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He's the Coolest One
 Shiv
Aroor finds that Rajeev Karwal, MD & CEO, Electrolux
Kelvinator Ltd, is as ‘chilled out’ as the products
his company makes
Rajeev Karwal, managing director and
chief executive officer of Electrolux Kelvinator India is
rarely seen not smiling. For a person who is the chief of
one of India's most visible consumer electronics companies,
he is the image of relaxation, be it a product launch, or
hurried meetings.
It is an attitude which holds him
in good stead during his frequent travels abroad. Karwal is
the archetypal business traveller who makes at least one trip
every month to Sweden, the headquarters of Electrolux. And
that is besides the other destinations that he has to go to,
both within and outside the country. Leisure, consequently,
gets little time every year and in this too, sometimes business
infringes. A recent pleasure trip to Goa was interrupted when
he had to rush back to Delhi to sort out some business about
sponsorships for Electrolux. “But it’s part of the
demands of a senior job. It’s okay,” he says.
It is to deal with such eventualities
that Karwal is always accompanied by his laptop, which he
turns on in the wee hours to reply to business emails and
correspondence. “But only for urgent business,”
he smiles.
Karwal is not only an international
jetsetter but has also spent five years of his working life
in Spain. He was previously better known as the face of Philips
India, after a long and successful stint at the Dutch electronics
firm.
“Of all the places I have ever
been to, my favourite international destination is the Canary
Islands and in India, nothing beats Kerala and Goa,”
he says.
But wherever in the world he might
be, Karwal is obsessed with having at least one Indian meal
a day.
“I do try the local cuisine
but I love vegetarian food. My family is more adventurous.
But for me, nothing like home cooked Indian food. We have
stayed abroad for almost five years in Spain and even there,
everyday one meal for me had to be Indian,” he says.
Besides having an Indian meal once
a day, Karwal is also particular about where he stays. He
always chooses the best hotels and it is imperative that they
need to be “properties which are spacious”.
And when it comes to airlines, he
prefers British Airways, KLM Royal Dutch and Singapore Airlines
for foreign travel. Within the country, it is a mix of Jet
Airways, Sahara and Indian Airlines, necessarily in that order.
But pleasure travel is not hankered
by any airline loyalty. “We travel by the best connected
airline to a particular destination,” he says.
His vacations are usually short-notice
ones and do not happen at any particular time of the year.
“I normally do not mix leisure
and business,” says Karwal, who travels with wife Shobha
and sons Saksham and Samarth at least twice every year –
once to somewhere within the country, and once somewhere abroad.
Karwal is currently preoccupied by
the one place on earth he has not had the pleasure to see
so far – Africa. The result, a trip planned to Kenya
with his family next year, to enjoy the Masai Mara plains
and the Serengheti grasslands, home to the most filmed eco-systems
and wildlife, including the African elephant and African lion.
Going by his rushed top job, between
commanding business expansion across the country and rendering
services until recently as the longest successively running
president of the Consumer Electronics & TV Manufacturers
Association (Cetma), Karwal prefers a holiday without too
much action. None of the run-of-the-mill sightseeing and exploring
towns or cities for him. “I just try and relax with my
family and close friends. Just unwind. I play a lot with my
children during the holidays,” he says. “I don’t
enjoy doing anything particular, but often go with my children
on amusement rides in theme parks.”
His family has reconciled with the
fact that Karwal is a busy man, but his is a “contented
family” satisfied with the time they get to spend together
during vacations.
The Karwals also regularly have family
reunions with their relatives abroad. The last big one, he
says, was in Thailand and Singapore in 2002.
Vacations within the country are
usually planned for extended weekends. For the extended Diwali
weekend, for example, the Karwals packed off to Agra.
Any adventure sports while holidaying?
He quickly quips, “Yes, but not really the extreme ones
like skydiving or bungee jumping!”
Anything else? “Nothing in particular.
I just enjoy being with my family,” he says.
And there you have it, a family man,
averse to extremes but willing to ride the odd rollercoaster,
not very experimental with food and stubbornly insistent on
at least one Indian meal a day. Simple.
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