Courage, thy name is N Srinivasan. A fighter to the core, he took on heavyweights in the cricketing world. He was an undeclared czar of the southern cement industry. He faced problems galore. Many iconic structures, like the Pamban bridge, were up with the cement produced by his company. He breathed cement and lived in cement. He was a passionate owner and held his company very dear to him. It requires enormous guts to let go of his passion. India Cements was steadily slipping with its legacy plants, making it uncompetitive in the marketplace. A quitter never wins, said legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar in his book Sunny Days. By calling it quits, Srinivasan, however, ensured that the organisation moves forward and up. With Birla-owned UltraTech buying out Srinivasan and his ilk in the company, the institution now survives to play a greater role in a new avatar. Already, Indian Cements has started reporting better financial numbers!
