The Divine Cure and a Divine Intervention

My first interaction with Swami’s institutions happened during Bal Vikas at the Shirdi Sai Mandir in Guindy, Chennai, which was managed by Leela Amma. It was Swami’s blessings that I was exposed to human values at a very young age. In 1993, my family was blessed with an interview with Swami as part of Leela Amma’s group. As a child, I used to get seizures and was on medication. When my mother mentioned this to Swami, he called me near him, put his hand over my head and ran it down my spine saying “Emi ledhu. Anni bhagaipothadi”. That was it! My electroencephalography tests showed no abnormality, and I haven’t had medicine since. While leaving the interview, Swami asked me twice if I would join His institute, “Na dhegara chaduvukuntava?” Before we stepped out He asked, “Vasthavu kadha?” Both times, I answered affirmatively. I wondered why He asked me, instead of my parents. Being an only child, my parents wanted me to pursue engineering in Chennai. I, however, was clear. I would study in Swami’s institute. That has been the single most important decision of my life.

Learning Life lessons at the Institute

Whatever I am today, I owe it to Swami and His institute. The diversity of students that I found there was unlike anywhere else. It exposed me to different languages, different cultures, different mindsets, and different economic backgrounds of people and made me comfortable engaging with all of them. This set me up for my future career as I moved from one country to another to take up new assignments.

I was an average student (CGPA of 4.21), but a voracious reader. Thanks to our institute and hostel libraries, I was exposed to a multitude of topics, be it Tao of Physics, Autobiography of a Yogi, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, or biographies of Jack Welch, Warren Buffet, and others, topics that would have a profound influence on my corporate life.

I was an avid sportsman and could play pretty much every sport and was made the Sports Captain in my final year. This was my first foray into a leadership role and taught me how to manage the emotions of oneself and one’s team while going through the highs and lows of victory and defeat.

I also participated actively during the sports meet, and willingly chose riskier stunts. In my first year I was part of BMX cycle stunts and jumped  through a  huge ball of fire in  front of Swami. In my second year, I was part of the carabining accident of 1997. A day before the sports meet, as we carabined from the Shiva statue to the cricket ground, the steel cable broke, and we all crashed to the ground. It was by Swami’s grace alone that we all, hanging upside down, descending at 25 km/hr, survived a 30 feet fall!

I was blessed with brilliant classmates and seniors. Just observing them going about their daily life was an inspiration. Most of the skills I picked up were from them. The art of silence, the importance of hardwork, appreciating art and music, staying grounded, anything can be fixed (I was part of the maintenance department).

Hitting the job market

I started my career in Chennai in a small firm called Global Realty Outsourcing (later became a part of Accenture), which was doing outsourcing work for banks in the US. Work involved financial modelling and underwriting of commercial real estate loans for lenders in the US. This is where I was first introduced to real estate as an asset class and picked up skills in investment analysis, financial modelling and managing high pressure work. On one occasion a colleague who was to automate a process quit at very short notice, I volunteered to step in and worked 40 hours at a stretch without sleep to manually complete the process and deliver the work to our clients. The US manager was so impressed that he fast tracked my promotion and sent me to the US for on-the-job training.

Subsequently, I was recruited by Deloitte in Hyderabad, to set up their Real Estate Financial Advisory Division. Back then, there were few professionals in India that could use specialised real estate financial modelling applications like Argus, Dyna and others. Having this specialised knowledge was pivotal in my early career growth. At Deloitte, I recruited and managed a team of 40 professionals.

We did some really interesting work, such as the valuation of the 9/11 World Trade Center, buildings for insurance purposes; assistance in selection of sites for US embassies in places such as Kosovo, Milan, Baku, etc.

However, I was not satisfied working in advisory roles and wanted to be on the private equity or the ‘buy side’ of real estate. So I quit and took up a role in Saudi Arabia with Samba Financial Group in their corporate banking division, servicing real estate loans for large developers in the middle east. The job was interesting but Saudi Arabia is a tough place to live, so I prayed to Swami for a better opportunity.

Soon, a consultant shared an opening for an associate role at TAIB Bank’s real-estate private division at Bahrain. I was interviewed and was hired immediately.

On my first day, as I finished the joining formalities and walked into the office — the first picture I saw was of Swami on the desk of an alumni brother. I was overjoyed and realised it was He who created this opportunity for me. After five successful years in that role, I prayed to Swami for a break to go back and study and He blessed me with admission into London Business School. On graduating, I was recruited by Capitaland in Singapore (then Ascendas) and my career hasn’t looked back since.

Dear Brothers…

My advice to students who are looking for a successful corporate life is as follows. Develop skills that make you unique and differentiated from your colleagues. Always seek opportunities to showcase your talent. Take calculated risks. Develop the ability to identify other talented people. Exhibit high integrity. And, most importantly, always pray to Swami to give you the wisdom to make the right decisions.

I take this opportunity to thank all my Gurus at the institute and at the hostel, for it is they who I looked to for inspiration during those formative years. It has been more than 25 years since I graduated from Swami’s institute, but one of my most often repeated dreams is of me back in the institute. I would trade anything to relive those memorable days.

Brother Gauri Shankar Nagabhushanam is the CEO of Capitaland India Trust (CLINT), a business trust listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Capitaland is a Singapore-based company with assets under management of approximately $100 billion; considered among the largest Real Estate Investment Management companies in Asia. He is responsible for approximately USD 3 billion of assets diversified across Business/IT Parks, Industrial/Logistics Parks and Data Centers. These assets are located in major Tier-1 cities in India. It is a divine coincidence that India’s first IT Park, the now famous ITPL Tech Park in Whitefield is developed and owned by Capitaland India Trust. Prior to this role, brother Gauri Shankar held various roles within the larger Capitaland ecosystem, including CEO of India Business Parks, CIO and CFO of Ascendas Firstspace and Manager of India Private Funds.