Ahead of Times

By Biju S Nair

Ahead of Times' is my heartfelt tribute to late Palem Srikanth, dear friend, patient mentor, outstanding professional and above all, a marvellous human being. Palem's influence on my life and that of countless others is immense. As a debut author, I have tried my best to share the pathbreaking journey of this visionary in the firm belief that hi

• Language: English
• Publisher: 24by7 Publishing
• Release date: Aug 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9789393508393

Book preview

Ahead of Times

The passionate journey of a

Visionary: Palem Srikanth

Biju S Nair

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Copyright © 2022 by Biju S Nair

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In loving memory of our mentor and leader Palem Srikanth

In a gentle way you can shake the world

– Mahatma Gandhi

Contents

Preface

About Palem Srikanth Reddy

Prologue

Chapter 1 My Sunshine Moments

Chapter 2 Thank God It’s Friday

Chapter 3 Setting the Retail Trend in 1990’s in the Land of Nizam

Chapter 4 True Leaders Create More Leaders, Not Just Followers

Chapter 5 The Annual Management Meetings - A Turning Point for Many

Chapter 6 A Prelude to the Annual Management Meeting

Chapter 7 Evolution of the First Ever Web-Centric Logistics Enterprise Solution

Chapter 8 The Inception of a New Beginning

Chapter 9 Welcome on Board

Chapter 10 Vision at It’s Best

Chapter 11 Think Big

Chapter 12 Setting Clear Goals and Art of Completing Tasks on Time

Chapter 13 Year 2003 Nervous, Anxious and waiting, But Luck Belongs to the Brave Palem

Chapter 14 Breaking Big, the Game Changer

Chapter 15 The Dream Comes True … Four Soft Gets Listed in India

Chapter 16 The Days of Expansion- Becoming Truly Global

Chapter 17 People, Politics and Palem

Chapter 18 Genuine Care for All

Chapter 19 Wealth Creation for the Employees in the Organization

Chapter 20 Palem- Go to Man for Every One… Mentor for Many … Mr Dependable

Chapter 21 Passion for Doing Most Complex Things in the Simplest Way

Chapter 22 Mentor for Next Gen Leaders

Chapter 23 The Twilight Saga

Acknowledgement

Preface

Life in all forms and shapes ceases to exist after a time. The fact that the most climactic scary ride called life with hopes, promises, failures, and accomplishments ends in anticlimactic death. The sun which kisses the petals of flowers and lets them bloom and grow sets to darkness as the day parts. If things are so feeble, so fragile, then what is life all about?

I couldn’t think of anything beyond that when I heard the man I adored and admired the most in my life succumbed to death. The moments seemed like fleeting by, with every ticking of the clock, yet I felt that time came to a standstill where moments, time, and eternity blended with each other to create a large void of emptiness. I assumed my life too had come to a point beyond which it could not be dragged. He was my mentor, my boss, my friend, philosopher, and guide. Every time I looked up to him for advice, he smiled affectionately and conferred me with profound philosophy of life. His pieces of advice were not smooth, and neither were those safe, but the man himself was way ahead of his time. He would come up with excellent ideas which seemed so complex at the time, but then he would smile amicably, Let’s solve the most complex things in a simple way! Otherwise, who else would think of setting up a chain of Dosa outlets in Hyderabad, in 1994 when the city was too early to accept the concept? That too after completing Masters in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and being one of the best executives of Hewlett Packard in Singapore. But, look at today; there are retail outlets for every kind of food, that was his vision about futuristic trends. The inner strength ….

You may call it instinct, but geniuses make instincts their intuitions, and intuitions lead them to excellence. Even in my darkest hours, that man shone to lead me out of my glumness. It was impossible to believe he was no more. If he ceases to be, then how can I go on? I contemplated. I was lost in the void of emptiness and was drowning slowly yet steadily in a state of nothingness. But then, once again I heard his voice from the core of emptiness smiling affectionately, Why don’t you give it a try? and he will start his advice by saying..Biju.. two things..

Now I realize if life is bound to end in death, then life is all about leaving the legacy behind. A legacy that can inspire hundreds and thousands of people; a legacy that can make one believe that ‘if you try, you can’.

Palem Srikanth, a man who was way ahead of his time but always with his peers and friends in their ups and downs, a man who redefined the term entrepreneurship, whose legacy will motivate generations to come, bade farewell too soon. Perhaps he loved to be ahead of his time, even in his departure. This book is a tribute to the great man from his colleague, admirer, and beloved friend, who will cherish every loving memory till both re-unite at God’s abode.

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About Palem Srikanth Reddy

· Palem Srikanth Reddy was born on 28 August 1963 in Kadapa District in Andhra Pradesh.

· Schooling from Hyderabad Public School in 1978, Intermediate from Little Flower Junior College, Hyderabad 1978 to 1980.

· BE from REC Trichy 1980-1984.

· Masters from Stanford University, US, in 1989.

· Palem was a senior executive at HP in Singapore and later entered into a Joint venture with Emery Airfreight Corporation, US, and was the JV partner and Managing Director of Emery Worldwide India.

· In the year 2000, Palem Srikanth established Four Soft Limited and was the Founder Chairman, and Managing Director.

· In 2013, after sale of Four Soft, became the Chairman and Managing Director of Palred Technologies Ltd and also heading the online ecommerce platform- latestone.com.

· Palem Srikanth was engaged and established a trust to carry out activities for the socio-economic development of the Rayalaseema region consisting of six districts in the State of Andhra Pradesh viz., Kurnool, Ananthapur, Kadapa, Chittoor, Nellore and Prakasam.

· Palem Srikanth was spearheading the social trust Justice PC Reddy Trust to provide equal opportunities for education to the people from all strata of the society by providing concessions, scholarships, and assistance to children from needy and deserving families.

· Palem Srikanth entered public life by joining Telugu Desam Party in 2007 and was extensively involved in transforming the state with the involvement of professionals and youth in politics. Later, Srikanth established his own political party called Janapalana.

Prologue

As I am sitting by the window on a calm afternoon during the lockdown, I can sense an unfathomable restlessness around the humanity. The shadow of the branch is swaying right to left on my table and the leaves of the book that lies in front of me are getting excited. This is the book that was presented to me by my dear friend, Palem Srikanth Reddy. In due course of time, I shall unfold the context of when he presented me this book. The memories, the motivations, the career I had, everything that was presented to me by Palem has adjourned on this table today. How painful it is to write about your friend in the past tense! Ahead of Times will assess the impact he had on the various aspects, right from entrepreneurship to the acts of humanity. People may find data about Palem Srikanth Reddy on Google but no one will get to know the man that he was. The vacuum created by his irreparable loss won’t be filled with my sentimental memoir, but I can relive my life with him once again. He made me understand that life is not a reason but a desire. The wonderful adventure of ecstasies and agonies, troughs and crests, ups and downs get summed up in a small word of four letters – L-I-F-E. When I think about him, I could see how entangled my life was with him. A man of his stature could have treated me like an employee in his company but instead what he extended was a lifelong friendship, maybe even after life…

Palem would always say the punchline first and tell us the anecdote. Before the most serious of the meetings, he would crack the silliest of jokes. While I look back, I can reassess the sheer craftiness of his approach which made complex things easy, challenging things interesting, and commonplace things boring. Wherever you are now Palem, we are yet to discuss so many ideas, and we are yet to do many things that we planned together. When I meet you again, just open the door and say your punchline before we settle down for another brainstorming session. Till then, stay happy, stay in peace, stay the way you were…

As I turn to the third page of your first present, the story of the juggler pops up. I did not know back then why Palem liked the stories of this unknown book, But now I realise how he rediscovered himself everytime he came across a new story in this book. The stories were not of the highest quality, the resonation with his own philosophy of life must have drawn him to the stories. I will begin my writing with one of his favorite stories so that the readers can get a hint of the character of the man whom we will discuss throughout Ahead of Time.

Palem always liked the stories of Santa and Banta. Here is one with Santa, the Magical ball.

The Magic Ball.

It has been over a couple of decades that the Sunday market has ever missed this trade cry of Santa, sharp at twelve o’clock. The Sunday market we are talking about is the popular Galiff Street market, which is held on every Sunday. Traders from far provinces come to the market with clothes, perfumes, toys, livestock, birds, and whatnot!

Santa is of course not a real name. The name that his father kept was Santanu. Somehow, owing to his magical abilities with the balls or being true to the kinship, people curtailed his name to Santa. Santa is not a seller; he is a magician. Magicians don’t exist, but the magic does, Santa would retort every time he is called a magician. Santa’s father was a roadside showrunner, who used to perform all sorts of odd stuff like juggling sharp knives, swallowing fire, and chewing blades. Perhaps he was one of the few living specimens of the old testimonial that India is the country of Black Magic. Santa also joined to aid his father in his childhood and walked on the ropes and performed a couple of trapezium tricks to enthrall the crowd.

Hey, hey, hey, hey; Ho, ho, ho! Here he

runs and jumps, heave ho! Hey boy,

you boy, jump heave ho! Welcome

everyone to the great show.

This was the prologue to the show and Santa’s father would cry out at the top of his voice causing a real hullaballoo. The ‘boy’ in the third line implied to the child Santa, who used to jump around while his father would make their presence loud and clear. When Santa’s father was satiated with the number of people flocked around, he would change his lines.

You man, funny man, punny man, honey man,

And you, tall man, bald man, money man, Hold

your breath and don’t you go,

For we are to begin the greatest show.

Life had become a circle for Santa when he was seven. Every morning, he would wake up and do same old tricks throughout the day before he went to bed. No variation, no deviation; his life was helplessly hapless, till he met Sardar.

Sardar was an old man, with white hair and a long white beard. He used to wear a green turban and a green sleeveless jacket, with touches of golden embroideries on it. He would look as if he had landed straight from Baghdad. He was a magician too. He used to show tricks that people had never seen before, tricks with coins, cards, balls, and marbles. He had a snake charmer’s bagpiper which he used to play before his show. The tune that he played instantly reminded one of the Arabian tales. His magic was fresh, foreign, and astounding to the suburban crowd and very soon, Sardar became Aladdin to them. Gradually, Santa’s father lost his crowd to Sardar.

One day, Santa went to see Sardar’s show. Lately, Santa’s father was unwell and their shows became irregular. That day, Sardar was showing card tricks. He placed the pack of cards on a piece of red cloth in front of him and showed fifty-two cards to the