Sinex Badri

Badrinarayanan: I was hopelessly jobless and nothing in sight in the post Bahrain years of 2004. Even the wine business on Sriperumbudur, despite astrological predictions, came a cropper.

            My neighbor, Murali at M90/6, took pity and circulated my resume to his company owner. That’s how I met Badri in an interview. His office was on Old Mahabalipuram near Halda. The roads were mud ones and hopelessly bumpy, a stagnating pool of water where buffaloes strayed, and Sinex factory was a one-storied bungalow and built to save costs. The walls were like starch paper and there was a fragileness about them; you felt a heavy shower could flatten the whole edifice down.

At the factory, a new world opened to me. People hammering rods or electric sparks flying out as they made “indoor creative display systems”. These are devices kept typically in a consumer good dealer to bombard brand messages to the customer; from a simple banner stand, a backdrop with life-images, or those flow images or even kiosk stands. Sinex was in the forehead in this business and this Perungudi was a SME unit.

There was always a lot of elegance about Badri. He is a handsome man, prominent mustache, long nose and a wheat complexion. His crop of hair was still healthy and full for a 50 year old man. He is a first-time entrepreneur and an awesome reputation in the trade. Badri was one of those super cool persons who don’t react to violent stimulus; instead seek solutions more prosaic but tranquil. I goofed up once big time; I was on work for a fortnight and my compensation was not fixed. Our work in preparation for Pop Asia 2005 put us very much together and we became chummy. I politely reminded him the issue a couple of times but no answer was forthcoming. Once he said,” Rs.17,500” as the figure, I gave him half-an-hour lecture on “aspiration salary”, “competence salary” etc. Any other man would have fired me on the spot and Badri almost did but destiny was on my side. My cell was switched off otherwise my trip to Mumbai the next day would have been cancelled.  

After this incident, I moved to the Marketing office in Nandanam and having to report to SDP. Badri never quite forgave that “lecture” incident and maintained a safe distance in his interactions with me. Badri would come in a chauffeured Qualis and engage in long discussions with SDP on the progress. At work, Badri held all the answers; he decided the pricing, he knew the material costs and labour and there was not one among the 120 odd employees with that kind of expertise. He frequented China a lot and signed up some truly innovative products; the digital scroller for one. Badri never got into ticklish situations or out-shouted someone or played dirty in his interactions. He was the boss, the supreme owner and he comported himself like royalty; a nod and a smile from far before reaching his car. The word is “savoir faire” from French and “sangfroid” from German; one meaning “act appropriately” and another “calmness or composure under trying situation” that defines Badri in two words.

Badri stays in Besantnagar and I get a see quite a lot of him in the morning walks at Eliot’s. He would be walking in a frenetic pace with 4 other friends in tow. Badri was once afflicted with an exhaustive syndrome that inflicted one with tiredness right from waking up. A state where no amount of sleeping or lying in bed sufficed! He found a lot of relief from “Art of Living” breathing schedules and now a daily practitioner.  

Badri is a rich man. He is a passionate member of Rotary club, the famed “3230” district. They are in the forefront of organizing Chennai runs or bring musicians from Pakistan or take up rural villages projects. Badri does not smoke but enjoys his drink. He is a regular family man devoted to his wife and two sons.

I worked for him for over a year and a half in 2005-06, and he always spelt class to me.  

Post Script (2017): Occasionally I go for Swamiji’s weekend lectures at Vidyamandir and my eyes spots Badri in the audience. We share a smile and at the end of the class, he’s one of the volunteers to roll the straw mattresses. That grace, slow and deliberate movement and speech and little wonder, he is a flourishing businessman. He is the kind of person I would like to be in my next birth if the Lord were to assign me for drawing my own chart.

Verdict: Sattwic

Lesson to be learnt: That patience and calm exterior is exemplary. Badri is one of the finest example of how a “calm” mind is superior to an “impressionable” one.