A man who touched every soul

I woke up this morning to realise Mr Swaminathan, who fondly we all call Swami sir is no more. It came as a huge shock.

However it made me realise what he said in the latest IRIS CARBON GTM meet over this last weekend ‘Even if I drop dead, this company will move on’ has turned out to be true. I have heard him say this multiple times, never expected this will come true this fast.

I gathered courage and put myself together with the belief and a stronger need for every IRISian to continue the legacy he has left behind. We may not be even a 1% of what he was, but together even if each of us do out 1% of what he was, we are 550 times stronger.

He is the most unconventional CEO ever I have seen or ever will be.

1. Getting to know people, more than what one can imagine : He made an attempt to know every single person who joined IRIS, no matter what age, where they are from or what they do. This unique trait in him is something which got people bonded to him like nothing else. He would know the minutest details of their lives, families, problems, success stories and what not. He touched the life of every person he met.
2. Ethics and integrity: He lived and breathed ethics and values, it was an integral part of his personality. The thing which I will never forget is the fact that when IRIS was going through tough times in 2015, when employees had to go through salary cuts, he was the one who decided he will not take a single rupee of salary until all dues are cleared. It took about 8 years for the last employer due to get cleared in 2023 and that was then he started taking salary. The list goes on this write up is not enough to cover them all.
3. Making an impact: He believed in always think creative, think unconventional, there are a 100 ways to accomplish something to make a difference. His inclination towards making on impact on economies- for India and abroad is what he breathed and lived for. His ideas were larger than life, he believed in it and made every attempt to make it happen. Sometimes we were finding it hard to catch up to his pace and no matter what we did always fell short. Such high were his ideas, expectations and thinking.
4. The prank master with a heart: One would never know what was he up to. During my early days of joining IRIS, one evening I was leaving office late than usual. He and Deepta were headed home too. He asked me where I lived, I told him the locality, he said he lives in the very next building and offered me to drop. I was hesitant, he insisted he and Deepta are going to the very same place and just to hop on the car. After I got dropped, he travelled about 2-3 kms in the opposite direction to head back home. I was touched by this kind gesture of this. He did not have to drop me, the fact that he did is something I would never forget in my life. He also knew if I know where he lived, I would not hop on that car. He knew his people so well, it was almost so real the way he told he lives building next to me. I am sure every IRISan has their own story to tell and relate too. Yet again he made a mark on everyone he met. The list goes on The fact that I put this together on a 2 hour flight to Mumbai is not something I thought I could do. Swami sir always believed things should be business as usual, no matter what. A sense of greater responsibility perhaps is what has made me put this together.nbsp;We will not let you down, but do our best to take IRIS forward. You will be missed, always.