Leipzig

Having peeped into the recent history of Leipzig during my one week stay, I am filled with admiration for the efforts Leipzigers have put in to give the much-needed facelift to their city, making it one of the prominent destinations. I was also delighted to learn that among the proud Leipzigers who have contributed for the phenomenal transition of the city, is Dr Devarajan Sankaran, an Indian origin German citizen.

We meet in a café in the city and Dr Sankaran tells me his story. He was instrumental in setting up the first Siemens telecommunication equipment manufacturing unit in Leipzig in 1990 -soon after the German reunification. It was among the first big-ticket companies from the then West Germany to enter the East German city of Leipzig. Besides running the company that employed nearly 1,000 people (majority of them local citizens), he was associated with a team of prominent persons formed by the then city government to chalk out a vision document for Leipzig.

Dr Sankaran was born in 942 in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. He acquired his engineering degree at PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India, was like any other ambitious Indian youth looking for a better career prospects. He started his career as an engineer at the Heavy Engineering Corporation in Ranchi. During his three years stay in Ranchi, he had an opportunity to pick up some knowledge of German language through his association with a neighbour who was a German language translator. He took a liking for the language and pursued his interest by taking up a German language course at the Goethe Institute, Calcutta (now Kolkata).

He got a job offer from a German aircraft manufacturing company located in small town of the then West Germany, (Varel near Bremen) in 1965 and he grabbed it. Even here, he pursued his studies and acquired an engineering diploma in Hannover University, followed by a doctoral degree. He also worked in a well-known Machine Tools company, Gildemeister, for 10 years. In 1971 he married a German school teacher Annegret. It was in 1985 that he joined Siemens as in-charge of the company's international production. Most of his career in Germany was made in Munich.

In 1990, when the Berlin wall came down and the West and the East reunified, the company decided to explore the possibility of foraying into the erstwhile East German markets by setting up a unit in Leipzig and the task was entrusted to Dr Sankaran. He succeeded in striking a deal with the local company NEL to have a joint venture with Siemens for setting a telephone equipment manufacturing unit in Leipzig. He was the first Managing Director of Siemens Communications, Leipzig. During his one year work as part of his assignment to establish a unit, he fell in love with Leipzig. But subsequently he had to resume his work at the company's headquarters in Munich.

The Leipzig unit of the company was not performing up to the mark and he was again sent back to the city with a mission to revive it in 1998. He revived the company and was in Leipzig till 2003, when he became the Executive Vice-President of Siemens Dematic in the USA. He stayed in the USA for three years and retired in 2008 and came back to his city Leipzig. "I am fascinated with the culture and people of Leipzig. I love to live here. When I meet new people, they always ask me where I am from, and I tell them I am from Leipzig," Dr Sankaran said in a brief chat with me.

He was also involved in various activities in the public life of Leipzig especially as the former Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the University Medical Hospital ( Universitätsklinik) as well as his teaching assignments in the Tongji University Shanghai and Leipzig. The soft-spoken and simple sexagenarian has closely witnessed Leipzig making a transition-slow-paced, old city to a suave and sophisticated tourist destination. "When I first came here to Leipzig in 1990, I came here solely to finish my duties. The air was polluted and the city seemed unhygienic. Students dreaded coming to the city to pursue their studies. Today, things have changed completely. Leipzig is now on the most sought-after destinations," he added.