RIP, Dr. Kurien. The sun has exited the Milky Way

We are supposedly in a galaxy that is made up of about 200 billion stars and an all encompassing halo... Looking back at one of the strongest influences in my life, as he moves on from life, I cannot but liken this man, who the world calls the ‘Milkman of India’ to this galaxy, ironically also called the Milky Way.

My first encounter with Dr. Verghese Kurien, the man behind AMUL, GCMMF, NDDB, IRMA was almost 4 decades ago. I knew him as a client, when I first met him as a raw, young advertising man, who was introduced to him as the media planner on the account. My first encounter with him set the course of what I personally term as my coming of age in advertising.

Dr. Kurien was, what most advertising professionals today may term, a terror. But again, which client isn’t, one may ask? But the terror here was not one who would yell or scream or misbehave or want one to do stuff his way. Infact he was just the opposite- a client who called his agency, briefed it, set targets and cordially told them he would meet them a year later... if we met the targets, we continue servicing AMUL, if we did not, he would give us a warm send-off. Now which advertising professional would not find this terrorising... an unsaid sword that very fairly said, perform, increase sale and continue on the account. Fail to meet the marketing goal, exit! Clear. Precise. Unarguable. When I first met him, I felt I was starting school, but after continuously servicing his account for 17 successful years, meeting targets, year-after-year, I felt I had successfully graduated and post-graduated, year-on-year with honours.

Like his instructions, was also the man. Clear in his vision, precise in his method and unarguably accurate in what he believed was good for the farmers. His indefatigable attitude of taking a bull by its horns, made sure he successfully took on every challenge that was thrown up by the white revolution. When the problem of excess milk and it going waste surfaced after AMUL successfully managed to harness the massive support of milkmen who contributed directly to the co-operative eliminating middlemen, he started the manufacture of AMUL milk powder. When he saw multinationals successfully market milk chocolates, his next thought was ‘why not AMUL’ and here came Amul Milk Chocolates...

The introduction of AMUL milk chocolates was a chapter in communications by itself. The chocolate went through multiple modifications to suit the 4 Ps of marketing. When it melted in summers due to retails then not having refrigeration to store it, he introduced carton packing to keep the chocolate safe for longer. When it came to fighting out the frequency war in advertising, he, like the dream client he was, quickly took on my media suggestion of running 10 second commercials to every long ‘slice of life’ commercial of the leader. On his go-ahead, we re-wrote the way creative worked, by aligning them to adhering to ‘only 10 second commercials’. At one third the budget AMUL Chocolates soon captured the heart of the nation with its ‘Gift for someone you love’ proposition.

In his journey to make AMUL a head-on competitor, if not a leader in every milk product category, drove him to manufacture condensed milk, a product he felt was not as good the competitors despite several modifications. But he was relentless in his pursuit of taking the co-operative to heights none of its shareholders could imagine. The story of the success of the co-operative behind the "Anand Pattern" of dairy development, which today has been adopted all over the country,  was captured in the Shyam Benegal movie Manthan. This was the first time in India that a feature film was been financed by farmers- the 500,000 farmers of Gujarat, as part of Dr. Kurien’s Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation.

In 1994, when the agency I was working for, Radeus- another co-operative, was surreptitiously sold off to what is now TBWA-Anthem, Dr. Kurien withdrew the account from the agency stating ‘Your agency may be up for sale. My account isn’t”. Maybe the man behind India’s most successful co-operative movement felt as cheated as us, that his namesake Kurien, the head of Radeus had committed this breach.

For more than five decades, since soon after Independence, this ‘Milkman of India’ blazed many a trail, taking his dream project to dizzying heights. . India is what she is today due to contributions of great men like Dr. Verghese- an engineer who gave up the prospect of a good life and walked into a village to lead India to her glory. Rare is such selflessness, and rarer is the ability to see the largesse such men build, not for themselves but for the masses. After struggling and fighting against middlemen and establishing a profitable co-operative, he saw the path he had made slowly being obliterated, with none other than his protégés in an uprising against him. Dr. Kurien was subject to utmost humiliation, by none other than those who served and were mentored by him, and finally gave up by resigning in 2006.

He however continued to stay in Anand, which from an unknown, remote village transformed into invigorating, recognisable and exemplary speck on the world map. Today, as another visionary leaves for his final abode, many shall sing his praises, and many of these would be his detractors, who put this great man through ignominy. But like all great men he too must be laughing all the way, at this farce that will be put up, as a good show, devoid of all sincerity.
I pay my heartfelt tribute to this man, who is as much a reason for my success as my other mentor, his namesake Kurien. My book would not have been what it is if it was not for the experiences I earned from Amul. As I bid adieu to yet another teacher, I cannot but recite this apt couplet “Woh log humne ek hi shokhi mein kho diye, Paida kiya falak ne jinhe khaak chhan kar”