My memories of Badri..

My memories of Badri:

Badri Narayan was my mother’s cousin, and eight years elder to me, but my relationship was more of a cousin and an ‘influencer’ to me in many ways.

I was part of MSR and Badri Narayan (BN) team for six years from 1994 to 2000. Those six years I interacted, watched and learnt a lot from BN – from ways of dressing to talking to people to spiritual and religious induction.

BN was witty by nature but had bouts of short temper which remained for a short time and then melted away.

BN was instrumental to my first induction to religious talks. I accompanied him to such religious talks – I still remember the first religious discourse attended by me, by Smt. Prema Pandurang ji on Bhagwatham. BN used to say that attending such religious discourses creates calmness within (atleast during the discourse sessions) and also will end up learning something. This is a fact. I got hooked on to this and even today attend any religious discourses.

In early 1995, I was at BN’s house, when he and his family with few relatives started reciting “Vishnu Sahasranamam”. I sat down and also was listening to the recital. Afterwards, when I said I wanted to learn, BN asked to keep a book and start reciting the sloka with an audio of it for assistance. His point was to make a start. I did it religiously, and even today recite “Vishnu Sahasranamam” once a week. Thanks to BN for this advice.  

BN had a great dressing sense. One fine morning, at R&B office, he started dressing with suits with tie. Still he continued his practice of having ‘namam’ (‘Thirumann’ to be precise) on his forehead, even while wearing the suit. And watching him, he influenced my dressing style. BN had a pattern of dressing – plain colors for a week, stripped shirts one week, checked shirts another week. When much later I had been to his new home, he took me to his wardrobe and showed me sets of shirts – plain, checked, striped, printed – all kept neatly and separately. He said every set is for every week. Even today, I dress up following BN’s concept – each pattern of shirt of each week.

I vividly remember BN’s liking for ‘white’ color. For him, white color shirt meant a bright white which should glow. Any dull white was not ‘white’ for him. When I met him later, and I was wearing a bright white shirt, he commented – “PV you are wearing a good white shirt”… Such was his idea of perfection.

Coming to perfection, he was a perfectionist, in whatever he did. I remember he correcting letters to clients more than four-five times – and in the last version, there would have been a very small grammatical error – which any other person would just ignore and leave it – Not BN – He would still correct it. He was “perfection personified…..”

In one of the discussions, BN explained his rationale on perfection – “I do not have any bad habits – no smoking, no drinking. How can you let out? For me being under pressure from my professional work and trying to achieve perfection – gives me the satisfaction and also acts as an outlet” A very different theory – I still remember this thought process of BN.

I have watched BN in office with a “Things to do” List writing pad on his table. He had the habit of writing in any small papers available with him when he was travelling in his car or outside on pending work or work to be done. When he reached office, he used to take all these small bits of papers and write them in the “Things to Do” List pad. And he used to execute each of the tasks and striking it as “Done”. I have just copied this way in my professional life, and got printed a “Things to Do” List writing pad and use it even today.

BN had a great quality of returning calls before the end of day. I used to see him take the list of unanswered calls at office, and return each and every unanswered call before end of day. I imbibed this quality in my professional life.

BN was also a perfectionist in his eating habits. Once when I went home with him for lunch, there was a silver plate for him. He was served rice which had to be ‘absolute right cooked’ – which meant the rice should not be sticky but should be like flowers and also hot. Jayashree understood BN very well and served the best for BN. I was lucky to also get the best that day!!

When my sister, Rama and cousin, Radha visited Bangalore in 1996, one of the night stay was at BN’s house. BN was at his witty best – and then planned a trip for them on what and how to visit places in Bangalore. His plan was executed to perfection. BN had this quality of charming everybody and very good at preparing plans for anything – and to perfection.

BN had great memory. In office, he started the practice of celebrating birthdays for every staff. We used to sing and cut a cake in office, with BN and MSR present for the celebrations. BN used to remember and definitely call me on my birthday to wish me and also called on my wedding anniversary. I used to definitely call BN on his birthdays and wish him.

On his birthday in 2016, I had called and wished him. Then I was asking him about my interest in learning “Thiruvai mozhi” written by Nammazhvar. His immediate response – “PV, learning Thirvai mozhi will take lot of time and will be difficult. You start reciting “Kovil Thiruvai Mozhi”, a condensed summary and easy for a beginner”. Immediately he advised me to download the audio from the internet and start reciting it along with the audio. His advice has resulted in me reciting “Kovil Thiruvai Mozhi” every week. He was truly an “influencer” to many.

In Feb’18, when BN was being treated for cancer, I went to meet him and was there with him for the full day. We were discussing about many anecdotes during my days in R&B and also about many funny incidents with clients. He was in pain due to the treatment, but was still cheerful and with positive energy. A client had come in the afternoon that day for advice, and I saw him giving solutions and options to the client for the problems, despite his personal ill health. His positive attitude is something one should learn and I have definitely learnt it.

Sadly, he is no more with us today, but his memories will remain with me till my last breath...

-       Venkatesh