I lived in Bangalore for a year after college, working in a lead-polluted battery factory. I was one of ten engineering trainees hired out of college, to replace the fast-aging crop of mid-level managers. Except for me, everyone else was a true-to-blood Bangalorean; born and raised. We were young, and had a lot of time on our hands. There were many 2-hour lunches; good food, lots of smoking and with stories to tell. One of the stories I heard from these guys stuck with me all these years. It is about the founder of a string of educational institutions and hospitals founded and built by one man, M.S.Ramaiah. Most of the guys were from the M.S.Ramaiah College of engineering, and claimed to know the story of the man.
One day, decades ago, when Mr. Ramaiah was an up and coming businessman, with gobs of money and clout in the city, he heard devastating news. His favorite astrologer told him that his days were numbered. Something bad is in store for him, a death so imminent that he could die getting out of his chair after breakfast. It was strange, because he was in good health, and had as many enemies as one in his position would have, no more no less. The astrologer however gave him an out; there almost always is in astrology. He had to build something new all the time, to keep Lord Yama (Indian version of the grim reaper) at bay. My friends claimed that his astrologer’s words possessed Mr.Ramaiah. Thus began the tale of the construction of more and more extravagant buildings in the city. One building grew in size to become an interconnected city of buildings. To the college of engineering, was added a medical college, a college for business administration, and then dorms for the students, cafeterias, parks and administration buildings. Keeping true to his intention of keeping death at bay, the man kept building and building. When he ran out of land to build, he bought up large tracts of agricultural land, and built some more. After colleges came the hospitals. There begs a question at this point, was there a demand for all this? Or is it one of those Field of Dreams sort of thing; If you build it, they will come. It was the latter, turns out, and in what way!
This was the beginning of the eighties, when Bangalore was still the garden city, surrounded by suburbs of villages and fertile agricultural fields. Information technology was beginning to take root in the city. Young men and women were beginning to realize that engineering and medical colleges were the way out of the middle class doldrums they were stuck in their whole lives, with their parents’ meager government jobs. The explosion in applicants, dove-tailed nicely with the extra space Mr.Ramaiah had created to appease his astrologer. The aging population with health issues, coupled with the ever-increasing heath issues among the desk jockey computer engineers, also fed the hospitals that he created. I can only imagine the explosion in net worth of him and his company, with the surge in demand for his products. Simply brilliant.
Thinking back about all this, it seemed like a very shrewd business investment, rather than the whims of a man who may or may not have been keeping death at bay. Did it work you may ask. Turns out it did. He lived to see the ripe old age of 70. I think he stuck around, just to figure out if the buildings got used. Wouldn’t a man who spent millions in building something be half curious to see if he recovered his investments? Incidentally, the institution is still building hospitals and colleges, and this time time around, they already have the demand. This was a classic case of a brick and mortar business. Building and education, rolled into one. I am sure the astrologer got a handsome reward. May I suggest naming the college of business after him?
