In a world where ‘specialisation’ is much appreciated, we tend to slot people in silos. A technocrat is perceived as a systems person and a social activist as one thinking about social change. Most of us, held hostage to such categorisatons, assume that an individual can not embody all these dimensions.
Fortunately, there are individuals whose life trajectory shows up the limited nature of such assumptions. Arvind Krishnaswamy (May 31, 1959 – May 17, 2024), who retired in 2019 as executive director of corporate and digital structures of Bharat Petroleum Corporation, one of the top three public sector oil giants of India, was one such individual. He exemplified the ideal of a citizen with a 360 degree view of life, work, politics and social change, and left an indelible mark on those who were lucky to come in contact with him.
At work he was concerned with ensuring an effective information system. The task included programming, system design, and network planning. Similarly, outside of work he was focused on the social life of information that could lead to bottom-up social change, namely social networking for building social capital that is rapidly disappearing from our public life.
At work he led large-scale corporate restructuring and navigated difficult changes from being public to a not-so-public corporation with the help of responsive business plans, expanding diversification, and flowering new initiatives.
Simultaneously, his life was abuzz with ideas and insights to help civil society organisations effectively argue for a cleaner and greener Mumbai, to encourage a new way of thinking for a new world of emerging data and technology; and reconciling justice and peace. His concerns encompassed even something as remote as cascading arctic heat.
As Arvind Krishnaswamy saw it, all his concerns were connected as they pertained to the way we humans live our lives on this planet. His spectrum of engagement was vast – from Bharat Petroleum to educational NGOs such as the path-breaking Eklavya Foundation in Bhopal and the All-India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) in Ahmedabad, an organisation focused on research and practice around disaster-affected communities and groups.
Mihir Bhatt, director of AIDMI pays homage to Arvind, a lifelong friend and exemplary citizen.
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At a time when India was in the throes of electing leaders to lead its citizens, we lost a remarkable man, an outstanding citizen who believed that citizens must lead themselves and their elected leaders, for a citizen is the sovereign and the leaders and the state mere vehicles to reach his or her vision.
Arvind Krishnaswamy lived in Mumbai, a city he loved with gusto. He knew the city and its history, its parks and its architecture, and engaged with many of its cultural and municipal institutions with intelligence, insight, and agency. A man of many parts, Arvind died suddenly, swift in everything he did, a few days before turning 65. His passing is an enormous loss, not only to his friends and family, but also to his admirers, who were legion.
Arvind Krishnaswamy by Mihir Bhatt.
People remember Arvind for his prodigious intellect—his sharp mind and witty repartee always kept you on your toes. But the most memorable thing about Arvind was his voracious, and ferocious, reading habit. His daily fare included several Indian newspapers, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, to name but a few. He read art magazines, scientific journals, literature reviews, novels, biographies, history, political theory, food blogs, online journals, and articles because his curiosity about the world and its workings was insatiable.
Arvind loved new ideas – ideas that upended established wisdom, and brought to light alternative narratives or ways of seeing. He was also drawn to people whose views either illuminated the past, or highlighted the future, because that was his way for understanding the times we live in now. As a result, the past and future were not a burden but a source of energy for the present.
Most of those who knew him were beneficiaries of his avid reading, because he often shared articles of interest with others. Though not for him the “forward all” email to all and sundry; when he sent you something to read, it was because he knew exactly what you would find interesting, and what you needed to read to broaden your understanding of or solve an issue, or build on your interest. One could receive a well-rounded education based on his reading suggestions alone. We were fortunate; once Arvind made friends, it was for keeps.
For all his knowledge, Arvind was not nerdy. He loved life too much to live in his head. He was witty, and charming, and loved good conversation and political debate. On his last visit to Ahmedabad before India’s general elections, he sat on the swing, and laid out his views on how we were devolving from citizens to mere voters, and how important it was to regain our autonomy as citizens. We then had a long discussion on bhaktas or devotees and bhoktas or consumers, and how the line between the two is blurring with the emergence of assembly-line notions of religion and the mass merchandise it spits out. Pious religiosity annoyed him. The goodness of human beings attracted him.
Arvind came from a distinguished family which shaped India’s railways, judiciary, and education, before and after independence. He received a BA in Mathematics and an MA in History and on the shoulders of these two disciplines, he built the rest of his education. He joined Bharat Petroleum (BP) as a young man and enjoyed a long career there. Undoubtedly, he changed the organisation as much as it shaped him.
As a champion of the underdog, Arvind also supported successful start-ups in Kerala and Maharashtra. As mentioned briefly in the introduction above, he also sat on the board of trustees of several organisations, including the Eklavya Foundation of Bhopal, tirelessly pushing for better and broader education; and as Chair of the All-India Disaster Mitigation Institute, he helped restructure my organisation, twice, in its hour of urgent need.
Arvind travelled light – literally, and metaphorically. He often arrived in Ahmedabad for our Board of Trustee meetings with no more than a small theli, or cloth bag, containing a pair of clothes, a toothbrush, and invariably a small edible gift, or a book he had just finished reading.
I often felt that one could know only a part of him – not because he was shy or reticent, but because he constantly revealed new and surprising aspects of himself to me over time. For example, in January 2024, he went to Tanzania on a safari with his wife Preeti and son Nandan. Not only was I surprised that the citified social scientist we all knew had embarked on a safari, but that when he returned, I discovered his deep interest in what we increasingly refer to as a nature-positive approach to the economy, where the economy not just extracts natural resources such as water and trees, it replenishes them. One wonders if the fact that he missed this aspect in his day-to-day work motivated him all the more. One never knew when Arvind would reveal one of his avatars.
Great leaders may or may not make nations great, but good citizens always do. I suspect that Arvind, wherever he is now, is still following his curiosity, and I can see him opening the book of death to tap into the body of knowledge that had managed to elude him in life.
Mihir Bhatt is director of the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, Ahmedabad.
