GANESH RAJ

Ganesh Raj was Manjunath Shanmugam's childhood friend and is a

staunch supporter of the movie – ‘Manjunath – Idiot tha Saala’. He has

been close to Manjunath's family before and after his tragic death.

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October 2014

InterviewedbyDr. Nagendra V. Chowdary

InterviewwithGANESH RAJ

Ref. OB-1-0033B

CASE VIEW ON

IIM LUCKNOW’S MANJUNATH SHANMUGAM:PURPOSE-DRIVEN PERSONALITY AND THE VALUE OF VALUES

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Interview with Ganesh Raj IIM Lucknow's Manjunath Shanmugam: Purpose-driven Personality...

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1. How would you describe Manjunath in school/higher secondary school/college?Afew anecdotes that would showcase his priorities, principles and therefore his values?Did he come across as an agenda setter or an agenda follower? What was his convictionfor and how would his friends describe his conviction levels?

Manjunath was a very normal guy, just like anyone else and a dynamic and an easy goingsocial person, at the same time. I don’t think there was anyone who would miss noticinghis dynamic attitude in the first meeting. He would simply charm you over with his simplicity.He was an understanding friend to his schoolmates/college mates, a good son to hisparents and a supportive brother to his siblings. He would always support and motivatepeople, ask them to follow their heart and do the right thing. He was a very straight-forward person who had the courage to call a spade, a spade.

Manjunath studied at the Kendriya Vidyalaya School in BEML campus, KGF (Kolar GoldFields), a town 90 kms from Bangalore. I wouldn’t say he was great in his academics (anaverage 6 or 7 out of 10), but he compensated with extracurricular activities - a full 10 on10. A superb football player, he played the center forward position – an aggressive player,

“““““He had the ability to be a leader when thesituation demanded and a follower whenrequired.”””””

but with his gentle nature off-field and his social skills, would earn him friends from theopposition team as well, after the match!

I saw Manjunath’s potential as a great actor in SJCE College (the Engineering College thatwe studied together at Mysore). He displayed a superb performance, playing the characterof the jungle bandit Veerappan, on stage for a College Drama act. There was no stoppingafter that. He was one of the key members who founded the Local Boys – a dramaticsgroup at SJCE and travelled to various colleges in Tumkur, Mandya, Bangalore, etc., toparticipate in the annual fests and won prizes everywhere.

He was not formally trained in singing, but was gifted with a unique voice which had thedepth of good singers like SP Balasubramanium and Hariharan. He would often sing songsof Kishore Kumar and was a great fan of RD Burman and Ilayaraja. In fact, you’ll know

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IIM Lucknow's Manjunath Shanmugam: Purpose-driven Personality... Interview with Ganesh Raj

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when he’s around, because he would be humming songs most of the times. He willsometimes greet you with a song when you bump into him in the college lobby! He was apart of SJCE’s Students Orchestra and was one of the lead singers. People would eagerlywait to for him to come on stage and sing...in fact, at times I remember his tunes evennow.

He had the ability to be a leader when the situation demanded and a follower when required.He was a mentor to most people at college and would be humble at most times, exceptwhen he lost his cool. He would get angry, but would channelize his energy positively.

2. Why did he choose, of all the available openings, the assignment with IOC? Did heever discuss anything on this topic with you? Even before that, did he ever discuss hisfuture professional life with you? Can you describe specific conversations/anecdotes?

Manjunath had two offers when he passed out from IIM Lucknow. One was an HR positionwith ONGC and the other was as a Sales Officer with IOC. Manjunath was close to myfather, and would often take his advice in career-related matters. My father advised him totake up the ONGC HR role, but he was more keen on taking the IOC Sales role since itwould be more challenging.

A drawback about Manjunath was that he would never discuss his problems with others,unless really pushed and asked. There was an instance when I received a call from himone night, asking me if he could get a job as a Radio Jockey in Bangalore. I guess, hisongoing problems at work and the oil mafia threats somehow made him think that heshould choose an alternate profession, possibly where his best interest lay – in music.

While I was checking with my contacts, he called after couple of weeks, to say that he hadcertain important things to do at work, so he wouldn’t be interested to pursue the RadioJockey profession. I guess, he had made up his mind to take the corrupt guys head on. Therest is history.

3. Anything else, that you would like to throw light on, which would help in bringingout the real Manjunath for the reader, the formation of his value system and itsimpact on him and others around him?

Manjunath stood for his values – integrity, honesty and being straight forward. His motherwas the foundation of his value system.

Also, I guess one of his Professors from IIM Lucknow had a great impact on him. His valuesystem became much stronger when his Professor mentored him during the course.

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Interview with Ganesh Raj IIM Lucknow's Manjunath Shanmugam: Purpose-driven Personality...

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Manjunath lost a year when he was in IIM Lucknow, because he failed in couple of importantsubjects. He came to Bangalore during that period and stayed at the Aurobindo Ashram.He visited IIM Bangalore to study the subjects that he had failed in. Very soon, he hadmade friends with the hostel students of IIM Bangalore and would often stay and studywith them.

There was so much positivity around Manjunath that you would wish you could spendmore time with him. I rarely recall seeing him in a negative state of mind.

Very rarely do we come across such a humble person, who always had something to give– his unconditional love for people around him without expecting anything in return.