An Introduction

So keen his perception,
So strong his will,
So relentless his pursuit of excellence,
That indeed he belonged to a very rare class of men.

C. R. Bondre: The Export Expert!

At a time when Pune was not the industrial hub that it is today; at a time when India was not the present-day resilient emerging economy, and at a time when exporting Indian manufactured engineering goods to the developed world was almost like a distant dream, C. R. alias Bapusaheb Bondre succeeded in achieving the near impossible. 

Vice President, Marketing (Inland and Foreign Sales) of Kirloskar Oil Engines, he was instrumental in developing the Export Department of Kirloskar Oil Engines from the scratch and in keeping the exports continually increasing, all through his illustrious career with the company. Believed to be by many, the right hand of the business legend and visionary, Mr. S. L. Kirloskar, Mr. Bondre worked closely with him for a long span of 27 years. In those days, almost everyone working in any capacity in the manufacturing industry of Pune and around, was familiar with the name C. R. Bondre. In fact, in those early times of the country's economic development, the term industry itself was synonymous with engineering / manufacturing industry (IT and ITES industry was yet to make its foray!) and only a few big companies adorned the industrial horizon of India. At that time, Kirloskar Oil Engines was one of the few companies which had achieved a leading position in the export of engineering products from India. Bapusaheb had an important role to play in this remarkable success. So much, that Mr. S. L. Kirloskar, in his autobiography, 'Cactus and Roses', fondly remembers the contribution of 
Mr. Bondre, and writes: "Exporting wasn't easy for us, but we went about promoting our exports with a single-minded determination, such as our Mr. Bondre possessed. 
Mr. Bondre threw himself completely into the task, built up our export sales and developed our foreign sales division into an alert, efficient and zestful organisation." In recognition of his contribution to Indian engineering exports, Mr. Bondre was also elected as the Vice-President of the Engineering Export Promotion Council of India in 1968.

C. R. Bondre (left) with Mr. S. L. Kirloskar 

Bapusaheb's flight (pun intended!) was indeed a high one, being born in a middle-class family in Jalgaon on 19th May 1916, with limited means of education and employment in his hometown. In his own words, "In those times, Jalgaon was but a small village. There was neither electricity, nor concrete roads, and the kuccha roads meant that in summer, there was dust, and in the monsoon, there was mud!" So moving out of Jalgaon was inevitable, and Bapusaheb had to work his way up. After completing his education from the famous Sydenham College in Mumbai, he worked with a few other companies like Hindustan Construction and the Indian Tea Board, travelling across the country and gathering life-time learning and experiences on the way. These experiences later went on to play a major role in his work at Kiroskar Oil Engines. Sheer determination and unending hard-work, saw this simple Jalgaon lad turn into the Export Expert, travelling to 42 countries, giving a meaningful contribution to the organisation he belonged to, playing his part in building a reputation for Indian manufactured goods abroad, and creating a name for himself in the business circles, that has remained alive after him for so many years.

I am proud that this great ingenious gentleman was my grandfather. Today, on his 100th birth anniversary, I have launched this blog in his memory, in which I intend to publish an account of his experiences with exports. Most of these have been penned by him during his lifetime, which I wish to share with all those who are interested in marketing, management, exports and sales. But having said this, I am sure that these experiences will be interesting and inspiring to anyone belonging to any other field, as much as they have been to me, while reading, translating, and in putting them together.

In conclusion, I am reminded of a few lines from a famous poem by H. W. Longfellow:

'Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us, 
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another
Sailing over life's solemn main
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother
Seeing, shall take heart again!'