Teja Raju and Rama Raju Jr. share their thoughts on business, sports and marriage
photo: Mohd. Yousuf
MORE THAN MONEYMAKING Apart from fine business acumen, the Raju brothers are known for their interest in sports - squash, cricket and volleyball photo: Mohd. Yousuf
World Cup Cricket is behind us and the cricket wave receded soon after the no show by our Men in Blue. But then, cricket still remains the most popular sport in this country.
When the rest of the world debates and does a SWOT analysis on 20-20 versus 50-50, Hyderabad is witnessing a 20-20 tournament that’s being held indoors – the Maytas Properties Hyderabad Indoor Cricket Cup at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC).
B. Teja Raju and B. Rama Raju Jr, who are spearheading the tournament, are elated with the response. Teja, vice chairman of Maytas Infra, armed with an MS from Carnegie Mellon University, is as passionate about voluntary work through Byrraju Foundation and EMRI as he is about his work and sports. Rama Raju, vice chairman of Maytas Properties, is an MBA from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and an engineer from Carnegie Mellon University. Apart from fine business acumen, he is known for his interest in sports - squash, cricket and volleyball. Metro Plus caught the scions of B. Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman, Satyam Computer Services, share their thoughts on playing cricket on a synthetic turf and air-condit
ioned interiors, other sports, voluntary activity and their initiatives for the city. SANGEETHA DEVI K. listens in.
Teja Raju: The idea of an indoor 20-20 tournament came up after our visit to the West Indies for the World Cup.
Rama Raju: Yes, our interest in the sport took us there and we wanted to stay back and watch a few matches.
Teja Raju: But I had to return after I got a call from my wife Divya.
Rama Raju: You had a baby girl, Anjali.
Teja Raju: How has married life been for you?
Rama Raju: I think I’ve managed and pulled along successfully so far with Sandhya. (laughs). But coming back to cricket, I thought an indoor cricket tournament would be interesting. And the HICC has good facilities. It has a spacious convention centre that can be used as an air-conditioned cricket ground. Playing under flood lights and indoors is a different experience. I think people will like the concept of 20-20 one-day cricket since you spend only a few hours watching or playing the game. We plan to make Maytas Properties Indoor Cricket cup an annual feature.
Teja Raju: Absolutely. Not everyone can go to the Lal Bahadur Stadium and spend an entire day watching a 50-50 one-day match. By the way, talking about this tournament I am reminded of your performance in the match against Deloitte whe
re you were leading the team.
Rama Raju: Oh no, I am not the captain. I’d say I am an all rounder, which means not being very good at cricket. As of now I’d hope to last a few more overs as a batsman.
Teja Raju: On a serious note, the tournament is an opportunity to highlight our new pet project, Maytas Hill County. We are looking at unique amenities for sports at the county.
Rama Raju: Yes, with a couple of golf carts, it’s fun to drive around Hill County.
Teja Raju: There are facilities for squash, billiards, tennis and badminton as well.
Rama Raju: The task lies in taking care of infrastructure, down to the minute details. For instance, the regular pavements that make you step up and step down abruptly when they lead to the road are inconvenient. Instead, here the pavements gradually slide or slope into the road, making it user friendly if you want to push your baby in a stroller. I’m sure you’d want to take Anjali there.
Teja Raju: She’s truly adorable. (The brothers then talk about their interest in varied sports, which includes cricket, golf, volleyball and squash). In our farmhouse, we put up a beach volleyball court. When we find the time, we
play a game of volleyball with our cousins and friends and of course we relish good food. And by the way, tell me how you feel about stepping into the business?
Rama Raju: I think both of us have been fortunate to be guided by our dad, Ramalinga Raju and uncle Rama Raju.
Teja Raju: Comparisons with dad and uncle are inevitable but it never weighed us down. We turn to them for help and can correct our mistakes as well.
We didn’t want to step into Satyam as it has already been reckoned as one of the best professional software companies and then we decided to join Maytas for diversification. The other option that we had was to join any other MNC but we both decided to work closely with our Infrastructure company, Maytas.
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