Ranjan Das, MD of SAP India died the day before yesterday due to a heart stroke at his Mumbai residence. He was 42 years old. He is survived by his wife and two kids.
I do not know him personally. I have never met him and I have not even followed his career closely to be qualified to write an obituary. Yet, his death has set me thinking and perhaps, many other professionals in the IT industry are also doing the same.
Mr. Das, hailed from Assam and had excellent educational credentials. A BS in Engineering from MIT, USA and an MBA from Harvard. He had a great career with stints in Oracle, Tech-entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, SAP America and then in 2007 taking charge as MD of SAP India. As the Dataquest obit says, he made SAP India the largest software company in India, beating Microsoft.
By most professional yardsticks, it was a fantastic career and he was a young achiever. Most professionals would envy him for his achievements.
From news reports, it appears that he was a fitness freak. He even ran the Chennai Marathon recently. An interesting video interview of his after the Chennai Marathon is published in a blog where, he has promised to return with his SAP team next year. Yet, it will not be.
Did he have to die so young?
I guess he was very ambitious and he drove himself too hard towards success. So much so he forgot that he was after all a human being. The drive that he had for his work, he brought to his running too. In a telling comment about his drive, he remarks “My initial goal was to complete the race and then it was completing it in 70 minutes. Later, when I saw I had set myself a good pace, I shifted the goal to 60 minutes and I achieved it too, along with another colleague.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Das is not much of an exception. There are several professionals like him in the IT sector, who are punishing themselves or pressured by their organizations to grueling routines and obscene levels of stress. Das’ untimely death will surely raise an alarm and force them to reflect.
What is the meaning of all the success, if the price is your life?
How far and how long can you stretch your body, beyond the normal, without it breaking down?
Is the pursuit of market share, market leadership really worth giving up your life for?
When should you say enough is enough?
Inconvenient questions with no easy answers.
May Ranjan Das’ soul rest in peace.
-G.Mohan
I think the key here is to manage stress effectively. Even with extremely grueling routines I have seen people not getting unduly stressed.
In a recent seminar on UN Day, a swamiji of Yogda said that we can experience joy even in adversity if we learn to deal with the fears and anxiety which arise whenever we are faced with problems. He said that ‘we are born out of joy, can live a life full of joy and will one day melt away in joy’.
He had education that every student will dream, had a career that every professional will envy, had an end that no one will ever want ……….
Hi
I agree this is very tragic end to a seemingly bright career. There is lot of talk on work life balance and fitness. Recently had an interesting debate on this topic, there are no two lives that we are balancing. Its all the same continum;prortizing various activities and enjoying each of them creates that balance. Excessive focus on any one part creates that imbalance. Being internally happy in all of this is key
Srini
Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional. Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.
Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by us. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than Knowing the role ahead.
Let us work with the compass and not with the clock.