A perfect ten

S. Kasthurirengan, CEO, Towell Auto Centre, works diligently on striking the perfect balance between work and life, find Mayank Singh and Ramesh Kumar

Why are you dressed formally on a Thursday? We quiz S. Kasthurirengan, CEO, Towell Auto Centre, in jest. He plays along, “I had been informed that you are coming, so I dressed up for you.” The next 30 minutes of the interview sees us in splits, as Kasthurirengan regales us with his sharp wit and humour.

A sports buff, his early mornings are incomplete without the ritual workout at the gym. This is followed up by a game of badminton in the evening at American British Academy, three to four times a week. “The ABA has four indoor courts, which they allow parents to use during off-school hours,” says Kasthurirengan. A number of families and friends gather for a few games every week. It also provides a chance for them to socialise. Being a Thursday, he is expecting SMS’ for the evening game. Occasionally, he manages the time to try his hand at table tennis too. This is the regimen that he has been following for the last two years.

State of Zen
A sport for him is not merely a leisure activity but an essential element of his worklife. “Any CEO today is expected to analyse a lot of data, crunch numbers on a day-to-day basis. The other challenge is to carry one’s employees along, which calls for endless meetings. These require one to be mentally alert and physically active. Moreover, I want to look young.”

Music is the other thing that he turns to after a strenuous day. Though he describes himself as a ‘self-trained musician’, he is no mean keyboard player. On enquiring whether he composes music, he says, “I copy music, or play film songs on the keyboard.” An aficionado of Indian classical music (both vocal and instrumental), Kasthurirengan is a regular at cultural events and concerts. “Good music is relaxing.” His 12-year stay in Algeria before coming to Oman helped him develop an ear for Arabic music. The fact that his spouse is a trained musician ensures that there is no getting away from music. “As my wife has learnt music, she regularly listens to it, and probably as a result of this, over the years I too have been trained to listen.”

An ability to switch off once home helps him to recharge his cells. A firm believer in spending time with the family, Kasthurirengan rarely carries work home. The only exception being the sundry phone calls that he entertains at home. Dinner is the time when he catches up with his two children.

Time out
Kasthurirengan gets to do more than his fair share of travelling on work, so he prefers to take a vacation once in two years. China and the US being his favourite destinations. “China fascinates me with its sheer diversity and size while it is the people who make the US special.”

Talking about CEO must-haves, he counts the ability to crunch numbers as an essential pre-requisite. A firm believer in consensus, he gets irritated with stubborn people who cannot appreciate others’ viewpoints. Kasthurirengan’s strive for a harmonious work-life equation is something that other executives can emulate.

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