Living Life On Your Own Terms

It can be difficult to stand up for your beliefs but in the long run, it is extremely rewarding.

- Ramkumar S

I am an Electrical and Electronics engineer and graduated in the year 1981. Soon after I graduation I joined an MNC in Mumbai. I served there in the shop floor of a 600-strong workforce and to start with, I was on probation for three months. I got an appointment letter at the end of the three months, getting appointed as a Junior Foreman on the shop floor. My posting was in the maintenance department where I had to look after the electrical, electronics and instrumentation – operation and maintenance of Electric motors, AC and DH plants, boilers, kilns, ovens and forklifts. Since it was a factory, we worked 24 X 7.

About 35 electricians, technicians and pump operators were reporting to me then, and I was reporting to the superintendent of the maintenance department. My work included both breakdown maintenance and preventive maintenance, besides supervision of operators and technicians who were to start and stop the boilers, kilns and ovens as per the need of the production department. Monitoring the pressure and temperature on an hourly basis in the boilers, kilns and ovens were part of our department's responsibility. We had our department people working in shifts to ensure continuity of service provided to ensure continued and nonstop running of the plant.

All was well and with the passage of time, I got promoted with an increase in salary and was given more responsibilities that I very happily took. I was given quarters inside the factory premises which also had accommodation facilities for some staff members. Our factory was in a vast area with trees and foliage and it was quite nice during the time of the southwest monsoon. From the window of my cabin in the shop floor, as well as my bachelor quarters, I could see green for a long distance.