IN HER well-scripted memoir “My Life in Full: Work, Family and Our Future” (2021 - Portfolio/ Penguin), Indra Nooyi, the iconic Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PepsiCo, off and on touches upon issues that women in corporate world face. She suggests ways out of the tough tight spots for working women in general -- and working mothers in particular. Her words betray neither bitterness nor any sense of complaint, all right. Yet, she also does not mince words in suggesting that the larger society handles similar issues about men differently. Factually, this should make the larger society start thinking afresh its approach to issues working women face -- not just at work but also at home. Even at home, Indra Nooyi asserts, women have to endure differential handling by the rest of the family as regards issues as against what men have to do. Of course, in her personal case, Indra Nooyi made peace with whatever was in store for her as she pursued a brilliant career in corporate America -- and rose to become one of the top five business icons in that country.

 

Eventually, she was invited by President Mr. Barrack Obama to be one of his advisors on various issues. She also was honoured with Padmabhushan by the President of India Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. She faced challenges of work and life with equal élan without complaint, but had her own view of how things could be handled differently. Her book, thus, may be treated as a guide for both, working men and working women, about how to handle personal and professional issues efficiently and effectively. Just as the world celebrates the International Women’s Day, Indra Nooyi’s book pops up in the mind as a reminder that the civil society has to do a lot of work to sort out personal and professional issues especially about women in a more matured and refined manner. The anecdote Indra Nooyi narrates in the book when the PepsiCo named her CEO is, of course, known in public domain: She returns home after she gets her promotion orders as CEO and wants to share the news with the family in all excitement. But her mother, helping her in child-care, insists that Indra first get milk for the family.

 

So, a gruff Indra picks up the car keys once again, gets out, drive a mile out into market, fetches a gallon of milk, returns home and then complains to her mother that she showed no respect for her emotion. The mother, typically, says, in effect, no matter what your company has done to you, back at home, you are a mother, daughter, wife. So “leave your crown in the garage”. Even as she narrates this incident, Indra is not bitter, but is certainly not happy that she had to endure such a reality check from her mother. Possibly, she avers, a man might not have to face such a moment in such a manner. This metaphor of leaving the “Crown in the garage” needs to be considered in depth, Indra Nooyi says later on in the book. She agrees that it could be interpreted in “myriad ways”, but does not miss suggesting that the civilised society needs to find an answer to the issue. In their wonderful memoir poetically and realistically titled “Going Together Without Growing Apart: An Inspiring Journey of Service, Sacrifice and Shared Dreams”, (Hay House Publishers, Penguin Random House, 2025) Lt General Madhuri Kanitkar (Retd) and her husband Lt. General Rajeev Kanitkar (Retd) describe similar challenges.

 

Of course, the book is written from the perspective of Lt. General Rajeev Kanitkar and Lt. General Madhuri Kanitkar has chipped in with Post-scripts at the end of each chapter. Nevertheless, the book brings out in detail the trials and tribulations and travails of a military couple - possibly first and only in the world with both securing 3-star rank -- without rancour. It also makes suggestions of how personal and professional issues of working fathers and working mothers could be sorted out. What leaves a mark on the reader’s mind is that these personages of high achievement ensure that their minds are not embittered by life’s actual experiences that often threaten to pull them apart. They have faced life’s challenges with a smile, and have left for the succeeding generations legacies of happy achievement. Perhaps, that is the actual message!