Kimsuka Narsimhan

Kimsuka is the name of a red-colored flower.

She was born to an engineer father, Narasimhan, and a homemaker mother, Pushpa, in a Tamil Brahmin family in the capital city of Chennai. Her dad worked for a British company while her grandpa was employed with the good old Indian Railways. Thanks to this connection, Kimsuka spent a large part of her childhood ensconced in the lush Railway Quarters on Sterling Road in Madras’ posh Nungambakkam area. The place houses senior officers of the Railways, and for long was her favorite hunting ground.

Kimsuka went to the popular Church Park Convent. After finishing her matriculation from Sacred Hearts in 1979, she moved to the Rosary Matriculation Hr. Secondary School for her Class XI and XII. There was a short sojourn in Nirmala Convent, Mysore. Church Park and Nirmala Convent gave the young Kimsuka, a love for debates, discussion, and theatre, among other passions. The education exposed her to a 360-degree development. On the other hand, at Rosary Matriculation, the emphasis for the Plus-two course was on academics, and that was quite understandable as it was the threshold to collegiate education. These institutions had a lasting impact, as the peer group atmosphere fostered learning and instilled the right values.

At home, Kimsuka’s liberal forward-looking parents encouraged her to think beyond her gender and whole-heartedly reinforced her beliefs. They would continuously egg her to believe that gender and caste were irrelevant and Madras was too small a place to conquer. This parental validation of her ideology acted as a building block for her character formation and personality development.

As a schoolgirl, Kimsuka was interested in how businesses ran, although, at that point, she could not express it explicitly. When she stepped into the fabled Ethiraj College for Women in 1981 as an undergraduate, she got fascinated with marketing, sales, and production. She majored in commerce in the year 1984. That year, India had its second major political assassination involving yet another Gandhi. A hapless 67-year-old prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was killed at close range by security guards who were paid to protect her.

In the 1980s, the best and brightest boys and the best and brightest girls chose either engineering or medicine. Few by design chose commerce. Kimsuka preferred commerce for a reason. She was fascinated by “the business of business” although she didn’t quite know how to articulate that. “It was not that I hated science. In fact, I loved physics, chemistry, and English literature.” But I didn’t see myself pursuing a career in literature, with its limited choices. Medicine was scoped out because I did not like biology!”

For Kimsuka, now the chief financial officer at Kimberly-Clark Asia Pacific, the inspiration to stay put even during adversity came from an unlikely quarter: her mother’s cook S Rajam. The octogenarian, who worked with the family for four decades, did not practice self-pity. Widowed at an early age and left to fend for herself and three young daughters, and despite societal and economic pressures, she had made a life for herself. “If there is one thing I learned from her, it is to show up and shape up.” And adds, “In adversity, it is how you pick yourself up to continue on your path, even as you stay cheerful and committed that matters. These are qualities in her that I was inspired by.”