How do organizations survive and thrive? How do they ensure that apparently insignificant, but emotionally profound gestures keep them relevant and connected not only with their current but ex-employees too? And finally, how do successful organizations keep learning and growing? Here is a glimpse of how a small get-together turned out to be a memorable moment for us and why Thermax, and our association with it, continues to enthrall us, even after so many years!

Last week many us, the ex-HR professionals of Thermax, had a “reunion” and to our immense delight Mrs Anu Aga, our ex-colleague and the then Director HR of Thermax, also joined in, and she hosted us at her house. For me, the additional high came from the fact that I got an opportunity to meet two of my three HR mentors; Anu Aga and Prasad M Kumar.

There were no expectations, no agendas, no speeches, and no self-aggrandizing gestures; but an unbridled expression of nostalgic moments, emotional affiliations and feelings of relatedness that binds us together even after so many years (some of us were meeting after about two decades).

The group represented six waves or generations of HR professionals, separated by different timelines yet united by a unique culture; and the common thread was how Thermax had touched our lives in some way or other and how it became a “way of life”, rather than being a mere organizational milestone to be proudly displayed in our CVs. For some of us Thermax had indeed changed our lives for ever.

All of us, including Mrs Aga, shared our experiences, anecdotes and our memories that represented slices of our lives, but when seen in totality, emerged as a brilliant and larger than life collage of a culture, built and nurtured over decades by the founders of Thermax. And for most of us our experiences represented a reaffirmation about how Thermax valued people and respected the contrary viewpoint.

Thermax is more of an institution; an organization so different yet grounded, informal yet process oriented, organized yet creative, and structured yet so devoid of hierarchy.

But as the glorious moments of togetherness came to an end and as we parted reluctantly, we were filled, on one hand, with a refreshing interaction, and on the other, by sadness about the beautiful moments that we had left behind and the glorious legacy that we all are part of.

But the most reassuring realization was that; Thermax and its legacy lives on!