Geetha Rajagopal
Geetha was born in Trichy (located on the banks of the River Cauvery in Tamil Nadu) on October 4, 1976 into a Tamil Brahmin Iyengar Family to her parents Mrs. Saroja and Mr. Rajagopal. She spent most of her formative years across Delhi and Chandigarh with a few years in Bangalore.
Early years and Education
Geetha was an extremely bright student and effortlessly completed her schooling, usually at the top of the class. She studied in some of the best schools in Delhi and Chandigarh such as Vivek High School, Shivalik Public School, the Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute and DTEA Senior Secondary School. She secured some scholarships and accolades at the state and national level that were challenging to secure at the time. Geetha learnt Classical Carnatic vocal music during these years and that continued to drive her keen sense of music to this day.
It speaks of her resilience that Geetha secured some of the highest marks in her Class XII Board Exams, that she wrote while suffering from the dreaded Chicken Pox disease.
Geetha was an excellent sketch artist with a keen sense of fashion and style and desired to pursue a career in fashion design. However, that proved not feasible at the time and she chose to pursue a graduation in computer science. She did the same at the Jyoti Niwas College in Bangalore University, pursuant to her father's transfer to Bangalore in 1994.
While at college, she aimed to pursue higher post-graduate studies in Business Management with a keen interest in Human Resource Management. She sought to do her MBA only from the top 5 business schools and worked relentlessly to achieve her goal. In 1998, she secured admission into the prestigious Xavier’s Labour Research Institute (XLRI) Jamshedpur’s School of Business Management into their flagship course in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations.
At the time, she was amongst the first members of our community to pursue an MBA and the only woman candidate. This was greatly catalysed by the relentless & dogged physical, emotional and financial support she received from her parents in casting aside all prevalent dogmas and achieving her goals.
Geetha had a great run at XLRI Jamshedpur and successfully navigated her way through MBA (1998-2000) while leading her HR Club, Sapphire, securing her summer internship at Reckitt & Coleman (now Benckiser) in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and finally securing an offer of employment in the coveted Senior Management Trainee program of the IT giant HCL Technologies. All this, while having a lot of fun, planning several trips to the places near & far with friends and a larger family at XLRI.
Career
She moved to Delhi with HCL Technologies and started working a new trail in the Human Resources space. She navigated a 4-year + stint at HCL Tech with much elan, working with some of the finest professionals (whom she was collaborating with to her last day in this world), working in multiple sub-functions, working on critical projects and engaging directly with the Senior Management of the Company.
She then worked for 3 years with Hewitt Associates in Gurgaon, also in the HR and Learning function. In this time, she developed her competencies in the sphere of Cross-Cultural Diversity and became a certified Master Trainer in this discipline. She also worked in the US for some projects of Hewitt as part of her professional commitments.
Geetha then set to move into the world of Talent and Organisational Consulting, joining Accenture Management Consulting in 2007. This was the beginning of a gruelling 5-year work stint involving servicing global clients across India, South Africa, Ireland, UK, Norway, the US and Indonesia. She was helping deliver new-to-market solutions in a niche space and eventually rose through the ranks to be a part of the leadership team.
In 2012, Geetha joined the corporate giant UnitedHealth Group /Optum and executed various responsibilities to help scale a billion-dollar business. She was helping manage more than 25000 people across 5 countries. She had evolved into an expert of repute on Human Capital Strategy, HR Analytics, Change Management, HR Development & Workforce Transformation. Geetha worked for nearly 4 years full-time and 2 years part-time as a Consultant from 2019 till the very end.
While at UHG in 2014/15, Geetha was part of a prestigious Executive Management Training program conducted for a select curated group of people from across the world, conducted at the Ivy League US universities such as Wharton and Harvard.
Between 2016 and 2019, Geetha took a 3-year break from work to focus on raising a family, bringing her son Anirudh into this world and being a full-time stay-at-home mother.
While at home, Geetha along with her colleague co-founded Phebus HR Advisory, a boutique consulting organisation focused on Recruitment, Capability Development and Human Capital Advisory solutions. Geetha devoted her time to building a legacy as an entrepreneur and built good traction with several reputed corporate clients.
Family Life
Apart from Mr. Rajagopal and Mrs. Saroja, the parents, Geetha has a younger sister, Indu and the (youngest) brother, Hari. Indu Rajagopal is based in Toronto, Canada; is married to Arvind Raman and has two daughters- Sahana (11) and Keertana (5). Hari Rajagopal is based in Bangalore, India and is married to Varshaa Sriram.
Geetha met her soulmate in Samit Yadav and got married in 2007. Geetha and Samit live in Delhi, India along with her mother-in-law, Mrs. Kavita Yadav and were blessed with a baby boy, Anirudh in February 2017. Anirudh is now 4 years of age and has recently joined Prep /KG class at the prestigious Sanskriti School, Delhi.
Geetha was very close to the immediate family all through and was there through all the ups and downs of life for her father and mother, brother and sister and their families. Geetha could be counted upon to attend all functions (of joy or sorrow), travel long distances at short notice, and support the family.
Geetha did a commendable job of blending into her husband’s family- assimilating effortlessly into their customs and emerged as the first port of call in the Clan to organise, provide valuable inputs and suggestions. Geetha made it a point to visit all relatives and cousins across the country and the world- fitting different visits into her gruelling travel schedules and not worrying about time & cost. Geetha blossomed in the love and appreciation of her immediate and extended family and was the focal point of the family.
Geetha had many friends and colleagues across the world and treated her close friends like family. Her friends were as much a part of her travels as family. She loved to host people and was the consummate hostess. Geetha was also a generous host – and the valuable & thoughtful gifts (and return gifts) one often received blurred the boundaries between the host and guest!
Taking a sabbatical from work after a flourishing 16-year career at the peak would be a tough call to make for many. Geetha took the call anyways and revelled in her new avatar as a mother. As in her professional journey, she wanted to be the best mother as well and set a benchmark for others. Her ‘Amma School’ was a bevy of learning activities that she conducted for Anirudh over and above the regular education he received at school.
Passions and Interests
Geetha was never one to waste a minute and invoked her creative and literary juices while at home, composing blogs, vlogs, videos and even poems and songs. She was ever active on her blogspot, facebook page, Instagram and other social media.
She offered her passionate opinions on a diverse range of subjects spanning Motherhood, Domestic and Global Politics, US & India healthcare systems, health & hygiene and Covid protocols. She could always be counted upon to offer clear, concise opinions without losing her composure; hearing all shades of opinion before making up her mind.
Geetha’s keen sense of music was reflected in her sweet voice and her interests in different genres of music: Carnatic, Hindustani as well as other Western genres. Geetha also loved to dance and is remembered by all friends and family for wasting no time in getting people to shake a leg.
Geetha loved the good life and was fond of travel in India and across the world. At ease with the world, she loved taking short breaks to travel around our beautiful country India as well. She had no dogmatic preferences and could combine a pilgrimage with a nature trek. She was as much at ease in her ancestral home in Trichy, lying without a pillow or bed on the stone floor as she would be in a luxurious 7-star resort in Dubai.
Geetha was also a patron of the crafts. Her wardrobe reflected the same containing fine artisanal fabrics from across the land and an enviable collection of the Saris from different regions. Her curated collection of artefacts and souvenirs reflected her travel and refined tastes.
Geetha was truly a global citizen with a deeply rooted Indian ethos. She was a strong and passionate votary of living in India, being a part of the Indian growth momentum; using one’s skills and leveraging the opportunities to make a mark for oneself and a difference to society.
Sudden end
Geetha’s happy existence in our world was tragically cut short by the dreaded Coronavirus infection. Geetha contracted the viral infection towards the last week of April, despite having taken the first vaccination shot in mid-April and maintaining all necessary precautions. She was hospitalised on April 29thand unfortunately passed away in hospital on May 11th, 2021,at the young age of 44.
Geetha’s mother, Mrs. Saroja (67) also passed away tragically on May 25th, 2021, two weeks after, unable to come to terms with the trauma and grief of her first child’s untimely demise.
Geetha is survived by her father, Mr. Rajagopal, Samit (husband), Anirudh (son), Kavita (mother-in-law), Indu (sister) Hari (brother) and other families.
In summary
As a professional, Geetha transcended many boundaries and broke many glass ceilings. She achieved great professional success in a storied corporate career in a relatively short span of time. By the end, she commanded the respect of her colleagues and peers across the industry and was a much sought-after asset for any organisation.
It would be safe to caption Geetha as an ‘Establishment-Rebel’: backed fully by her family to achieve her goals but rebelling against deeply rooted dogmas of the times in professional and family life.
As a person, Geetha was deeply involved with her family and friends and provided valuable suggestions on the professional and personal fronts, whenever sought. She never forced her views and allowed them to sink into the intended recipient.
She was an engaged and involved Daughter, Sister, Wife, Daughter-in-Law, Sister-in-Law, Aunt and above all, Mother.
Today, Anirudh is a living testimony of her painstaking efforts in nurturing a wonderful human being for the world.
Geetha had high expectations from herself and her loved onesand set high benchmarks. We are sure that her son Anirudh will live up to her expectations in this world that she brought him into. The surviving family members will also attempt to live her dreams and channel her aspirations into their lives.
YOU WILL BE FOREVER MISSED !!!!!
