When I started working on the book,I expected it to be a dreary task,full of technicalities and dull details of engineering," says Saaz Aggarwal,author,painter and personal-growth trainer,recalling her initial hesitation in writing her latest book. "However,to my delight,it was not just about a company. It would trace the emergence of India from a poor country,struggling with post-colonial hiccups to a major player in the world,both industrially and economically." Saaz Aggarwal,whose last book There's No Such Thing As A Self-Made Man was the ghost-written autobiography of Finolex Chairman and Managing Director P.P. Chhabria,received the national First Prize for Excellence in Book Production from The Federation of Indian Publishers,New Delhi. Two years ago,she was asked by Sandvik Asia to write a corporate biography in celebration of the company's golden jubilee. "The book deals with India and Sweden's solid,yet low profile relationship,and in particular,Pune's Swedish connection. In fact,the text combines historical facts with personal anecdotes about the company." says Aggarwal,adding,"The book also looks at Swedish management styles,the current rage across the globe." One of the highlights of writing the book,for Aggarwal,was the opportunity to visit Sweden. "I went once in November last year,for research into the company's archives. Sandviken, where the company's headquarters are located,is a beautiful little town two hours north of Stockholm. In the municipal archives where the company's old documents are preserved,I read original documents which said how Jawaharlal Nehru had personally visited Sandvik and requested the company to set up operations in India." However,her next visit to Sweden in May this year was quite different. "The climate was much better,but it was a hectic trip,with the book to be released soon. The part of day we looked forward to most was Fika a Swedish tradition where work stops and people relax over coffee,eating delicious Swedish cakes! she remembers fondly. Aggarwal also enjoyed interacting with the people she came across during the course of writing the book. I contacted Sandvik Asia's first managing director,Lars de Jounge,who now lives in the US and told him of the project. To my glee,he made arrangements to visit Pune and gifted me the impressive collection of photographs he took while in India. Another former managing director,E. Gunnar Svensson,took the trouble of personally scanning the entire lot of Sandvik Asia internal news bulletins from his tenure in Pune and couriering me the CD from Sweden," she says. In fact,she claims that thanks to the book,she has fallen in love with the country. As she puts it,"The book brought me in contact with some wonderful people whom I will always value as my friends. I found Swedes to be a little reserved but very kind and this experience left me an unabashed Swedophile." However,for Aggarwal,the greatest gift was from a reader of the book. "During Sandvik Asia's Golden Jubilee Celebrations on 8 July,I met someone from the management group that advises the company and he told me that he had been given a copy at the board meeting held during the day," she recalls. "He had intended to flip through the book but then found that the pages flew by and he was thinking,to his surprise,that this was not the collection of dry facts he had expected a company history to be - in fact,it was reading like a story! For me,that was the best vindication of several months of hard work," she says,with no little satisfaction. The book,The Spirit of Sandvik (50 years in India) has 432 pages and is divided into four chronological sections,dealing with the years 1955-60,1960-80,1980-2000 and 2000-10. Sandvik,the company itself,is a multinational engineering group,employing 44,000 people across the world.
