THE GITA AND WORK

Dhoot’s relaxed demeanour gets me thinking on how he balances work and home. After all, it must be a busy work schedule and I proceed to ask him that. "I have brought in a host of professional managers for my businesses and I have a lot of time on my hands," he says with a broad smile.

His group, which was primarily known for consumer durables, is now in retail (the Next chain of outlets), oil exploration and proposed forays into telecom and Direct to Home (DTH). The telecom business is expected to roll on August 15 and Dhoot has his hands full.

That’s not necessarily true with the entry of professionals like K R Kim from LG and Ravi Sharma from Alcatel. The latter heads the telecom business. Dhoot’s reliance on Management Information Systems (MIS) is complete which helps him know how things are progressing.

A far cry indeed from the past where a maniacal update on progress was the order of the day and a hands-on approach was mandatory. “At times, I have stood outside factories and ensured that even dispatches were made on time and on schedule,” he recalls with almost wicked humour. Of course, that grounding has helped today and Dhoot admits as much. Religion and philosophy are huge components of Dhoot’s life today.

I ask him gingerly how that took place and he lets me in that a tutor was employed to teach him Sanskrit. Pious he surely is as I discover to my astonishment when he rattles off verses from the Bhagavad Gita effortlessly. The truth is he knows it completely and is able to relate parts of the Gita to actual events in life. Unsurprisingly, his tilt towards the Gita was when he was going through a bit of tough phase in his business.

“I spend two hours everyday reading the Gita,” says the man. That is three chapters everyday which means he takes around a week to finish the text.There’s a lot Dhoot has learnt from the Gita and I allow my jaw to drop when he says he knows the text word for word. “The Bhagavad Gita has taught me the importance of work and how not to get attached to it. It has also helped me to relax and reduce stress levels,” he says. The levels of involvement with the Gita are apparent when Dhoot says he delivers lectures on it at several institutions

THE WONDER YEARS

Unlike a lot of other Indian businessmen and some of his contemporaries, Dhoot was lucky enough to grow up in a well-to-do Marwari family. His grandfather was a freedom fighter who made his home in Aurangabad (the family is originally from Rajasthan) where he owned 15,000 acres of land. Dhoot’s father Nandlal M Dhoot ran a sugar mill and was keen that the young boy takes charge of it once he was done with his education.

Even as a youngster, he would spend time at the sugar mills where he learnt the ropes of business. “I was interested in electronics at a very early stage in my life and was keen on setting up my own factory. At school, I made a photo sensitive relay transistor,” says Dhoot.

If that were the baby steps, they gained form and shape once he made it to Pune’s well-known College of Engineering. After acquiring a degree in electronics engineering, (he is from the class of 1977) and playing cricket as well for the college, he had a chance to work with Japan’s Toshiba Corporation which was a vital link to setting up Videocon.

Like a lot of peers, the Asiad in 1982 was a turning point for Dhoot. People from that generation would have more than a faint recollection of Videocon’s Picture in Picture (PIP) facility where two channels could be viewed at one time. It might seem funny in today’s context, but was a breakthrough for that era.

Dhoot surprises most people with an accurate detail for timelines. It makes for great listening when he says his first trip abroad was to Switzerland when he was barely 10 years old. Today, he has travelled extensively with manufacturing facilities being acquired or set up not just in India. It’s not as if that kind of globe-trotting has changed basic things like his food habits. “I manage with fruits, milk and bread,” he says.

A Maharashtrian for all practical purposes, the man says the spoken language at home is Marathi. Interestingly the effect of going global brings home its own advantages, Dhoot today has more than just a basic understanding of French, Italian and German.

Cuisine at home is again strictly Maharashtrian with dishes like sabudanavada and thalpeeth. “I prefer vegetarian food that is cooked at home devoid of onion and garlic,” he says with more than a bit of candour. It’s not as if Sundays are reserved for a grand meal either though there is time to watch the occasional film. “I am not really a movie buff though I have enjoyed Sholay tremendously,” says Dhoot whose other interests include playing the flute.

Of course, Bollywood’s megastar Shah Rukh Khan has been Videocon’s brand ambassador for many years. “I have enjoyed a very good rapport with him. He always drops in when he is in this part of town,” he points out in a matter of fact tone.

As the meeting changes tempo to a more relaxed mode, I am curious about what his plans are for the evening. “Well, I intend to work on the treadmill for 45 minutes once I get back home,” says Dhoot. With work having been delegated to a large extent, Dhoot finds time for religion by visiting places like Badrinath, Kedarnath and Tirupati.

For a man who counts upon friends like Lakshmi Mittal and Mukesh Ambani, it is apparent that life is not just about work. He still has time to reflect on what might have been and speaks of pitching for the Pune franchise when the next round of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is announced.