8 - Kuwait Oil Company

Decades of ServiceMadathil Nair Recollects his Years of Service with KOCMadathil Nair has come a longway since he first joined KOCin 1979. Born on December 3,1946, Nair received his B.A. inScience before setting his sightson KOC, eventually working hisway through the ranks until hebecame a Senior PR Officer at theLocal Relations Team. KuwaitiDigest caught up with Nairrecently and asked him about hislong-standing history with KOCin the following interview:When and how did you join thecompany?I joined on March 10, 1979. Thejoining experience was anxiouslyfunny as I didn’t know much aboutthe grading of jobs then in theCompany. I thought a higher gradenumber indicated a better status andwas wrangling with the recruitmentofficer for a higher number. Inreality, a lower number meanta higher grade! I made a fool ofmyself in front of the recruiting staffwho were roaring in laughter.Where you were first posted whenyou joined the company?Local Relations Division whichnow is Local Relations Team. Iseem to have been custom-madefor them with my past experiencewith meeting documentation thatsomeone recently called me aLocal Relations fixture, and I amknown among my friends as “LocalRelations Nair.”How do you compare today’sAhmadi and then?Ahmadi has always been beautiful!Yet, she had more rural charmduring my early KOC days. Ahmadisouk didn’t have many eatingplaces before the Iraqi invasionMadathil Nair with Public Relations & Information Manager Abdul Khaleq Al-Ali– there was just one Wimpy’s, anIndian sandwich shop, and an Arabmataa’m in later days. There weretwo stores – Americana and ZamZam. Sultan Center and the Coopcame later. After the invasion,restaurants just proliferated as theydid elsewhere in Kuwait. However,sadly today, Ahmadi souk has beenevacuated to virtual desolationfor rebuilding and most of thehouses in South Ahmadi have beendemolished. My old house has alsovanished. It is really sad. But let ushope the town will rise again fromashes to glory like the Phoenixbird when the rebuilding projectconcludes.How was life in Kuwait, in general?The days were simple before theinvasion. The cultural roots ofsociety were more visible. Thingsmoved slowly. Values predominated.People had more time for eachother and for introspection. The firstgeneration of PCs was just cominginto the market in 1990 whenIraq invaded. They were prettyexpensive. We used to depend onelectric typewriters for our officework. Some privileged departmentshad word-processors! The situationchanged instantly after the country’sliberation. The electronic revolutionhas now completely swept thesimplicity of the past away. Kuwaitnow is in a frenetic hurry and heryoungsters, drenched in modernity,are unbelievably techno-savvy.How would you describe thecompany 30 years ago?The British had just departed,leaving behind a well-oiledadministration. There weremeticulously laid-out proceduresfor everything and well-trainedhands to make them work. It wasa matter of pride to belong to40 April-June 2012