BENGALURU: It is said that hard work and merit can take one to great heights, but sometimes having a little luck can spring some good surprises too. In Raj Subramaniam's case, chance played a crucial role in opening the doors to one of the world's largest international courier services companies - FedEx.
After Frederick W Smith announced Raj, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, as the new CEO of the global delivery giant recently, his father, C Subramaniam, couldn't help but remember how luck was on Raj's side when he applied for the job at FedEx during an economic recession in USA in 1991.
Subramaniam recalls how a candidate from Chennai had backed out from the job opening at FedEx, giving Raj - who had just completed his MBA in the US and returned to India - the opportunity to fill in. He caught the next flight, attended the interview at FedEx headquarters in Memphis and joined as a junior analyst. "The job came more as a chance than desire," says Subramaniam, who lived in Bengaluru for five years and still has family here.
Subramaniam was quite confident that his son Raj would someday make it big. "It's a divine blessing," says Subramaniam, adding, "I knew this boy was on his way up and would become the CEO at some point in life. But I did not expect it to be this soon. Astrological findings had said it might be later in life."
He points out that he took the good news in stride and, "I'm not over-enthusiastic about this new development," says Subramaniam, who has now settled in Thiruvananthapuram.
The former DGP of Kerala believes his son is a man with many ideas. From analysing geopolitics to being a sports enthusiast, especially cricket, the proud father observes that Raj showed interest in multiple domains.
"We are good friends. I have always admired him for his humility. He is very spiritually inclined and is a man of integrity," says the 87-year-old adding that his second son, Rajiv Subramaniam, also works as a computer engineer at FedEx.
WATCH |
Though Subramaniam was an IPS officer, they lived a middle class life. There were even some struggles to finance Raj's education. "Although I retired as a DGP, we had middle class life. So, Raj pursued MS in chemical engineering in New York and MBA in Texas on scholarship. I advised him to primarily focus on studies and get on well with life without any distractions," says Subramaniam.
Now that Raj is leading a multinational company, they speak once a month. "He is so tied up with work that we get to speak only once a month. But whenever he calls, we discuss current affairs," Subramaniam says. Sharing a piece of advice he gave to his son, Subramaniam says, "The three basic things that I told him after his appointment as the CEO is to maintain humility, integrity and a spiritual base.”"
Let’s talk future
C Subramaniam told his son Raj Subramaniam to pursue IAS at the age of 18. Raj refused and responded, "IAS is not my future. This is the age of technology and not the age of files."