some respite from the numerous court cases he was fighting, he and my wife
Kiran, decided to set up a play school for kids and use the profit to educate
street chidren. The first school, called Pink Elephant, came up three years ago
in Friends colony, New Delhi, and they were just planning to multiply this model
when we lost Dadan Bhai.

He always aimed high and looked at the big picture. He had the intelligence
and the guts to follow through on his ideas. For lots of people who worked with
him, he was a respected leader-a good trainer with the knack of motivating his
people.

I list a few of the messages I have received from them.

Bikram Dasgupta

Chairman & CEO, Globsyn Technologies

Dadan Bhai was not an ordinary person. He was a combination of what, I believe,
most great people are made of: brilliant, competent and charismatic on one side,
and on the other, he was fallible vulnerable and, a trifle, gullible. As for me,
he was my leader, mentor, guide and stabilizer, at a very vulnerable part of my
life. He always made me feel: "go for it, I am with you." I worked
with him for 10 years in PCL, and two years in HCL, and whatever I am today, I
owe everything to him.

After I left PCL, we were not much in touch. We both wanted it that way, and
that is why today, only the good things remain as memory. He was 24/7 with you,
in your mind, in front of you, talking to you, cooking for you, singing for you,
and constantly egging you to get more out of you. He used to say very often,
"Dasgupta Sahab, see my palm, there is nothing in it, it's clean and
blank. I have no fate. So why worry."

This was the man-so rare, so clear, and a great heart, head and mind. I
know you did not deserve what you went through in the end, but you have left
many like me to admire, respect, and be gratified for all you have done.

Amit Dutta Gupta,

Founder of HOPE Technologies

Even at the crematorium, seeing Dadan Bhai so still, I felt that any moment
he would grin and give me his signature: "Guptaji, as usual, you've got
it wrong!" The trouble with Dadan Bhai was that he was much larger than
life, too far ahead of his time, and he had a heart which was much larger than
his head.

Standing there at the crematorium, I thought that in a different day and age,
I would have given Dadan Bhai a different send off-that of a Viking warrior
that he was. I would have put him in full armour on his warship, taken it out to
sea, and set it on fire, on a happy journey to Valhalla. Knowing Dadan Bhai, he's
landed there all right, with horns filled with heady wine for his friends.

Raj Singh

Entrepreneur and VC

Of the lives that were changed forever by straying into his orbit, I
consider myself one such. He gave me my first job in the IT industry, even
though I had only English as my major, under my scholastic belt back then. He
took a chance on me-a raw kid who could have let him down so easily. But
separated by time, distance and now even dimension, I can only picture him in my
minds eye as one helluva jogadu manager, a motivator par excellence and a
business man who not only could, but did, dare to march to a different drum.'

With the potential of a "David" in the business world of "IT
Goliaths," Dadan Bhai's tryst with destiny was cruelly cut short by a
chain of events that he, or those around him, eventually, could not control. The
very system that allowed him to create a company which, at its height, was the
toast of the IT world in India, conspired to bring him down. But wouldn't you
say "hats off" to the man who tried to be that David and nearly
succeeded?

Vinod Mathews

MD, Captronic Systems

I worked in PCL from 1991-1998, first in Bangalore and then in the Head
Office (Sales Management Group). Dadan Bhai forced us (at least the entire SMG)
to constantly think big. He often came to our room and repeated one of his
favourite phrases: "Angrezi me bada bada socho." What I learnt from
him, I now use in Captronics: "Think big, make quick decisions about it and
get cracking." In our batch alone (people who joined PCL Bangalore between
1990-92), there are now half a dozen entrepreneurs. So, surely, he inspired the
middle class employees to start thinking-this before dotcom-beyond their
salaries, to running their own companies.

AR Vincent

Independent Consultant, Russia

They say "enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of
success" and Dadan Bhai was an epitome of "enthusiasm". He not
only created PCL and its group companies, with his colleagues, with enthusiasm
but also instilled that "spirit of enthusiasm" in number of PCLites,
who are now serving across the world in different capacities. He did things,
with all his might, putting his whole soul into it, and finally stamped it with
his personality. I am sure, PCLites across the world are active, energetic,
enthusiastic, faithful in accomplishing their respective objectives keeping the
spirit of Dadan Bhai alive.

Arun Sinha

Worked with Dadan Bhai in PCL

No tribute is big enough to mention Dadan Bhai's contribution to the lives
of people he touched. He gave me opportunities, respect and freedom to excel. It
was my foundation to a good management, though I had seven years' experience
prior to joining PCL. I have loads of good memories of working with him. I feel
good, that I could communicate my thoughts even when he was alive. Even though I
had not met him during the last 18 months, he was and will always be alive for
me. However, I also feel small that I could not contribute to his happiness
during his difficult times.

Sudip Banerjee

President, Wipro

Iremember vividly our first meeting in Guwahati, Assam, helping him pack his
bags for his transfer to Calcutta, his inspirational leadership in the regional
office where he held us spellbound with his stories and anecdotes, his
aggressive entrepreneurship in creating a new and vibrant company.

Karun Rishi

Influence Technology

A Great loss! My long stint with PCL, 16 years, was due to his inspiration.
He was a Guru in the true sense-a person full of energy and ideas. He always
treated others with dignity. In 2001, I was traveling to Delhi. He was going
through a tough time and I wanted to take him out for dinner. Instead, Dadan
Bhai called me home. And I was touched and impressed by the food he cooked,
himself. Many of you may not know it but he had excellent culinary skills too.
His life will always remain an inspiration to many of us.

AJ Faridi

Industrialist and Philanthropist

I first met Dadan Bhai when he was posted with the Bank of India. If ever
there was a bachelors' pad it was his; Lucknow was a very staid and sober town
then. I remember many a long-stretched evenings spent there. While the
accommodation was meager, it had a large terrace with a lovely low parapet on
which we would sit and imbibe the smells of the city. Though Dadan Bhai's
Lucknow stint was comparatively short, our bonds built then sustained our
infrequent meetings, once he shifted to Delhi. Through all his ups and downs, I
never saw any flagging in his zest for life, or his warmth towards friends. That
is how I will remember him.

Arjun Malhorta, Co-founder HCL, CEO & chairman, Headstrong

Brilliant, Competent, Charismatic...

He came from a landowner's family in Kasap, a small village in Bhojpur,
Bihar. When a maid took him to get registered at school, she christened him
"Dadan Bhai," the name that stuck through all his life. Since he
wanted to return to his village to "professionally" manage the family
land, he opted for Agricultural Engineering. After graduating from IIT in 1970,
Dadan Bhai went back to his farm. He soon realized that either he runs the place
or his elder brother, the way he had always been doing. So, he decided to leave
the farm to his brother and set on to work in the commercial world. He became a
probationary officer with Bank of India in 1972, posted in Lucknow.

He soon felt the restrictions of a public sector banking job. He joined Shiv
Nadar and Arjun Malhorta in HCL in 1977, to set up the typewriter and dictation
systems operations.