In Raghu's Memory

Remembering you sir today on 3rd july.

All the blogs that I have seen talk about you as father of modern retail in India staring with Foodworld.

Not many people either know or have written that you actually pioneered modern indian retail in 1984 with Dunlop tyre service centers when the concept of experiential offering to the customer weas non existent. Its therefore not in nintees but you actually introduced modern retail in india in the eightees.

As a Dunlopian and now a part of modern retail in india, we miss you raghu.

Deepinder S Kapany has worked with Mr. Raghu Pillai earlier also and is now the Vice President and Head - Books and Entertainment Business, Reliance Retail

MEMORIES OF MR. RAGHU PILLAI

Raghu left an indelible mark on all those who were fortunate to come in contact with him.  His charismatic personality, unique style, charming sense of humour and his ability to make people around him feel wanted, endeared him to people in no time at all. 

On his birthday, I'm reminded of a few incidents that bring forth Raghu's amazing sense of humour - incidents that'll remain etched in my memory for all times to come.  His one liners, delivered rather matter of factedly and timed to absolute perfection, would put Wayne Brady to shame.

Raghu's penchant to start humming at the drop of a hat was legendary. I once asked Sriram Mahadevan what exactly Raghu hummed all the time - 'tu roo ru ru ru ru' - given that the key and time signature were always constant.  Later that afternoon, Sriram actually mentioned to Raghu that Manu was keen to know what he hummed all the time. Without looking up, without a change in expression, without discontinuing to do whatever he was doing,  pat came Raghu's answer in his signature sing song manner  - 'usko bol uski death knell gaata hoon'.

I was to meet Raghu one afternoon. Some guests from Germany unexpectedly dropped in to see me, just as I was leaving for Raghu's office. I sent him an sms informing him about these visitors and asked him if I could see him after an hour or so.  His response read 'fttm'.  Unable to figure out what he meant, I messaged back with a couple of question marks.  The next instant I figured what he'd meant and messaged him again saying I'd understood and would see him 'first thing tomorrow morning'.  His response had me in splits - 'smt by' (smart boy)

Raghu was once to have a meeting with a very well known external agency that we were considering signing up. The next morning I walked up to him and asked him how the meeting went and what he felt about this agency. Raghu's response rings in my ears to this day - 'my 10 year old doberman can do a better job than them'

I was in a meeting with Raghu in his room one morning, when Sriram Srinivasan opened the door, peered into the room, said something to Raghu, shut the door back again and left.  A couple of seconds later Sriram was back and he said 'Manu, is that you ? I just didn't recognise you with your beard'.  Right then, again without looking up, Boss goes -  'forget his beard, check out his ear rings'.  Till then, I was quite sure that Raghu hadn't noticed my recently acquired accessories - he had said nothing about them to me.

My nine year old son Uday never ever got to meet him, but interestingly even he shared a bond with Raghu.  Uday would call me once in a while at work and asked to speak with 'Raghu uncle'.  My colleague Mohit Aggarwal would generally came to my rescue and speak with Uday, posing as Raghu. 

Raghu - you will forever live in the hearts of the innumerable people whose lives you touched. God bless you. OM SAI RAM.

Manu Kapur worked with Mr. Raghu Pillai as the Sr. Vice President & Biz Head - Home Furnishings & Décor at Reliance Retail Ltd and is now the Purchase Development Leader, Global Trading - Textiles, IKEA Trading (Hong Kong) Ltd

Thoughts of Raghu on his birthday

We all miss him and that’s not the point I am writing about.

The common thread about all the memories that have been shared on this blog is about his being an exemplary human being. A human being as God meant them to be. Warm, Caring, Helpful to others, Generous, Large hearted, Concerned, Forgiving, Simple, etc., etc. To experience the presence of such a person is memorable by itself and being associated with him in any capacity is unforgettable.

So, on this birthday I started to miss him, feel bad and sad. At that moment his face came to my mind and I could visualize him saying “Pagal hain kya. Get on with life”.

To be sad and shed tears for such a person would only be tears for one’s one self. He was one of a kind and his memory will be cherished and more importantly should be emulated. His life force is no longer constrained and contained in a physical body. So what?

Every memory that each of us has is sustained by his life force and he lives on in our minds. Memories may dim and recall may be fewer over years as is the way of life. But, it will always be there in our hearts and minds and till then Raghu, Boss, Tiger, Sher Khan….  is around in his myriad personalities.


V Rajesh worked with Mr. Raghu Pillai in various Retail organisations and has been a part of his team since the start up days of Foodworld.

RP- Birthday

It's difficult to even think about writing something on Raghu's birthday, so soon after his sudden passing away. The more obvious thoughts that anyone who came into contact with Raghu were that he was such a warm person, very direct and no nonsense, but above all very humane.

The Raghu I will always remember is someone who wanted to make a difference, who wanted to set benchmarks and willing all of us to walk an untrodden path. When we started with the Foodworld experiment, none of us had a clue as to where all of this would eventually lead us, but the one thing, more than any other, that Raghu managed to instill in the team was a sense of passion and the belief that collectively we could more as a team than had been dreamt before. To me, that is the legacy he truly left behind.

Mr. S Raghunandhan was a part of the start up team of Foodworld and has worked with Mr. Raghu Pillai extensively in the start up of India's first Corporate Supermarket chain and is now the CEO, Prestige Retail Group.