Venkataraman's Many Passions

Titan Company MD C.K. Venkataraman calls himself an "obsessive singer", who hums the yesteryear classics of Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and Mohammad Rafi through the wee hours of the morning. Often, he records the songs and sends them to his friends and colleagues and asks for an honest feedback. His predecessor, former MD Bhaskar Bhat, is also known to be a good singer, and Venkataraman fondly remembers the innumerable duets he and Bhat sang during off-sites.

Music, however, is just one among the lifestyle company head honcho's multiple passions. He also cooks every weekend. Though he mostly churns out exotic South Indian dishes, he also enjoys making poha and sabudana kichdi, which he learnt from the cook at the Titan guest house in Mumbai.

Venkataraman is an ardent student of Indian history as well. He spends considerable amount of his time converting Tamil historical novels into audio books. He is particularly proud of the e-book he and his friend recently made on the famous Tamil novel, Ponniyin Selvan, based on the 11th century Chola dynasty. "It is a novel I grew up reading. At 78 hours, it is perhaps the worlds longest audio book."

These varied passions re-energise him and help him give his very best. "Because of the multiple things I spend time on, I am not thinking of Titan all the time. Therefore, the stress is dramatically reduced."