Keith Roy, who was an ICS officer with the government of India, quit the service in 1947 and joined the private sector, as personnel director of Glaxo India – the largest pharma company in the country at that time. An impressive personality he was – tall, fair and handsome, the product of a Bengali father and a Scottish mother, very erudite and a thorough gentleman! He was in charge of human resources (HR), which was called personnel management at that time. In the early-1960s, personnel department was low key. In the post COVID era, one can join into at least one webinar on HR every other day. What a sea change! HR is the flavour of the year!
About two years into my joining Glaxo – and still a management trainee – I was at the bus stop at Worli, waiting for a bus to take me to Queen’s Road, to All India Radio (AIR), where I used to do some programmes in my spare time.
A posh car came to a halt and Mr. Roy opened the window and asked me to hop in. I...
