“Unfortunately, my calendar is full for the next three months.” This perfunctory text message sent to this writer by T N Manoharan is a painful reminder of how ephemeral life can be. Manoharan’s passing exactly 30 days since that message has not just numbed this writer but more importantly, the news has left many industry leaders shocked and shaken with disbelief.
At the time he thumb-typed the message and during all his telephone conversations, Manoharan, seemed his usual self, busy, organised and sorted, as always. Albeit, he did seem genuinely sad his diary was not permitting time to join and speak at the FE BFSI summit that was getting leading names from the Indian finance arena, including RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra, M Nagaraju, the secretary, department of financial services apart from industry veterans – Deepak Parekh, Gopal Srinivasan and several others.
A Legacy of Integrity and Expertise
Many remember Manoharan as a crucial member of the government appointed board to steer Satyam Computer out of crisis in January 2009. The other members on the board included industry icons Deepak Parekh, Kiran Karnik, Tarun Das and C Achuthan.
“It was only then in Hyderabad that I met Manoharan for the first time and it was a pleasure working with him,” says Deepak Parekh. While each of the board members were icons of integrity with deep domain expertise, Parekh saw in Manoharan a huge commitment to his work, integrity and an accounting prowess that the company desperately needed at that time.
The Architect of Satyam’s Turnaround
“Each person on the Satyam revival board had a different background we all complimented each other,” say both Kiran Karnik and Tarun Das. The board members looked up to Parekh as the finance expert and especially when dealing with the financial institutions. Parekh and others on the board were driven with a goal to conclude the job on hand and get out as soon as possible and till the company was entrusted into safe hands, console the employees and engage with the customers, especially the top 20 customers spread across Europe and the US. “We would spend the nights talking to customers abroad and during the day interacting with the employees and ensuring we retained the talent,” says Parekh.
“Manoharan was the man at the location. He spent more time there and looked into all the internal matters very diligently as our accounting expert with a strong commitment and a phenomenal dedication to duty,”says Kiran Karnik.
“We finished the work in 100 days but it was not as if we parted company thereafter,” says Tarun Das, who organised Manoharan’s book launch in Delhi last year. The book was titled ‘The Tech Phoenix- Satyam’s 100-day turnaround.’
As a leading chartered accountant, Manoharan was a go-to numbers person, “An outstanding human being who commanded everyone’s respect and affection, Manoharan was very competent and deeply passionate about his work,” says Tarun Das.
It is often said that the busier the person, the more organised he or she is likely to be at time management. This was always true for T N Manoharan. In his remarkable lifespan of just 69 years he has left behind many lessons on humility, integrity, a deep sense of commitment and on data-driven decisions.